Sentinel Rock: Flying Buttress Direct   (June 1996)

Evan Bigall and I were looking for a weekend wall, and chose this route 
for several reasons:
 - good bivvy ledge (I had scoped it while doing the Steck-Salathe')
 - fairly moderate free/aid rating
 - no crowds (the route gets little traffic; this made for a good
   adventure factor, too)
 - a chance for Evan to get familiar with the approach and descent, for
   a future trip up the Steck-Salathe'
Our logistical approach was for the second to jumar with the pack, which 
contained one sleeping bag and about 8 liters of water.  We didn't take 
a hammer or pins, which kept it light.
  Saturday:  We moved smoothly up the approach hike and ramp (familiar 
to me from ascents of the Steck-Salathe' and Chouinard-Herbert).  I led 
some low 5th class pitches from the ramp to the base of the wall near 
the Chouinard-Herbert.  The first half of the route ascends a 
crack/chimney system in the middle of the Flying Buttress (the Steck-
Salathe' climbs the right side of the buttress).  At the top of the 
buttress the 2 routes cross; the Steck-Salathe' goes up the Great 
Chimney to the left, while our route traverses right to aid a thin crack 
system.
  1. Evan led the intimidating first pitch -- a left facing corner 
without any obvious rests or easy moves.  The topo rating was 5.7 A1, 
but I didn't see any 5.7!  He moved smoothly up the pitch, though, as I 
crouched under a small overhang; occasional small flakes and dirt 
drifted down.  About halfway up the pitch, the crack was filled with 
plants, so Evan tensioned down and left into a flake.  When he regained 
the corner, it widened to ow size, and he was glad we brought the #4 
Friend (although it was nearly too small to fit).  After a brief 
struggle with the final bulge, he gained the belay ledge.  5.10a A1.
  2. Evan entered the steep squeeze chimney and motored upwards.  Lots 
of technical and sustained sections on this pitch (rated 5.7; was 5.9).  
Near the end of the pitch, he suddenly said "watch out -- big rock 
coming off!"  But shortly after this he said it was OK.  A chockstone 
had come loose on him; fortunately it had become stuck again, a short 
distance below in the chimney.  When he ran out of rope, he fashioned a 
semi-hanging belay in the chimney near a damp block.  Jumaring with the 
pack was easier than I expected -- due to the narrowness of the chimney, 
I could position myself sideways and use the pack on the edge of the 
crack to keep myself out of the chimney.
  3. We could see "The Cleaver", a huge triangular block, about 40 feet 
above us.  I donned my free climbing shoes, adjusted my kneepads, and 
cruised upwards, being pleased to find lots of protection for the 
initial chimney.  Below the Cleaver, the chimney widened, and a crack 
system on the right wall led to the outer edge of the chockstone.  I 
aided here to reach some fixed pins (5.12 on the latest topo; looks 
short and feasible to free if I cared to).  Above the pins, though, some 
awkward bushes and sand slowed me down.  After a few mandatory free 
moves, I reached a comfy sandy alcove behind the Cleaver.
  4. The next pitch offered 3 parallel cracks, and I chose the 
right/center one, which eventually merged with the left one.  It was 
mostly nice hand size, a bit gritty, which made me wish I had not 
forgotten my tape gloves at the base.  But the moves were not harder 
than 5.7, so it was OK.  The crack turned into an easy chimney and 
stemming, as I neared an obvious belay tree (where the route joins the 
Steck-Salathe').  I was running low on rope, but thought I could make 
it.  The final chimney looked hard, though, so I explored first to the 
left and then finally out on the right face.  I just reached easy ground 
on the S-S when I ran out of rope.  I wanted the rope to run straight to 
the belay tree, so I pulled up the haul line, and tied it to the end of 
the lead line.  Then I basically soloed up easy blocky moves on the S-S, 
paying out the haul line as I went.  (At this point, Evan and I couldn't 
hear each other, so I was hoping he wouldn't start to jumar on the lead 
line!)  Finally I reached the belay tree and fixed the line.
  5. It was hot at the tree, so I ran up the next pitch (4th class) with 
the haul line, and fixed it at a shady belay near the top of the Flying 
Buttress.  Evan appeared with the pack, and we did a short traverse 
pitch to just above the bivvy ledge.  We dumped most of the gear from 
the pack there, but retained the pack so that we had our headlamps.
  6. Evan led up the Headwall Pitch on some original hangers that were 
clanking in the breeze.  Above, the pitch featured some manky fixed pins 
and bogus slings, then a pendulum right, as our route separated from the 
Steck-Salathe'.  The pitch continued with hooks on a thin flake, and he 
set up a belay with anchors that he was not too pleased with.  I thought 
they were fine; they just didn't have any single really great piece that 
he would have been comfortable with.
  7. I aided on thin cracks past a slab, then up a steep corner with 
abundant scaly moss and lichen, then those stiff bushes like on the 
Cleaver.  After lowering once or twice to obtain sufficient gear, the 
crack went horizontally left to a moderate corner, and a nice sit-down 
ledge.  (There is a single loose block near the left end of this ledge).
  It was getting late, so Evan headed down to the bivvy, while I set up 
an anchor, left the rack at our high point, and cleaned the pitch on 
rappel.  I also cleaned his previous anchor and clipped an intermediate 
anchor on the Headwall Pitch.  This straightened out the jumar in the 
morning, making it easier to pass our single pair of jumars back and 
forth, and minimized any jumaring on the 9mm.
  It was now dark, as we settled into the bivouac ledge, about 40 feet 
down and left from the top of the Flying Buttress.  It was in a 
protected alcove near the start of the wide 5.9 crack alternative to the 
Headwall pitch.  After munching our rations, Evan got the pad from the 
pack, while I lay on the pack itself.  I wasn't careful about which side 
I used, and the hard plastic fittings seemed to wind up under my hip, 
until long into the night when I finally turned it over.  We unzipped 
the down bag and lay it over us.  It was large enough, but my side of 
the ledge sloped a bit, and I had trouble finding a good position.  
Eventually, though, I got pretty tired and got some sleep.
  The morning jumar was straightforward, as we lowered the jumars back 
to each other and regained the high point.
  8. Evan traversed right on the flakey ledge, and stretched to reach 
the first Kor bolt (classic old round aluminum CMI hangers).  Each bolt 
was a stretch, of course, but it was not vertical and he could get into 
high steps.  He couldn't reach the crack from the last bolt, though, 
because it was filled with dirt.  So he lowered down and swung right 
into the crack a bit below.  This new crack system leaned left and often 
was in a left facing corner.  Back level with the bolt, Evan unearthed a 
rusty 1" angle, which I cleaned with my fingers.  He switched cracks 
right on a hook to the main system, and motored upwards on the long 
pitch to a sling belay.  I used my jumars on the haul line to simplify 
cleaning the traversing start of the pitch.
  9. Evan led a second pitch in this 1" left-leaning crack system.
  10. I led 15' up the left-leaning crack system to a triangular roof.  
Above this roof, the crack thinned down to piton territory, but I was 
able to reach out right to a scaly/dirty thin crack on the right wall.  
This led through more of the stiff bushes, then past a ledge, and 
block/pillar to a belay at a big pine tree on the left edge of the west 
face (i.e. sunny).  I wasn't really sure if I should have stayed on the 
north face; it looked like there was a possible, though difficult line 
there.  I just asked myself "what would Layton Kor have done?"  I 
figured he would have chosen the line of least resistance.  
Unfortunately the next pitch looked impossible to aid, was wide, and had 
a dead prickly branch blocking the crack!
  11. The branch was too flimsy to aid on, but Evan thought the flake on 
the steep left wall might go.  After placing a dubious nut, he liebacked 
it to a semi-rest for more pro.  At this point, the branch could be 
partly used, along with a very wide stem.  Eventually he was near the 
top of the corner, with both feet on the left wall, body horizontal, 
clutching a loose flake, and trying to place some gear.  Fortunately 
this worked!  I had been worried, because I didn't think I could lead 
the pitch if he failed.  This pitch is rated a 5.7 groove, but it's at 
least 5.9.  I cleaned the flimsy part of the branch while following.  
Evan extended the lead by including the "5.9 lieback" (the "unprotected 
Kor lieback" as described in the Roper guide).  It was mossy/scaly, so 
he aided it on TCUs.
  12. The angle eased to a 5.5 chimney/corner; we belayed at a big pine 
tree.
  13. I led an easy pitch to another tree with many bushes.
  14. Evan led a 3rd class pitch around the left side of a big boulder.  
It's easiest to traverse back right along the top of the boulder, to a 
loose/sandy gully.
  Another 40' up the gully brought us to the summit area, where we 
scaled the summit block, and met 2 British guys who had just done the 
Chouinard-Herbert in a day.  We located the descent trail/manzanita 
tunnels, and followed it down to the main gully.  Then much scrambling, 
loose talus, and occasional wet steps brought us down to the streams.  
Here we crossed and descended the "island" (between 2 streams), passing 
occasional rappel slings, as I recalled the time I did it with John 
Imbrie with a poor headlamp (after the Steck-Salathe' with finish on
the Chouinard-Herbert).  Eventually we crossed back west of the streams
onto a trail back to the base.  We chugged the water we had stashed at
our pack, and finished the descent well before dark.  The British lads
had been well ahead of us on the descent, but just caught us as we
reached the car -- they had crossed high east to the trail (a miserable
bushwhack).  We gave them water and a ride to Camp 4.
  It was fun to bag another route on Sentinel, with a fairly nice 
bivouac (versus the Chouinard-Herbert).  The rock has such a great 
position, with its steepness and altitude.  I think the route would go 
free (using the Steck-Salathe' free varation left of the headwall), but 
it would require an awful lot of work to clean the cracks/bushes, and 
some of the pitches would be 5.12 (and thus beyond me).  It might also 
be possible to stay on the north face for a few more pitches, instead of 
exiting onto the west face at the pine tree belay.  But I was happy just 
to complete the route.

Clint

Postscript.  In 1997, Dennis Erik Strom and Brad Young did this route 
in a day.