Paisano Pinnacle

[mvs]

I wanted to drop a note that the W Buttress route on Paisano (1971, by Carla Firey and others) provides a good time in the hills. Robertm and I combined this with Burgundy N Face for ~12 pitches of climbing yesterday. We gained the buttress at a notch with scrub trees that required about 30 feet of class 3 scrambling to reach. The lower part of the route has scrub trees that have had branches neatly sawn off by some kind person. We just followed the ridge. There was one obvious 5.9 pitch climbing a vertical small-hand crack about a ledge, then fingerlocks and a chimney to another ledge. A pitch of somewhat loose 5.8 climbing regained the ridge, followed to the summit in 2-3 more pitches.

 

The real adventure was in getting back to the car before dark, pleased with ourselves, then realizing the battery was dead. What with walking along the highway, getting a jump, and other shinanigans, I got home at 6 am.

 

Useful advice: make 2 single rope rappels from the summit of Burgundy instead of a double, because the crack in line with the summit can be troublesome for pulling the rope.

[mvs]

Here are a couple of pictograms.

 

Climbing on Paisano Pinnacle

 

The last pitch of Burgundy Spire

[scott_johnston]

MVS;

Gad you liked Pisano. Locals have long thought that it was one of the hidden gems of the area. Your combining of it with the N face of Burgandy is to be highly recommended. That combo makes the tedious hike much more worthwhile and offers up a great alpine route at a moderate standard. Perhaps when the various esteemed guidebook authors are doing their various revisions this route will get the notoriety it deserves. Beckey's red book gives it only a casual mention that is not likely to inspire many folks. As your photos show; the rock quality is excellent and the position is superb.

The trim job that was done on it and other routes in the WA pass area are courtesy of several locals who wish to remain anonomous.

Stay tuned for some more WA pass moderate info.

 

Scott

[mvs]

Thanks for the note Scott. I'll keep my ears peeled, more moderate routes in the area sound great. :-)