Mt. Rushmore Area CLIMBING
TEMPLATE PAGE for sometime.....
Dates: Month Day, Year (xxdays) (Day-Day)Partner: xxx
1 Trip Report
WHITE HOUSE WALL: Garfield Goes to Washington (5.8, 3p)
The area near the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial climbing offers amazing pegmatite granite climbing that ranges from 10' boulders to over 600' traditional routes all with great access. Rock quality is generally very good, as is most protection.
The first time I climbed in the Mt. Rushmore area was in ___. Nate and I had just spent the weekend climbing at The Needles (Custer State Park), and between visiting the nearby Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and driving back to Estes Park / Boulder, we squeezed in a 3-pitch route at White House Wall near the Mt. Rushmore Memorial.
This page features some "short reports" from some of the climbs I’ve done on the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. To date, I've just climbed one route at Mt. Rushmore: Garfield Goes to Washington, a 3-pitch 5.8 route that is one of the classic and most popular routes at Rushmore. The route is long and has varied climbing.
I hope to return and climb more routes in this area, hopefully linked with trips to the nearby Needles of Custer State Park.
Garfield Goes to Washington (5.8, 3p)
WHITE HOUSE WALL- Date: Month Day, 20xx Partner: xxx
This climb is one of the classics at Rushmore. It is long and has varied climbing.
Route Overlay
Posted by JFM on mountainproject.com.
Pitch-by-Pitch Photos
Approach
2nd
Park near Dire Spire and look for a trail heading east up the hill. This is hard to follow, but if you continue up the hill over large boulders, you will run into the correct wall. The divisions between formations are a little hard to discern, but this portion of the Rockphormation has most of its routes on the west face. This rock also has a few north facing routes if you continue around the northwest corner.
Pitch 1
5.8
Climb up a steep crack that widens near its top. Some plant life is encountered low. This long pitch is the crux, and ends at a ledge with fixed anchors. Also, a slanting crack (Slant Crack, diagonals up and right), reaches this point.
Pitch 2
5.6
Pitch 2: Follow an easy (5.6) but loose dihedral (wide) to another ledge. This pitch is very short. Then a long traverse must be made to the right on this ledge. Either traverse this ledge now, or do a short intermediate pitch to avoid rope drag for the last pitch.
Pitch 3
5.7
Climb up runout face (5.6 - 5.7) to the top of the formation. This pitch is pretty runout, but then again, I had a small rack when I did it. Maybe some aliens would help? At any rate, take the easiest path possible for upward progress.
Descent
Rappel
Descent must be made via rappel due to the federal off-limits boundary at the top of of WHW for all routes. Rappel with double ropes or a single 70 will just make it.
previous and next adventures
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