Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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37.69387°N / 118.46599°W |
Route Type:
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Mountaineering |
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Time Required:
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Most of a day |
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Rock Difficulty:
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5.7 (YDS) |
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Number of Pitches:
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3 |
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Grade:
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II |
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Route Description
This route goes up the northwest side of the spire from the notch at the top of the NE Couloir. Three fun, interesting pitches gain the final ~180' to the summit at 13,040. Supertopo's High Sierra Climbing has a topo of this route.After topping out on the NE Couloir carefully leave the snow/ice and work your way to the base of the route. There is loose rock here. Avoid knocking rocks down on partners still in the couloir. The route starts at a broken, left-leaning corner that goes to a small, flat ledge.
The start of the NW Side
After the small ledge, move left into the next corner over. This corner is pretty clean with finger cracks and good pro (5.6). Head up and rightward to a large ledge and belay. There may be rap slings here.
For P2, spiral around to the south side on large blocks and flakes until you are faced with an exposed step around onto a steep face. This face has a small horizontal ledge. Do a foot traverse on this to a blocky corner. Up the blocky corner, bearing leftwards takes you to the base of the summit spire. Belay here.
On P2
P3 is a short pitch to the summit (5.7), with big exposure on the final moves.
Final Moves to the West Summit
Essential Gear
A light alpine rack; maybe 8 pieces and some big slings. You can avoid using gear at the belays by using slings. There may be slings at the first belay and the summit. Bring a 20' sling to potentially add at the summit block.Rap back to your first belay and then again down to the notch.