Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Mothership Cliff

Show routes:
Select route...
Blood Sport 
Excelsior 
Fight Club 
Northern Pike 
Piranha 

Mothership Cliff

  
Submitted By: Tom Helvie on Jul 21, 2006
Administrators: Aron Quiter, Euan Cameron, Adam Winters
Views: 321 page views

Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event 
Discussions available in the
Northern California
Message Forum
  Print a Mini-Guide - Includes Routes!

Kevin Friedrich entering Living Dead at Mothership


Description 

Home to some of the best hard technical routes and some new steeper hard lines. There are also a couple projects in waiting, notably Holey Wars and the extension to Piranha. Also home to some long 5.11's. Excellent rock.


Getting There 

From the bottom of the central gully, hike north up the dirt road to the split at the toilet. Go left up the hill, contouring around the large talusd field on the left. When directly across from the Eldorado roof, look for a cairn on the left and a trail leading up to the cliff. The cliff is characterized by a long gray face on the left and a steep leaning wall on the right.



Featured Route For Mothership Cliff
Heading into the business on Excelsior, Owens River Gorge

Excelsior 5.12d  CA : Sierra Eastside : ... : Mothership Cliff
Ultra Classic. This long, vertical, extremely technical route may not be "in style" anymore, but it is one of the best hard routes in the gorge. It is very sustained, thin climbing on perfect rock. Part of the Tom Herbert "E" series. Big holds at the start quickly shrink into small edges and crimps with the odd pocket. The crux hits you about halfway up and features a series of long thin moves with tiny footholds. The top lets up a little bu...[more]