North America, United States, Colorado, Mount Fairchild, Honcho Boncho Buttress, Rocky Mountain National Park, 1992 and 1994

Publication Year: 1995.

Mount Fairchild, Honcho Boncho Buttress, Rocky Mountain National Park, 1992 and 1994. On June 20, 1992, Doug Byerly and I climbed a new line on the Honcho Boncho Buttress (east cirque) of Mount Fairchild. Power Struggle ascended the prominent dihedral and crack system on the south side of the buttress. As the name implies, considerable power and energy were expended throughout the sustained crux pitches, which involved laybacking and thin crack/face climbing. On June 25 and 26, 1994, Tom Bohanon and I returned to climb a variant. I was particularly excited about the prospect of freeing the thin cracks of the first pitch, which we climbed to the right of the 1992 route, and the eight-meter roof in the second pitch, which Byerly and I thought would be either moderate aid or very difficult free climbing. Live With Me (IV+, 5.11 c/d, A3) takes in the most notable feature of the buttress in the fourth pitch, a gently overhanging 40-meter golden-red headwall, which we climbed at A3. I remain skeptical of this feature being climbed free. We climbed the whole route in eight pitches.

Terry Murphy