Jay Bettencourt following the wide section above t...
Description
Central Pillar of Frenzy is a super-popular line up the obvious pillar on the lefthand side of Middle Cathedral's northeast face. There are almost always several parties on, or in line for, this climb because of it's excellent, though perhaps never outstanding, five pitches of sustained crack climbing. The climb is actually nine pitches, but does anyone bother with the last four?
P1: Begin in a right-facing corner on the right side of the pillar. Climb this slick corner to a final difficult move pulling onto the pillar itself. Belay at bolts. This pitch is the crux and is 5.9.
P2: Head left and up a great 5.9 finger crack system to another bolted belay.
P3: Continue up through a 5.8 roof and then up a 5.8 OW to another belay. This pitch and the next are probably the best on the route -- save a bigger cam for above the roof.
P4: Climb sweet twin cracks up to another bolted belay. 5.8.
P5: Continue up one more pitch (beginning with a chimney) of nice cracks to a final belay. 5.9.
Rap with double ropes down across the face (not over the route) to climber's left. Another double rope rappel brings you to an anchor on the left-hand arete of the pillar, over Bircheff-Williams (The Great Wazoo belay). Continue with double rope raps down the left-facing corner on the left side of the pillar.
Do not leave food in your packs -- the bears know.
This route continues past pitch 5, but virtually nobody does this. We once did the next pitch or two, which are pretty nice (one was 10a). Then as I recall the Meyer's topo has a pitch of traversing left, and this looked to be pretty scary so we headed down.
Post Script on my route description: A week or two after doing this climb I went back to do Stoner's Highway again. My partner and I were several pitches up and I was on the lead when suddenly I heard her yelling, "Oh shit! Oh shit no!" I was already on edge due to the nature of the climbing on Stoner's, and her exclaimations had my heart in my throat... I was actually relieved to find out the commotion was not because of catastrophic anchor failure or something like that, but rather because a mother bear and her cub had just strolled out of the woods in the direction of our packs (which were leaning against the wall at the base of the route). Meanwhile a party of German climbers, eye level with us on Central Pillar, also began shouting as the bears paused to poke around at their packs. I clipped into an anchor and watched helplessly as the bears left the Germans' packs (who quickly stopped yelling), and began sniffing ours. A long minute passed. Suddenly the bears turned around, leaving our packs alone, walked straight back to the Germans' packs, and began violently tearing them apart and eating their contents! I'm not sure what they had in theirs but it must have been better than the sweaty socks and approach shoes in mine. My partner and I breathed a sigh of relief and I chuckled as the Germans' began hurling the only thing they could at the bears: obscentities, unmistakable in any language...
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Jul 29, 2007
One of the best climbs in the Valley for the grade. Every pitch is a winner.
This is a stellar route for the grade/length. However, it can be a bit unpleasant for those with small hands. I did it with my girlfriend a few years ago and she hated it.
George is corrrect: The 6th pitch is a .10a right facing layback, well worth doing. The 7th is 5.8/5.9. From here you can continue up. I have never been above here, but Meyers topo shows a .10c lb and thin crack pitch, then a .10d thin pitch. A short bit of .10 face and 4th class gets you onto the Powell/Reed ledges (but why?). Also there is the possibility of doing a face traverse, (scary, only one bolt and who knows of the condition?) From just below the belay on the top of pitch 7, over to the 5th pitch of the Bircheff/Williams route. In turn, at the end of pitch 5 of the Bircheff/williams rt. it joins with the Kor/beck route at it's 6th pitch belay.
For those that wince at the thought of even a .8 valley offwidth (2nd 1/2 of p-3)... No worries, although it is offwidth size and offwidth technique is needed, the angle is forgiving and the crack is quite featured making the footwork not so pure offwidth.
comment to "monomaniac":
If your girlfriend hated this climb, I hope she promptly gave up trad climbing forever and took up knitting.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Sep 9, 2007
A minor correction to the Supertopo description: pitch 4 is ~80' (not 100), and pitch 5 is ~160' (not 140). Note the combined length for both pitches is unchanged.
Trundlebum wrote: "comment to "monomaniac": If your girlfriend hated this climb, I hope she promptly gave up trad climbing forever and took up knitting."
Dear god! I hope she doesn't; I'd be SOL! A short memory is a key asset of the Alpine Climber. In this case, a girflriend with a short memory....
The second pitch is a beauty no doubt, as is every pitch on this classic. But the 5th stands out in my memory as uncommon, airy, diverse, and super fun. There's nothing striking about it like the splitter on the second, the roof on the third, or the double cracks on the fourth. Don't know, that pitch just had a good flow to it.
By Matthew Fienup Administrator From: Ventura, CA Oct 30, 2007
Another correction to the SuperTopo description: when using the standard rappel line (Metolius rap-hangers down Bercheff-Williams), the 3rd rappel is ~140 feet (not 115'). Also, the anchor atop the final rappel is well below the tree (not next to the tree, as shown). Finding these in the dark could be a little dumbfounding given the SuperTopo description.
Very beautiful route. The climbing is fun the view beautiful. El Capitain right across. The first pitch wakes you up right away when you start climbing the route early in the morning. Got lucky and was the first party on the route. After us there were three partys waiting to climb. Get an early start!
Middle Cathedral Rock
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