A magical mystery tour. Lots of variety including steep face climbing similar to the domes of Tuolumne Meadows. There may be no better face climbing in the Park.
The route starts on Middle Earth, which can be accessed by various means. The first pitch of the route proper begins to the right of the Eye of Mordor, a huge, seriously sinister, vertical gouge left of center on Spearhead's east face.
The first pitch is easy, taking you to a big ledge. The next pitch climbs straight up into an obvious dihedral, which grows wide at its top(5.9). Not much gear toward the end, unless you brought a 12" piece. I did not but found that focused liebacking brought me to its top and the next big ledge.
The third pitch heads left, through a hole, and onto a ramp. Before heading too far along the ramp, climb up and through an overhang/flake, onto the next ledge which curves into a right facing dihedral(5.10a).
The fourth pitch heads up the dihedral, over a small roof and hand traverses left into another short dihedral. Belay from slings towards its top (5.10c). This is a cool pitch.
Next, a thin hand crack in a short dihedral quickly turns into a short, somewhat horizontal, finger crack. The crack dies into the sweeping wall above. Figure out how to put your feet where your hands are and stand up onto a golden wall of knobs (crux). Climb toward and ultimately onto a memorable flake and then up right toward a shallow short dihedral (more cruxey climbing here as well).
Rossiter's guide suggests belaying at the base of the dihedral. I kept going and joined two pitches together into 165 feet of incredible climbing. You will need lots of runners if you do this. The next section heads up the dihedral, breaks out right into more wonderful face climbing and then into another shallow short dihedral, belaying at its top (5.11a/b). Take a breather.
The next pitch heads up a series of dihedrals. Belay on top of the second one (5.8). You are now below the exit pitch. The rock changes dramatically in character at this point but remains solid. Clip a bolt, mince left toward a thin crack and get some smallish stoppers in it. Then head straight up the crack to the summit (5.10b).
Protection
Lots of quick draws, shoulder runners and a small standard rack with tcus.
The crux of this climb, for me, was very clearly the moves past the initial corner and horizontal crack on the fifth pitch, getting established on the bolted face above. When we did it, the fixed pin was very loose and I had to hang to place solid gear before committing to the move. Rumor has it the pin may now be gone (?). In either case, there are good wires to be found by a determined leader. Maybe it was just the fat bolts, but I thought the climbing above was easier.
On the last pitch, it's easy to avoid the final 5.10 crack if weather is moving in. Just keep going left on ever-easier ground. If you don't place any pro past the crack (reasonable), you can walk back on the summit rocks and flip the rope around for a good TR for the second.
I definitely agree on the location of the crux. The rest of the climbing on the crux pitch felt significantly easier than those moves out of the initial corner. As of July of last summer, there was no pin in this section. I, too, had to hang in order to fiddle in a good nut (green stopper I believe). We were racing an approaching thunderstorm that day, so in an effort to speed things up I linked the crux pitch with the one above it. This went rather well with double ropes and plenty of 'biners / quickdraws, and it made for an extraordinarily spectacular and LONG pitch. I think Spear Me The Details is every bit as good as All Two Obvious. The stone up on that headwall is SO frickin' good......
Don't place too much faith in Rossiter's topo (or Gillette's either) for this excellent route. On the fourth pitch (crossing the hole) Rossiter doesn't show a bolt, but the bolt is where it says 10a on the topo (There's also two fixed pins). I ended up too far left and had to traverse to the belay (now just a single pin w/ slings). Fifth pitch (labeled 10c hand traverse) is really a mantle move. Seems everyone but the guidebook authors agrees that the crux of the sixth pitch (11d) is getting from the start of the diagonal crack to the first bolt. Rossiter shows the 11d move at the last bolt, but this seems downright casual (~10d/11a) compared to the openning moves. The first pin is missing and there are seven, not eight bolts on this pitch. On the seventh pitch, two of the three pins (in the left facing corner past the bolts) are missing -- but I think this makes things easier, since there are a few small tips pockets. Hard but likely not 11b anymore. Great route, have fun.
I agree with all previous comments regarding the crux. I was able to slot a bomber small stopper from a non-strenuous lieback/handjam before commiting myself to the crux moves. I would definitely recommend running the 2 crux pitches together as the hanging belay at the end of the 1st crux pitch is not too comfortable.
The "10d mantel" noted on Gillet's topo is 5.9+ if you move 1' to the right of the bolt.
Regarding the topo, there may be some pin/bolt count discrepancies, but the accuracy of the features and climbing line is excellent. 7 bolts? 8 bolts? Ahh, spear me the details.
Spearhead
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