Hospital Corner

Route

Hospital Corner

Page Type: Route

Location: California, United States, North America

Lat/Lon: 38.80037°N / 120.13464°W

Route Type: Trad Climbing

Season: Spring, Summer, Fall

Time Required: Less than two hours

Rock Difficulty: 5.10a (YDS)

Number of Pitches: 2

Grade: I

Loading...
Route Quality:
1
2
3
4
5
- 1 Votes

Page By: Diggler

Created/Edited: Oct 17, 2008 / Oct 17, 2008

Object ID: 454099

Hits: 425

Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes

Vote: Log in to vote

Table of Contents

Overview

Most anyone who has logged substantial climbing time at Lovers Leap that has done Hospital Corner will concur: this is one of the best climbs at The Leap. In particular, the second pitch- 2 flat, almost vertical walls slam into each other at an almost perfect 90 degree angle, with a discontinuous seam at their intersection & various seam-to-splitter-hand-jam cracks weaving their way throughout the area surrounding both. The climb is aesthetic, sustained, sucks up pro’, and fairly easy to retreat from- DO IT.

PHOTO NOTE

If you happen to have a picture of this route (or more) that you can put up before I'm able to dig one up out of my archives, I'd appreciate it! Otherwise, I will get one (or more) up when I next get the opportunity.

Approach

While not difficult, the approach is steep & strenuous. From the parking lot, take the Pony Express trail towards the cliff. After a few minutes, take a right onto a climbers’ trail heading into the trees (not TOO easy to miss, but be on the lookout for it). Take this until it runs into a rock (the Lower Buttress) & hang a L here to skirt it (going R will take one to Surrealistic Pillar, etc.). Go UP, skirting the buttress’ left side. At a certain point, you’ll get to a notch (to the L of & above the buttress). Take a L here on a faint trail onto Main Ledge. Corrugation Corner & Traveler Buttress will be obvious on the L-hand skyline. Maybe 1/3 of the way to Corrugation, you will see an arête, on the R side of which is a not-too-big, R-facing dihedral- this is the start.. Above this looms a beautiful dihedral that could have easily been plucked from one of your climbing wet dreams- the stellar 2nd pitch & namesake of the climb.

The Climb

Pitch 1: While the 2nd pitch of this climb is the money pitch, the first pitch is a great warm-up & is thought-provoking enough. It starts in a shallow dihedral system to the R of the face climb Arctic Breeze (also fun- .10a; look for the bolts to the L of the arête, the first one ~10' up) & to the L of the first pitch of Anesthesia (5.8). This first pitch is shared with West Wall. It is steep & fairly continuous 5.7. There is some somewhat runout climbing above the initial dihedral section (5.3) over jugs & small steps until you reach a huge ledge with a 2-bolt anchor. There are links off of which you can rap' if you want here.

Pitch 2: THIS is the business. After maybe 5’ or so of warm-up, you launch into sustained 5.9. Save energy & look for any rests you can, because it doesn’t relent pretty much all the way to the anchor. Do whatever you can, & need to, to keep moving upwards. Look around & keep an open mind- the most practical moves may at first not seem obvious. The climb demands a variety of techniques, from finger locks to hand & toe jams to liebacks to wide stemming. While the whole climb is fairly sustained, the crux comes maybe 2/3 up the corner & requires some committing wide stemming above good pro’- go for it! You will be entertained until you attain the 2-bolt anchor!! Upon reaching the anchor, wipe the huge grin off of your face, set up a belay, & bring up your second.

Getting Down

Rappel down from the Pitch 1 & Pitch 2 anchors (~110 ft. each rap’). A single 70m rope will get you down, or you’ll need 2 60m or 50m ropes.

Alternately you can continue climbing easier pitches from here (not that great), gain the Slash (the obvious right-trending easy 5th-class ledge system visible from below (perhaps not from Main Ledge, but at least the trail)), then one or 2 easy 5th pitches to the top of the Leap from the terminus of the Slash. Rappelling is highly preferable to this.

What You Need

2 sets of nuts, & 2 sets of cams to 3” should get you through fine. A 70m rope will ensure you can rap’ both pitches with a single rope (i.e. 2 rappels total), or two 60s or 50s. There is pretty much great pro’ at all the difficult sections.

External Links

Add External Links text here.