Astrolabe

A classic route. An almost perfect buttress of red rock forming the junction of the North Face and the West Wall. Once on the Satellite Buttress, scramble up the next 30m rock step to the base of the buttress. Astrolabe starts in the obvious right facing corner at the toe of the buttress (there are two corners – the left one being easier). Superb climbing leads to the Crows Nest Ledge and continues directly up the arête to the top of the West Wall. Two easy pitches lead to the summit. The seventh pitch involves under-clinging a small roof (crux 17) however most of the climbing is 14-16. A third pitch variant involves climbing the arête directly rather than moving left, grade 18.