Herd Immunity
5.11a sport · 5 pitches · 600 ft · 16 bolts · ★★★☆
Lake Mead Buttress has 17 routes, from 5.8+ to 5.13a; 8 are harder.
First ascent: TG, JD, KH, and JB, Spring 2023
Description
Not surprisingly, with Contagion being as popular as it is, Lake Mead Buttress has seen a burst of new development. Herd Immunity is the second fully bolted sport multipitch on LMB. This is a great route characterized by delicate vertical climbing using pinches and sidepulls that is quite sustained at the 5.10 grade. This aspect of the buttress gets morning shade, the length of which depends on the time of year; and sun until last light. Beta revised as of May 2024 to consolidate the old described pitch 4 and 5 into one pitch as the developers intended.
Location
From the Base of Contagion, continue left past a short scramble to the prow, continue past the prow to your left and follow along the base of the wall to an obvious gully with a bolted face. This is the start to Land Before Time. Look about 70’ to your left to a steep orange wall, Herd Immunity starts in the center of this steeper wall
Protection
16 draws and a 70m rope
Hikes, approaches and descents
- Alternative descent to single rappel, Lake Mead Buttress — Class 3
- Descent walk off Lake Mead Buttress to Buckskin Cliff Shadows — Class 2
- Approach to Lake Mead Buttress — Class 2
Access
Much of the range is the La Madre Mountain Wilderness, managed jointly by the BLM (Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area) and the Forest Service (Spring Mountains National Recreation Area). In the wilderness, no motorized vehicles or mechanized equipment, and no gluing, chipping or chiseling of the rock.
More routes on Lake Mead Buttress
- Mr. Bones' Wild Ride 5.9+ X
- Bone Collector 5.9
- Contagion 5.10a/b
- Lake Mead Buttress Original Route 5.9+ R
- Anti-Vax Crack 5.11a/b
- Booster Direct 5.13a
- Booster Shot 5.12b
- Killer Nano Robot Infection 5.12a
- La Madre Flu 5.9
- Land Before Time 5.8+
- Mutation 5.12a/b
- Patient Zero 5.10a
- Sleeper 5.11d
- Super Spreader 35 5.12b
- Tectonic Tango 5.11b
- West Side Story 5.10a