Fisher Towers, Cottontail Tower, Trick of the Tail. From September 9 to 12, Jeremy Aslaksen and I climbed a new route on the north face of Cottontail Tower in the Fisher Towers: Trick of the Tail, V 5.10+ A3. Jeremy had spent a weekend scoping the tower for new routes and eventually found a way to reach the upper cracks on the face with limited drilling.

We started 100' right of West Side Story and, after a high bolt off the ground, followed right-trending cracks for two pitches to a ledge on the route Road Kill.

We followed Road Kill for 20', before again heading out right using thin Pecker seams. I led the next pitch, which started with a dicey traverse (5.10+) above a roof. The traverse ends at the start of the upper crack system that leads up the center of the face to just before the shoulder horn belay on Brer Rabbit. We followed the normal short last pitch to the top of Cottontail. As with most new Fisher Towers routes, bring lots of Peckers in all sizes.

Jeremy and I have now done new routes together on four of the five main Fisher Towers: Kingfisher, Titan, Echo, and Cottontail.

Paul Gagner, AAC