West Pawnee Butte via the South Face "Ladder Route" (5.4 A2X)
East Pawnee Butte via North Face (5.0)
February 25, 2012
A year had passed since Noah and I climbed the elusive West Pawnee Butte. It had been a frightening ordeal and something I had sworn off repeating entirely. One day at Grimm Brothers Brewery, I met a fellow climber named Luke who had expressed an interested in climbing the Buttes. He told me that he had figured out a weakness in the lower cliffs and that Noah and my sketchy aid route could be bypassed by simply carrying a ladder out and propping it up. I dismissed the idea as nuts but the idea of returning to the Buttes had been planted in the recesses of my mind. Months passed and Luke posted a photo of the West Butte that he had drawn a nice picture of a ladder. This sparked a large interest in heading out to try it out and it became something I couldn't pass up. After a few weekends ruined by weather, we finally got our break. I'm sure we created quite a sight as the eight of us departed the trailhead while carting a ladder out across the plains. We made straight to the West Butte's south walls and propped the ladder up underneath a piton protruding out of the mud 20ish feet up. I lead from the top of the ladder up and left and had to back down due to extremely unstable rock. Jim and Dominic were able to bravely lead up and right and were able to breach the wall with one move of aid off a shaky nail. With a cozy belay from above, all eight members of team ladder were soon standing successfully on the summit of West Pawnee Butte. It was nice to see my register from last year (never thought I'd see that again!) and was not surprised to see that nobody had signed it since out last ascent. The rappel was uneventful and we tromped over and up the East Butte as well. It was fun to get back up such a crumbly and seldom climbed peak and have so many folks be safe and successful.
A year had passed since Noah and I climbed the elusive West Pawnee Butte. It had been a frightening ordeal and something I had sworn off repeating entirely. One day at Grimm Brothers Brewery, I met a fellow climber named Luke who had expressed an interested in climbing the Buttes. He told me that he had figured out a weakness in the lower cliffs and that Noah and my sketchy aid route could be bypassed by simply carrying a ladder out and propping it up. I dismissed the idea as nuts but the idea of returning to the Buttes had been planted in the recesses of my mind. Months passed and Luke posted a photo of the West Butte that he had drawn a nice picture of a ladder. This sparked a large interest in heading out to try it out and it became something I couldn't pass up. After a few weekends ruined by weather, we finally got our break. I'm sure we created quite a sight as the eight of us departed the trailhead while carting a ladder out across the plains. We made straight to the West Butte's south walls and propped the ladder up underneath a piton protruding out of the mud 20ish feet up. I lead from the top of the ladder up and left and had to back down due to extremely unstable rock. Jim and Dominic were able to bravely lead up and right and were able to breach the wall with one move of aid off a shaky nail. With a cozy belay from above, all eight members of team ladder were soon standing successfully on the summit of West Pawnee Butte. It was nice to see my register from last year (never thought I'd see that again!) and was not surprised to see that nobody had signed it since out last ascent. The rappel was uneventful and we tromped over and up the East Butte as well. It was fun to get back up such a crumbly and seldom climbed peak and have so many folks be safe and successful.
Music: Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
