RPC's Sierra Climbs

What Is This?

Shirley & I have made a few (unfortunately a small “few”) trips to the Sierras over the years – in fact, before I started looking at this, I always thought that somehow we’ve done more there! Oh well, an incentive to keep going back. We’ve made a handful of road trips down to The Valley, but most of the trips to the Sierras somehow involved flying down from Portland. Though we’ve flown into LAX, SFO, and Reno, the cheapest (usually by far) option and the one with best schedules is Sacramento (and it avoids the traffic horrors of the first two)…not to mention it’s got some of the most ghetto Motel 6’s you can find (i.e. cheapest for that post climb/pre work clean-up & sleep). The goal of this page is to organize our material (largely photos) from those trips. Guess for now, I’ll include the Tuolumne stuff here as well – otherwise, it’ll be pretty damn thin.

So, our list from south to north (roughly, yes I know The Hulk is north of T-Meadows)...

Mount Whitney, East Buttress (5.7)

Photo Album. I remember OK climbing but a stellar position in the Sierra high country. After hiking up to Iceberg Lakes on day 1 and climbing on day 2, we were quite sick with altitude.
Beta Pages:
Mount Whitney, East Buttress.

Mount Russell, Fishhook Arete (5.8)

Photo Album. We went back to the area (after seeing the impressive Russell from summit of Whitney) not too long after with the plan to climb Mithral Dihedral. However, the morning of the climb (& the rest of the day) were incredibly cold & windy and so we bailed onto the sunny Fishhook Arete (and were still freezing).
Beta Pages:
Mount Russell, Fishhook Arete.

Temple Crag, Moon Goddess Arete (5.8)

Photo Album. When we did this route, it was the longest of our climbs to date. Great position and good climbing. Would love to go back for a couple of other routes there.
Beta Pages:
Temple Crag, Moon Goddess Arete.

Third Pillar Of Mount Dana, Regular Route (5.9+)

Photo Album. Busy day on the route with a party of 3 (or 4?) ahead of us and a party of 2 behind us. Maybe it was all the hype about the best 5.9 anywhere, but I though it was “just a very good” :) route. Also, love the geometry of the climb whereby you top out next to your packs.
Beta Pages:
Dana Plateau, Mount Dana, Regular Route.

Eichorn Pinnacle, West Pillar Direct (5.10-)

Photo Album. Did this on a 2 or 3 day trip to Tuolumne. Decent route, nice summit.
Beta Pages:
Eichorn Pinnacle, West Pillar Direct.

Incredible Hulk, Red Dihedral (5.10-)

Trip Report. Great route in a beautiful area. Quite hard, esp. the supposed 5.9 dihedral/crack! Good/efficient use of the weekend.
Beta Pages:
Incredible Hulk, Red Dihedral.

Cardinal Pinnacle, The West Face (5.10-, crag)

Shirley & I climbed this on a Sunday after being chased out of Tuolumne high country by t-storms (day after climbing Crescent Arch on Daff). Beautiful rock on this one!!
Beta Pages:
Cardinal Pinnacle
The West Face

Fairview Dome, Regular Route (5.9, crag)

Climbed in early fall. We were crowded off of it a couple months earlier and so came back late in the season & woke up extra early to be the first in line. Very chilly esp. in the early morning. Great climbing!
Beta Pages:
Fairview Dome
Regular Route

Daff Dome, Crescent Arch (5.9+, crag)

A wonderful route! Probably the funnest from what little we've done in Tuolumne to date.
Beta Pages:
Daff Dome
Crescent Arch

Daff Dome, West Crack (5.9, crag)

Nice route. Caught an edge of a golden shower courtesy of some dudes who could not hold it - very apologetic but still...I mean if they were hot chicks, but nasty f...ing dudes - disgusting... Good route though.
Beta Pages:
Daff Dome
West Crack

Stately Pleasure Dome, South Crack (5.8, crag)

Fun - can't beat the approach!
Beta Pages:
Stately Pleasure Dome
South Crack

Pywiack Dome, Zee Tree (5.7, crag)

Another quick one with no approach. Same day as South Crack (maybe?).
Beta Pages:
Pywiack Dome
Zee Tree

Images

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