Routes in Yosemite National Park

An exceptionally popular easy route up the central buttress between the two arch features. For such a popular route the climbing isn't actually that great, with lots of rambly 4th class pitches to start, an unavoidable aid move, and some mungy bits as well. The climb is also quite linear, especially up high, so passing slower parties or climbing parallel to them isn't particularly easy.

1. 5.6 100ft Chimney. There are several variant starts, most of which are better than this pitch.

2. 5.4 200ft Walk right along ledge to short crack (5.4).

3. 4th 200ft Continue right along ledge.

4. 5.6 100ft Crack on face.

5. 3rd 200ft Continue right along ledge until it ends.

6. 5.6 or 5.7 100ft Up cracks (5.7), or the exposed corner further right (5.6) to dead pine tree (lots of belay options).

7. 5.6 150ft Up cracks and blocks (optional belay) then up sandy pin-scarred groove.

8. 5.6 100ft Sustained jamming to tree.

9. 5.6 100ft Easy offwidth trench to lovely cracks.

10. 5.4 100ft Blocks to A0 pendulum (goes free at 5.10c - slick water polished slab). Move left along ledge system to base of next corner.

11. 5.7 100ft Flake and tree, then step left around major arete.

12. 5.6 165ft 2 corners to belay at tree.

13. 5.5 100ft Angle up and left with tricky pro.

14. 4th 100ft Continue angling up and left on slab to rappel bolts. The rappel route starts here.

15. 5.4 150ft Exposed horizontal slabbing left to trees. Rim is 300ft above here.

Bolts replaced in 1992.

1. 100' (5.7) Up the finger crack making your way up to the obvious hand crack. Gear belay (pro 1"-1.5"). A large flake takes a nice sling but puts you in a semi hanging belay.

2. 80' (5.8) Follow the awesome hand crack up to the dual crack system, move to the righthand system to finish out.

Pro to 4". 60m rap. This can be done as one long pitch.

One of the best 5.9 routes in the Valley! This stunning route can be identified by the twin crack system of the second pitch just left of the bear bins. Amazing climbing. Most parties rap at the top of the 5th pitch using double ropes. A 70m rope will need to be extended to reach on the first rap (top of 5th pitch).

1. 130ft (5.7) Jam up the right-facing dihedral with insecure footholds on slick, polished rock. Belay at the tree.

2. 50ft (3rd class) Scramble up 3rd class to a large manzanita at the base of a wide crack.

3. 80ft (5.6) Wide crack climbing leads to face climbing. Continue up and right to belay at an alcove on a ledge.

4. 130ft (5.5) Easy slab climbing leads to a large ledge.

5. 80ft (5.6) Easy slab climbing on knobs leads to crux liebacking up a flake. Continue up to another large ledge and belay at the tree.

6. 90ft (5.6) Follow the crack up and right. Belay from cracks atop the buttress. A fun 5.8 alternate finish follows the thin flakes and broken cracks up left before traversing back right across the steepest rock directly below the summit.

Walk off descent with short 3rd and 4th class exposure. Retreat earlier by rappelling with 2 ropes or escaping left atop pitch 4.

Pro to 2".

On the tick list of most aspiring climbers, The Nose is a long, sustained and beautiful climb. An incredible line straight up an intimidating wall with many memorable pitches. The Nose can be done big wall style, or it can be done "Nose In a Day"(NIAD) style.

The climbing has a surprising amount of splitter cracks with many pitches of sustained hands/fists cracks. If you are aiding, it can be done with some mandatory 5.9 climbing and mandatory C2 sections. Much of the C2 on The Nose is actually quite soft for the grade due to the abundance of fixed gear and long pieces of tat which avoids some of the more difficult sections. Don't underestimate the difficulty of a summit however, you need to have many technical skills dialed, such as pendulums, hauling, lowerouts etc. in order to make it. You also need to move fast, most parties bail not because they don't have the ability to do a single pitch, but because they are moving to slow. Practice lots and move quick.

Speed Records

• 1975 : Jim Bridwell, John Long, Billy Westbay : 17:45
• 1984 : Duncan Critchley, Romain Vogler : 09:30 (approximate)↪
• 1986 : John Bachar, Peter Croft : 10:05 ↪
• 1990 : Hans Florine, Steve Schneider : 8:06
• 1990 : Peter Croft, Dave Schultz : 6:40
• 1991 : Hans Florine, Andres Puhvel : 6:01
• 1991 : Peter Croft, Dave Schultz : 4:48
• 1992 : Hans Florine, Peter Croft : 4:22
• 2001-10 : Dean Potter †, Timmy O'Neill : 3:59:35
• 2001-10 : Hans Florine, Jim Herson : 3:57:27
• 2001-11 : Dean Potter †, Timmy O'Neill : 3:24:20
• 2002-9-29 : Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama : 2:48:55 ↪
• 2007-10-4 : Alexander Huber and Thomas Huber : 2:48:30 ↪
• 2007-10-8 : Alexander Huber and Thomas Huber : 2:45:45
• 2008-7-2 : Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama : 2:43:33 ↪
• 2008-10-12 : Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama : 2:37:05 ↪
• 2010-11-6 : Dean Potter †, Sean Leary : 2:36:45 ↪
• 2012-6-17 : Hans Florine, Alex Honnold : 2:23:46 ↪
• 2017-10-21 : Jim Reynolds, Brad Gobright : 2:19:44 ↪
• 2018-06-06 : Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell : 1:58:07 ↪

Located in the leftmost dihedral of the five open books area, this route begins with a 4th class scramble up to a bush. Then it's two or three pitches of varied climbing with corners, cracks, friction slab, and a bulge. Be careful of loose rock at the top, and consider belaying from the trees to the right instead of the left. Walk off left to descend with an optional single rope rappel.

Seemingly intimidating from afar, the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak is a beautiful 5 pitch route filled with lovely moderate climbing.

A must do when in Tuolumne, Cathedral Peak can become quite crowded, fortunately the climbing offers many ways to navigate around other parties, at least down low (up high the face narrows, and parties tend to get bottlenecked).

About 12 single rope Rapels

Description is for climber facing the cliff

Locate the rap anchor a few meters to the left

Rap diagonally to the left towards a distinct triangular block, NOT steight down

The next anchor is to the left hand side

Rap towards the groove with the tree Do not pass the tree stop 3-4meters before.

Look left it's not super obvious but that's where the next Rap anchor is

Take care with the rope on this rap that it doesn't get caught on the trees 20m or so below. Flake it on yourself /harness.

From this point on the raps are straight forward down the face. Easy to locate, even with a headtorch if you are rappeling in the dark.

Apart from maybe rap 8 or 9 where the face becomes less slabby. The Rap is a little bit more to the left

Very good Route!

Heaps of chossy rock to look out for though

Made me feal a bit that I was climbing in the mountains...

We linked 3-4 easy

And 7-8 in a mega 70m long pitch

I would suggest not linking 1 with 2

The start of 2 can be a bit commiting, Nicer to have the belayer next to you, to stop you for decking

We aided the bolted pitch

Could have been fun to try climb it, but not fun if we wasted that time and got caught out in the dark for the last couple of pitches

Especially when you need to do 12Raps to get out Rumor has it to better Rap than do the walk off..

Starts from a tree up the same 3rd class ramp as Munginella, but after having traversed further across the ledge the ramp reaches. Or can be reached from right as well by descending, then re-ascending around the foot of the cliff.

4th class approach. Descend via 100' rappel. Pro to 1".

5.7 hand crack with V at top to ledge; move left a few feet then 5.9 fingers crack to second anchor.

For the descent take care, it might not be easy to locate it especially in the dark.

After topping out you follow a trail and a bunch of cairns down. Then you continue walking down on some slabs The rap station is as you walk down facing the valley to the right hand side (Skier's-right) A chain on a ledge with usually some fixed ropes, We did 6 raps (the last 2 were short)

Do NOT go left! Do NOT rap from the tat and old rings that are on a very dead looking tree.

After the raps follow a long but obvious trail through the trees and back on the road

Difficult fingers at the start leading to a sustained wide section. Beautiful climbing.

Pro to 4.5", 2 ea. 4".

An excellent alternate start to After Six with committing crack climbing and much less polish.

1. 120ft (5.8) Hand and finger crack climbing leads to face climbing at the crux. Belay near the large manzanita.

2. 140ft (5.7) A hand crack leads to low angle scrambling to gain the ledge.

Rappel with 2 ropes (a single 70m rope may or may not suffice), or join up with pitch 3 of After Six.

Pro to 2".

1. 60' (5.10b) Climb the pin-scarred right-leaning crack. Great clean aid practice.

2. Seldom climbed. Rivet and bolt ladder leads to tree with rap rings.

Pro to 2".

1. 105 ft (5.10c)

2. 50 ft (5.11a)

Three pitches of scrambly crack climbing up a slightly positive (20 to 30 degree) slab. Just before reaching the top-out at the end of the third pitch, the crack seam disappears and the climber must make two or three intimidating traverse moves to better holds.

The route finishes on a very large ledge with bolts. There are now 5 rappel anchors (including the final belay station) that let you rap in a direct line to the bottom.

1. 5.6, 110+ft. Climb a left-facing 3rd then 4th-class corner up towards a downward-pointing dagger of rock. Pass this on the right side, pulling a small roof (5.6) then up and right to a small stance for the belay.

2. 5.6, 100ft. Climb the right-curving hand-crack up the slab until there is a stance for belay at a widening in the crack.

3. 5.6, 150ft. Continue up the right-leaning crack until it tapers out, then a few thin (for 5.6) slab moves up to a large ledge to finish.

Stellar climbing up a disappearing crack, then scary slabs above.

1. 50m 4th Class. Scramble up the apron from the road until you get to a large ledge below the steepening dome. The climbing starts here.

2. 50m 5.7 Easily up the left crack until it makes sense to move into the right hand crack system.

3. 40m 5.8 Follow the now single crack system. An exceptional finger crack pitch.

4. 35m 5.8 Continue up the single crack system until it disappears into the dome.

5. 30m 5.6 Runout slab up and left to an overlap (only gear in the pitch is here), then belay on a ledge just above it.

6. 55m 5.4 Several variants from here to the top, all of which are runout (in some cases exceptionally). Although there's a tempting groove to the left of the belay, going this way will incur a mandatory 40m runout with zero gear - not recommended! It's better to move up and diagonally right from the belay, which offers some (spaced) gear. Belay on low angled slab at a set of double bolts, shared with 'Great White Book' (this belay can get crowded).

7. 30m 5.2 Pleasant and better protected climbing straight up and over the overlaps above, or easier terrain (4th class) to the right of them.

Head over the back of the dome to an obvious left-trending gully - descend this.

Pro to 2".

The splitter right trending crack to the right of 'Nutcracker'. Solo 30' up to the top of the shield, then dubious gear to get started in the incipient crack (take great care here - this is the crux and it's poorly protected). The crack widens as it goes right, offering bomber gear, but the slab underneath is very polished, making this a long and sustained pitch at the grade.

Pro to 3". Descend with 80' rappel.

Fabulous steep jam crack from narrow hand to offwidth. Pro to 6" with doubles to 3". Two rope rappel.

Two pitches up the center of the Monday Morning Slab pinnacle.

Climb 3rd/4th class scrambles to a ledge in the middle of the slab, where there is an obvious pin-scarred crack going up the center of a slab.

1. 5.7, 110ft. Climb the pin-scarred crack until it fades, and a foot-traverse heads left and up, continue until a tree and a short hand crack to a ledge. Belay at the tree on left, or bolts farther right.

2. 5.8, 120ft Climb the obvious crack up, through a small roof, then up cracks and slab to a 2 bolt anchor.

3. 5.2, 70ft, not often climbed - continue up and right past a tree to the top of the formation.

Pro to 3".

Descend carefully via 100' rappel followed by 4th class downclimbing.

Yosemite's best 5.10 crack apparently!!! It is outstanding, but very challenging, it will test all of your crack climbing skills and is a very difficult onsight. There is finger locks, ring locks, double finger locks, hands, fists, o/w, laybacks. An awesome climb.

The crux of the climb is the 5.11b start, but don't let that grade discourage you. French free or aid the first 15 feet, and the grade falls to 5.10a C0. Save some strength for the finger locks through the last 15 feet of the route.

Pro to 3".

Pro to 4.5".

At 1,500 ft. Tenaya Peak is long. It offers low grade friction climbing with only a few sections in the 5.5 range.

A 5.6 or so crack variation on the top pitch is available for those wanting something a bit spicier.

The full traverse from north tip to south tip, inclusive of north and south summits clocks in at 1300M. Most people rap down after the south summit and most of the difficulties come after this point.

Pro to 3.5". To descend, walk right and rap 90' from bolts.

The obvious arch dihedral. Three pitches of lay backs, smears and traversing under rooves. Third pitch is the crux and longest pitch. Crux is placing gear. Move just past apex of arch and head upwards to belay. Scramble to top.

Pro to 4".

Approach: gear-up at the car park and walk under Lembert Dome. To access the first pitch, follow the first ramp you come to, leading up & right above where you've hiked. Set-up a natural belay next to a tree.

1. Up some mantles with the hardest protected by a bolt. Up to the roof and follow the corner out up and left. Well protected corner with cams/wires in crack. Belay at ledge where crack steepens to vertical.

2. Straight up the crack.corner is 5.9, instead, climb out to the right on easy terrain and back above the crack. Continue up wide off-width crack to top. Belay under the final ledge (no gear).

Descent: walk-off right down 3rd and 4th class slabs.

Start right of the blocks at the base of Grant's Crack and continue up the thin crack to the top anchor at the tree.

(SuperTopo description is incorrect.) Rap with 2 ropes or walk off 4th class left. Pro to 2".

Runout knob climbing. Links with a 60m rope. Climb this to set up topropes for the routes to the right, but be careful on the 5th class traverse to those anchors. Pro to 2". A tricam or purple linkcam works especially well in a pocket before the last runout on P2.

A classic Yosemite wide crack climb. A slightly overhung crack starts with stacks and finishes with an exciting squeeze chimney.

A three bolt anchor is accessible by walking around the back side of the Generator Crack boulder.

1. 5.9 35m Crack then slab past 2 bolts to a bolted anchor.

2. 5.10a 15m Glacial polish slabbing rightward past 2 bolts to a bolted rappel anchor (bring two 50m+ ropes to descend).

Can be led as a single pitch with careful extension and/or double ropes.

Pro to 7".

Pro to 1".

Pro to 4". Stem, jam, chimney, and mantel your way up this surprisingly steep pitch.

1. 120ft (5.6) Follow the 3" crack up and right to face climbing through broken vertical cracks. Continue up left to belay from the tree on the ledge. Alternatively, climb P1 of Fecophilia (5.9 R) before cutting left to the belay.

2. 100ft (5.8) Head straight up the crack, pull the crux mantle, and belay from the large ledge.

3. 140ft (5.7 R) Follow broken cracks and flakes through bulges and runout face climbing. Belay from the pod.

4. 110ft (5.4) Follow the cracks up to the large ledge.

Walk off left or continue up the last 2 pitches of After Six. Pro to 3".

A big day out including a descent which should be done in both daylight and dry conditions. Listed in "50 Classic Climbs of North America" with the majority of the 16 pitches involving wide crack climbing and chimneying Steck-Salathe will test your endurance, willpower as well as your wide crack and squeezing ability. The infamous 'the narrows' pitch still echos with the desperate cries of a many a climber and offers an excellent insight into the depths of the human condition.

A double rack of cams with a single #4 and #5 should be sufficient for most parties.

For those wishing to train for Steck-Salathe:

"Get a garage door and unhook it, lay down on your driveway and have four friends lay the garage door on top of you. Now they each sit on a corner of the door and you try to wiggle out from the center to escape." -Karl Baba

"To practice for the Steck-Salathé, crawl across asphalt parking lots in the summer, on your knees and elbows." -Dingus Milktoast

This is what it's all about, pitch after pitch of demanding, ultra high quality climbing on excellent stone w/ a surpassing view. Almost all the pitches would be highly sought after if they were base routes and three or four would be mega classics. If you don't think this climb is great, either you're just being contrary or you need to find another sport.

Bibliographic Note 1: supertopo.com has an excellent free topo download for this climb that most will find more useful than the following route description:

http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Washington-Column-Astroman

Bibliographic Note 2: An old issue Rock and Ice (from the 80s) had an article by Bob Yoho providing the pitch by pitch "betamax" - move by move sequences for all the cruxes -- on this route. This is amusing to look at after you do the climb, but it will probably just confuse you beforehand.

Approach: Walk east from the Awahnee on a road for about 15 minutes until you encounter a climber's trail on the left which heads up to Column. The climber's trail can be hard to spot in low light, so if you're getting an early start, it's worth scoping out at least this much of the approach beforehand. The climber's trail continues past the start of AM which is more or less directly below the obvious right-facing 'enduro' corner. After leaving the main climber's trail, scramble up ledges to a small ledge with a tree which is where the climb starts. Without route finding errors, the approach can be done in an easy 45 minutes.

P1: Trend up and right on easy vegetated ground for about 100' to a ledge with anchors. This bushy pitch can be wet and unpleasant in spring. It makes sense to skip this belay and continue up a right facing layback w/ finger jams (short stretch of 10a) on steeper, nicer rock for about another 50 feet to another set of anchors; if you plan on doing the easier version of the next pitch, belay here, otherwise traverse left 20' and belay at the base of a thin crack. 10a 170-190'

P2: The Boulder Problem. Option 1 the traditional Boulder Problem: From the left end of the ledge, climb up a thin crack, fiddle in some small nuts, bust some fingery, footless, old school 11c moves (the technical crux of the route), reach a ledge/flake and traverse right 20, then up another 20'of ±5.9 layback jamming to a small, sloping ledge w/ fixed anchors. Option 2, easier, more direct, less well protected. This variation goes straight up, avoiding the two traverses. Historically, the route did not go this way because it was harder to protect but with modern small cams (~0.2 Yellow) it is safe. The climbing is thin lay-backing/face climbing. ST rates it 10a but 10d is more like it. The need to hang out and place gear adds some difficulty. After you make it through the crux first 10', you encounter a ramp with a crack in it. Be forewarned, this may be covered in dirt, exasperating when you are desperately trying to plug a unit (~0.5 Purple). Above this point, the two options merge.

I will blasphemously recommend option two, skipping the boulder problem, as the more direct, in character with the rest of the climbing, momentum preserving way. Note: Dean Potter caught some grief when he took the piker's variant during his solo of AM, so if you've got hard-ass friends or are in the limelight, you might want to "bear down" and go the hard way.

Note 2: Either way, this is a quality pitch.

Pitch 3: The 'Enduro' Corner. Totally classic, an endless Indian Creek style, continuous corner which favors those with smaller hands. Starts out with #2.5 Friends and gradually thins. Keep you eye out for the occasional bomber hand-jam and stem rest. Towards the top, the corner thins more (1.5 Friend) and most people go from jamming laybacks to straight lay-backing. This point is probably the crux of the pitch and ends with a thank god sinker hand jam. The last 40' of the pitch are 5.7 chimney in which it is nice to have a #4 Friend or Camalot. Belay at the second set of anchors, on a big ledge. 11c 165'. If you rap from here, you've done 'Astroboy'.

P4. One of two "easy" pitches on the climb. Head up and left in an easy, blocky corner system for maybe 20'until you hit an cruiser hand-crack which is followed to a small stance in a flare with bolted anchors. 5.9 80'.

P5. Another great one, reminiscent of the Rostrum. Follow a wide hands corner crack for about 1/2 a rope length until encountering a roof; the trick on this pitch in rationing and/or walking your bigger gear through this section. From the roof, reach left to a thin crack system, finagle in some small gear (RPs, purple Alien) then step over to this crack and follow it up ( 10c layback & face climbing, occasional small nut) until you can reach back right where the crack is easier and followed to another bolted anchor ledge beneath the ominous, impending maw of The Slot. 10c, 130'.

P6. The Harding Slot. Competitor of the Hollow Flake for THE imagination seizing Valley pitch. Many strong climbers have melted down here. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, it requires a style of climbing that is rarely encountered outside of the Valley and avoided in general and second, most average and large size people don't believe they can fit through the slot. (This is a great pitch to be small on.) At any rate, from the belay crank up on straight forward 10+/11- lay-backing for about 25' until a stance. Place some #1 Friend size gear (BETA ALERT: there is an obvious 1.5 Friend placement here -- don't fill it up w/ gear.) Once you've got bomber gear, make a plan and execute. The next 6 or 7 feet can be both baffling and exhausting. You're working with very thin hands (for only one hand!) in a slick, smooth flare that's not quite a chimney and not quite a corner. ST indicates a "dyno chicken wing" is the secret here; I say nonsense -- that's the sort of inscrutable beta that's likely to leave have you hanging on the rope, thinking about rap anchors. So somehow you've passed the entry move, and you're standing on a small ledge, still able to move your head. You're officially in the slot. Make sure there's nothing on the back of your harness (you should have lengthened your knot at the belay and left your helmet on the ground) and start squirming. They say take an 'S' path but it's not like you could move otherwise. Stay calm and settle for an inch at a time progress. The entire slot itself is about 20-25' long and the really narrow part 10-15'. There is gear to be had in the back of the slot but don't place it unless you have it in for your second; anyhow, it would be pretty hard to fall -- if you slipped, you'd quickly wedge. For those absolutely too large to squeeze through, there is an alternative, lay-backing the outside of slot, supposedly 11 X. (I question the X as I've heard a fairly reliable story of a guy going this way and taking the fall unscathed three times before he finally made it through.) I've belayed a 2nd taking this outside route and it seemed horrendous -- if possible, any members of your party who have to go this way should be following.

The Slot is the key to route. Be ready for it which means having someone who can lead 5.10 squeeze and get through the baffling entry moves. Some parties which had been cruising up to that point bail after being stymied by the entry moves. There are some great pitches above the slot and just because one move is giving you fits is no reason not to experience them; if need be, aid a couple moves and press on. 11b, 60'.

Note: you probably started the slot in the sun and ended in the shade. Plan accordingly.

You're now at the point of no return. The ledge at the end of slot is the last with bolted anchors and the last place you could reasonably retreat from.

P7. Hands around a roof (10b), then some 5.9ish hands brings you to a spot where the traditional route goes left at 11b and the pikers var. right at 10c. The 11b way is better (technical face/stem move with good gear) but if your tank is running low, discretion might be the better part of valor. More quality 5.9 cracking takes you to a good ledge where you'll actually have to rig your own belay. 11b/10c 150'.

P8. Changing corners. Fantastic. 20 or 30' of easy ground bring you to mantle (11a) which is one of those moves that you can sail through one time only to flail the next time. There is an old, questionable bolt here which can be backed up w/ something like a #0.4 grey; if you're really motivated top rope pro (#2 Rock?) can be had. After the mantle, some more easy ground takes you to the base of the corner, right-facing at this point, which is ascended until things get too hard and you step left around the arete onto slabby face which is followed for a few feet until you start wondering about your last pro, out of sight, below you around the arete. BETA ALERT: reach blindly back right and place something (2 Friend, 1 Camalot?) in the original corner. Eventually you rejoin the corner, now facing left, for a long stretch of finger-locks and stemming (small nuts). (The face passage is sensational but can be avoided by staying in the corner (11d, better gear)). After the corner ends, continue in easier, wider cracks (good to have a 3 Camalot and a 4 Friend) until a stance in the vicinity of a couple of fixed pins. There are several belay options before this point but its good to stretch it to here in order to be able to link the next two pitches. 11b 150'.

P9: Blast through a long stretch of 10- which trends right. Then up 50' of 5.9 cups and fists (#3 through #4 Camalot, easy to walk). At the end of this crack, step right and hand traverse right to the left end of a long ledge and set up a belay. This may be a really good pitch, but at this point you're probably too sated to really appreciate it. 10a, 200'.

Move the belay to the right end of the ledge.

P10. The scary face pitch. Not the best pitch on the route, but as the sting in the tail, essential to the experience. The nature of the rock changes from classic Valley granite to something less desirable. Up an easy corner for about 20'. Then a reachy 10+ move with decent protection including an extruding angle that makes a good foothold (shame); ST gives this section an R but it seemed pretty well protected to me. Up a few easier face moves, taking whatever gear you can get, and establish yourself at the base of a thin, downward pointing flake. You can get ostensibly decent gear at the bottom of the flake (red RP, #0.2 yellow) but the flake is expanding, so this gear probably isn't worth much. If you're lucky, there may be some fixed heads within reach to the left. Whatever the case, sack up, commit to sending and work up the flake (10b) which gradually gets easier but doesn't offer pro for at least 20'; if you blew it in this section, it is possible you'd zipper all the way down to a menacing spike at the start of the difficulties. At any rate, you succeed, place a 1.5 Friend size piece (phew!) and romp up easier ground to a ledgey area. 10d, 100+'.

50' of 4th class up and right leads to the top of the column.

Descent: follow a rough trail, north for a short while and then east for much longer, with the occasional class three or four section. This will eventually feed you into slabs which are tediously descended (class two to four, possibly complicated by wet streaks) until you eventually can walk back west towards the column and find the trail to your packs and the bottom. The full descent from the top of the column to the valley floor will take two to three hours and would be quite sketchy in the dark. I don't remember much more about the descent but it would probably be well advised to consult SuperTopo or some other authoritative reference before embarking on it for the first time. Protection 1 ea 2,3,4 RPs 2 ea 1-4 Rocks 1 ea 5-7 Rocks 1 ea purple & blue Alien 2 ea cams from #0.3 blue to #0.5 purple Camalot 3 ea cams from .75 to #2 Camalot 2 ea #3 Camalot 1 ea #4 Friend, #4 Camalot.

Water, haul line, headlamp.

The route follows complex crack systems up the southwest face of El Capitan. Essentially it is the Salathe wall with a few variations used (pioneered by Alex Huber) to avoid the numerous 5.13 crux pitches first freed by Paul Piana and Todd Skinner in the mid 80's.

The first 10 pitches of this route are often independently completed as a separate route and is known as Freeblast 5.11.

The Free Rider technically climbs the 5.13a boulder problem pitch but it is also an option to do the Salathe’s Teflon Corner at 5.12d.

*June 3, 2017 - First free solo ascent on El Capitan, and world's hardest multi-pitch free solo by Alex Honnold. Time: 3 hours, 56 minutes

1. 5.10c Don’t stop at first anchors.

2. 5.11b Tricky traverse and roof pull straight off belay then easy.

3. 5.10c

4. 5.11b/c The crux of the Free Blast. Fairly easy climbing with tricky gear up the flaring crack leads you to a sustained section of hard but well protected slab.

5. 5.11a More face climbing than the previous pitch.

6. 5.9 Link this with pitch 7 and have the second start simul-climbing when you run out of rope.

7. 5.10b The half dollar.

8. 5.7 The second will also have to start simul-climbing on this pitch. This pitch ends on Mammoth Terraces.

9. 5.10d The down climb to Heart Ledges.

10. 5.11c The move off Heart. Desperate for one sequence past a bolt. Don’t stop at the first anchor, go all the way to the second up on Lung Ledge.

11. 5.1 Essentially 4th Class scrambling to the start of the Hollow Flake.

12. 5.11d The Hollow Flake. Hard boulder getting in to the down climb then sustained 11+ down down down lower than you want to go. Traverse across the ledges then start shuffling up the 5.9 flake (right side in). A #6 protects the start but becomes unusable much sooner than you’d like and then only a #7 goes in. Do with this information what you will

13. 5.10a Unprotected 5.7 chimney off the belay then 5.10 cracks. Climb past the first belay and continue to the second.

14. 5.10c Excellent pitch! Don’t stop at the first belay on this one either. Climb all the way to the start of the Ear.

15. 5.10d Cracks to start then the 5.7 chimney that is the Ear. Face away from the mountain. A #7 is nice.

16. 5.11d The Monster. An 11d down climb guards the offwidth which is supposedly 11a. You can place a #0.4 sized piece to protect part of the down climb that the belayer can clean once you start shuffling (left side in). A #6 protects most of the pitch but a #7 is also nice to have for the middle third if you brought it for the Hollow Flake. At about halfway there is a bolt you clip and at the top there is a fixed piece. Shortly after the fixed piece a low angle ramp appears on the right hand side that you use to exit the monster. A #5 can give you some protection here but the climbing is easy.

17. 5.10a Short bullshit pitch of more wide to get you into the alcove.

18. 5.10a Cracks and chimney to the top of the Spire.

19. 5.11c A sandbagged tight hands pitch straight off the spire. Super classic and much better (though harder) than the 11a offwidth option.

20. 5.10b Easy corner.

21. 5.11cR Blind Reach pitch. Send your tallest bravest climber. Fairly easy climbing up to the obvious reach rightwards above questionable gear in a questionable flake. Try not to fall off. After the blind reach you can place a very very small wire otherwise it’s one more committing sequence to a decent #0.75 and easy to the anchors. You can also climb a 12a seam which is where the aid line goes and step right to the belay.

22. 5.13a The Boulder Problem. Three bolts and some small gear at the top. Decide which kind of ninja you are, he jumping one or the kicking one.

23. 5.11a The Sewer. Steep and often wet crack climbing and chimneying to the roof. Climb left and past the anchor to turn the lip for some steep hands above culminating in a tricky finger crack to the Block. Long!

24. 5.10d The Sous Le Toit. Creaky flakes and awesome exposure up this brilliant pitch. Enjoy the fantastic finale up the steep lie back crack.

25. 5.11c The first Enduro Corner. Kind of sandbagged but an excellent pitch. Steep hands to some power liebacking to some trickery etc etc. What more could you want. Can be linked into the next pitch for maximum style points at 12d.

26. 5.12b The second Enduro Corner. Work out how you want to climb the first half, clip a bunch of the fixed pieces, place a #2 or a #3 and punch it to the top. Heroic!

27. 5.12a The Roundtable. Radical steep jug traverse through the most exposed position of the route. A black totem protects the opening boulder than some fixed tat and other shenanigans. It’s very hard to hear your belayer from the end so have a plan for this. Yelling very loudly does work though. Climb this pitch with the haul line and use the tag for the lower out if you haven’t brought a massive lower out line.

28. 5.11c Steep tight hands to less steep reallllly baggy hands to a weird chimney to a hard #0.5s lieback through a roof. Classic and hard.

29. 5.11d The Scotty Burke. Amazing steep finger and hand cracks to a cool move to gain the offwidth. Shuffle upwards till you get to a bolt and spend some time reflecting on the fact that the offwidth gets 10b. Lieback past the bolt then start battling up one of the best pitches on the route. When you get to the hall of mirrors chimney section make sure you head to the right at the top otherwise you’ll get lost in no man’s land. It is also very hard to hear your partner from the top off this pitch so have a plan for this.

30. 5.10d Glory ring locks. An amazing pitch at the top of El Cap

31. 5.10d Awkward boulder through the roof past some fixed pins then a hard and awkward 5.9 squeeze to glory jugs. It’s a good idea to squeeze up into the chimney to clip the tat or place high gear and then slide back down to exit lest you get stuck. Take your helmet off.

32. 5.6 Wonder jugs to the top. Extend the final haul to the lip or you will cry. You might cry anyway.

Descend via two rope rappel, or careful 100' rappel and 4th class downclimbing. Pro to 1.5".

Layback across, then up.