In July, Oliver Deshler and I once again returned to our old haunts of the Clear Creek region in the northern Winds. Two years prior, we had reconned the east-southeast face of Osborn Mountain (11,811’), several hundred feet right (east) of Forlorn Pinnacle (11,660’, see AAJ 2017), and this time, in two days, we did a pair of new eight-pitch routes, up the two primary crack systems in the center of the wall. Killer Pillar (350m, 5.10) had a gorgeous dihedral on pitch five, hard fingers on pitch seven, and topped out on the easternmost pinnacle of Osborn. We rapped the route, and during the descent Oliver kicked off a TV-sized block that landed atop a traincar-size pillar, which then collapsed, leaving Oliver swinging in midair in a cloud of dust—hence the name.

Where’s the Whiskey? (8 pitches, 5.11) has run-out 5.10 facing climbing on pitch three, crosses Killer Pillar on pitch four, engages an overhanging thin-hands crux on pitch five, and has a gorgeous hand crack near the top, joining Killer Pillar atop the main wall. We did not take this route to the summit of the final pinnacle, having done that the previous day. Descending to our camp by Clear Lake after a second day of semi-treacherous climbing, we’d worked up a mighty thirst—hence the name.

Oliver and I credit our years of apprenticeship in Vedauwoo, a wide-crack wonderland in southeastern Wyoming, for our indefatigable passion for mischief and remote, unclimbed crack systems.

– Mark Jenkins