High Sierra Climbing titleSECOND EDITION Chris McNamara page McKenzie Long High Sierra Climbing California’s Best High Country Climbs Chris McNamara McKenzie Long Published by SuperTopo 2 Bradford Way Mill Valley, CA 94941 www.supertopo.com Copyright 2013 by SuperTopo LLC No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher. Topos and text by Chris McNamara, McKenzie Long, Todd Vogel, SP Parker, and Greg Barnes History by Andy Selters and Steve Roper Designer: McKenzie Long Publisher: Chris McNamara Front cover: Trish McGuire climbing the amazing final pitch on the Third Pillar of Dana (5.10b). Touted as “the best pitch in the universe.” Photo: Ken Etzel Back cover: While on the Thunderbolt to Sill Traverse in the Palisades, Brian Russell makes his way to the U Notch, with a building storm and the fifth and final fourteener, Mt. Sill (14,153 ft), on the horizon. Photo: Ken Etzel Chris McNamara and McKenzie Long High Sierra Climbing: California’s Best High Country Climbs ISBN: 978-0-9833225-3-5 3 HIGH SIERRA CLIMBING: SUPERTOPO Contents Acknowledgements 5 Laurel Mountain 142 Introduction 6 Northeast Gully 5.2 146 Free Climbing Ratings 22 Crystal Crag 148 Cam Sizes by Brand 23 North Arête 5.7 150 Lone Pine Peak 26 Clyde Minaret 152 North Ridge, 5.5 28 Southeast Face 5.8 154 Mt. Whitney 32 Mount Ritter 159 East Face, 5.7 40 Southeast Glacier, 3rd Class 160 East Buttress, 5.7 46 Mountaineer’s Route 49 Third Pillar of Dana 162 Regular Route 5.10b 164 Keeler Needle 50 Harding Route 5.10c 51 Cathedral Peak 166 Southeast Buttress 5.6 168 Mount Russell 55 Fishhook Arête, 5.9 58 Eichorn’s Pinnacle 172 Mithral Dihedral, 5.10a 62 West Pillar 5.9 173 East Ridge, 3rd class 65 Matthes Crest 177 Charlotte Dome 66 Traverse, South to North, 5.7 178 South Face 5.8 70 Tenaya Peak 182 Temple Crag 74 Northwest Buttress 5.5 184 Venusian Blind 5.7 78 Mount Conness, W Ridge & SW Face 186 Moon Goddess Arête 5.8 81 West Ridge 5.6 189 Sun Ribbon Arête 5.10a 84 Southwest Face 5.10c 192 Dark Star 5.10c 88 Mount Conness, North Ridge 195 Mount Sill 92 North Ridge 5.6 198 Swiss Arête 5.7 93 North Peak 200 North Palisade 96 Northeast Couloir AI2, 4th class 202 U Notch AI2, 4th Class 97 Matterhorn Peak 204 Mount Goode 100 North Arête 5.7 206 North Buttress 5.9 103 Incredible Hulk 210 Cardinal Pinnacle 105 Sunspot Dihedral 5.11b 215 West Face 5.10a 106 Positive Vibrations 5.11a 218 Mount Emerson 110 Red Dihedral 5.10b 222 Southeast Face 5.4 112 Falling Dihedral 5.10a 226 Mount Humphreys 114 Appendix 228 East Arête 5.5 117 Budding Alpine Climber Ticklist 228 Sierra Snow Climbs 228 Merriam Peak 122 Sierra Hardman/woman Ticklist 229 North Buttress 5.10b 124 Impressive Link-ups 229 Climbs by Rating 230 Bear Creek Spire 128 Climbs by Name 231 North Arête 5.8 132 Northeast Ridge 5.5 135 Petite Griffon 138 Southeast Face 5.7 139 4 FOR CURRENT ROUTE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.SUPERTOPO.COM Warning! Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport in which severe injuries or death may occur. Relying on the information in this book may increase the danger. When climbing you can only rely on your skill, training, experience, and conditioning. If you have any doubts as to your ability to safely climb any route in this guide, do not try it. This book is neither a professional climbing instructor nor a substitute for one. It is not an instructional book. Do not use it as one. It contains information that is nothing more than a compilation of opinions about climbing in the High Sierra. These opinions are neither facts nor promises. Treat the information as opinions and nothing more. Do not substitute these opinions for your own common sense and experience. Assumption of Risk There may be errors in this book resulting from the mistakes of the authors and/or the people with whom they consulted. The information was gathered from a variety of sources, which may not have been independently verified. Those who provided the information may have made mistakes in their descriptions. The authors may have made mistakes in their conveyance of the information in this book. The authors cannot, therefore, guarantee the correctness of any of the information contained in this book. The topographical maps, photo-diagrams, difficulty ratings, protection ratings, approach and/or descent information, suggestions about equipment, and other matters may be incorrect or misleading. Fixed protection may be absent, unreliable, or misplaced. You must keep in mind that the information in this book may be erroneous, so use your own judgement when choosing, approaching, climbing, or descending from a route described in this book. DO NOT USE THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU [AND YOUR ESTATE] PROMISE NEVER TO SUE US IF YOU GET HURT OR KILLED. Disclaimer of Warranties THE AUTHORS AND PUBLISHER WARN THAT THIS BOOK CONTAINS ONLY THE AUTHORS’ OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECTS DISCUSSED. THEY MAKE NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR PURPOSE, OR OTHERWISE, AND IN ANY EVENT, THEIR LIABILITY FOR BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY OR CONTRACT WITH RESPECT TO THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK IS LIMITED TO THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE BOOK. THEY FURTHER LIMIT TO SUCH PURCHASE PRICE THEIR LIABILITY ON ACCOUNT OF ANY KIND OF NEGLIGENT BEHAVIOR WHATSOEVER ON THEIR PART WITH RESPECT TO THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK. 5 HIGH SIERRA CLIMBING: SUPERTOPO Acknowledgements Projects containing details of this magnitude Special appreciation goes to Andy Selters for are never the result of one person alone, but his beautifully written and well-researched rather the culmination of experiences and histories as well as beta on Dark Star, SP efforts of a large network of people. For me, Parker for excellent advice and beta on this is a dream project, as well as a labor of Lone Pine Peak, and Nate Greenberg for his love, and I am extremely grateful to all the knowledge, advice, and patience with me as I people who have encouraged, aided, and learned how to best work on maps. provided input along the way. This edition would not be the beautiful work First and foremost, I would like to thank Chris that it is without generous contributions from McNamara for taking a chance on me and local photographers. The Eastern Sierra is full giving me a job when I asked him out of the of strong climbers with artistic sensibilities, blue, and then taking an even bigger chance on and a handful of them really stepped up to the me by giving me the opportunity to work on plate in offering their compelling images. I am this book. He is excellent to work with, being grateful to be associated with theses people honest and always psyched. and thrilled to have the opportunity to publish their work: Dale Apgar, Andy Bardon, Pete I would especially like to thank my teammate, Clark, Ken Etzel, Matt Irons, Dan Mingori, Luke Lydiard, for being a skilled and eager and Kurt Wedberg. climbing partner who was invaluable in his advice and companionship, for being a Thank you to all the other inspiring climbers talented photographer who added illumination who roped up with me, offered beta and to these pages, and for being all-around advice, or in some way supported me or generously supportive. I couldn’t have done contributed to this project: Julien LeCorps, this without him. Viren and Julie Perumal, Trish McGuire, Josh Feinberg, Andrew Soleman, Ali Feinberg, Ian McEleney and Jediah Porter, both skilled Sarah Hegg, Amanda Fenn, Jesse Althaus and and knowledgable mountain guides in the John Stackfleth, David Mackey, Raymond area as well as talented climbers, kindly Klose, Jeff Hebert, Tad Hunt, Derek Lee, Ryan reviewed my rough draft for accuracy. They Braastad, Karl Anderson, Dave Pegg, and provided important details, corrections, and Mattie Sheafor. feedback that overall improved the quality of information provided here. Dale Apgar also Finally, a huge thank you goes to my lent his editing and caption writing skills. wonderful family for their unwavering support and enthusiasm for the choices I have made, no matter how outlandish. My mother, Linda Long, graciously offered her copy-editing skills even though just the thought of climbing scares her. She and my father, John Long, endured a trek out to Shadow Lake with me so that I could photograph Mt. Ritter, after just arriving from sea level. I believe that is love. - McKenzie Long Researching. Photo by Luke Lydiard 6 FOR CURRENT ROUTE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.SUPERTOPO.COM 175 miles. The crest of the range, which runs Introduction from northwest to southeast, contains scores of peaks above 13,000 feet, and 12 peaks rise BBordered by a great agricultural area on one above 14,000 feet. Nestled under the western side and an inhospitable desert on the other, side of the crest are hundreds of lakes, some California’s Sierra Nevada is the highest set in high glacial basins and some surrounded mountain range in the contiguous United by lush meadows. States, and some say it is the most beautiful. The western side of the range slopes gently. It has almost everything a climber desires: It is nearly 50 miles from the Central Valley rugged peaks, glaciers, and splendid, isolated to the crest, and much of this distance is chunks of granite.