Gear for Yosemite (Lurking Fear and Washington Column)

I am planning my first big wall this summer and am in need of some advice. Currently I have a few hooks and plan on purchasing some cam hooks soon. My partner and I will also have plenty of cams and assortment of nuts.

We are looking at climbing Lurking Fear and I was wondering if we need any copper heads or what gear is recommended for that route. Any help is much appreciated!!

No heads needed for either route. No hooks needed for the SFWC. Look at the Supertopo gear list and read the trip reports for those routes, the gear lists are right there. DMM offset nuts, alloy and brass, are super useful for both routes, 2 sets of each.

There is a gear list at the end of my article on Lurking Fear:

coldmountainkit.com/knowled…

however, you are very, very unlikely to need the heads and I would not even bother taking a hammer

Don't forget offset cams. They are the answer to most of the C2 on Lurking Fear, imo.

csproul wrote:No heads needed for either route.

Unless the heads break, which is quite possible. Last time I went up the west face some heads were missing. Turned C2F into what felt like C3+ for awhile because I dident have a tool to clean out the old heads. I would bring a few heads and a pointed chisel in case some need replacing along the 2200' path to the top.

A beak, although not needed for either route, can be used to pass "dead heads". Also if you bring heads and a hammer, consider placing some as practice before leaving the ground.

Also, something I've learned on yosemite walls is that just because there is a head, it doesn't mean you should clip it. Many heads are unnecessary and can be skipped. If it looks sketch, keep looking around and trying other placements.

Shelton Hatfield wrote:A beak, although not needed for either route, can be used to pass "dead heads".

In theory, but many times not in practice. If you can access the top of the head that will work, but often you cannot. Often the head is placed in a small pod and there is nothing for the beak to hook onto as the aluminum of the head consumes the entire pod leaving no access to the top of the head. In that case the only option is to skip it (if you can), dig it out and replace it, or find a different placement somewhere else if possible.

Or tap the beak into the head. Voila..