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Frog

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West Ridge 

Frog

Submitted By: Chris Wenker on Sep 14, 2009
Administrators: Aaron Hobson, Anthony Stout, George Perkins
Views: 108 page views

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Description 

This 450 foot granite fin, one of the most westerly crags in upper La Cueva Canyon, is dwarfed by Yataghan to the north and Chaos Crag to the east. The crag is mentioned in Kline (1970:27) and Hill (1993:144), but no topos are published. Presumably all the established routes ascend the western face.
The FA's passed by a frog (toad?) in a crack on their ascent, hence the name. Hill also points out that the profile of the summit block, when viewed from below the west face, is also frog-like (or just as easily could be a Guinea Pig?).


Getting There 

Approach: From the Crest, hike down the La Luz trail, past all the switchbacks, to the creek crossing (marked by a steel trail sign; about 1:00 hiking time). You are near the southern foot of the Frog formation. To approach climbs on the western face, continue west ca. 50 yards to a rock slab adjacent to the north side of the trail. Scramble up this slab and hug the base of the cliff as you continue north (same as The Happy Gnome approach). After a couple hundred yards you reach the gully that separates the Frog from the Yataghan, farther north. This gully is guarded by a huge chockstone with a big cave underneath. The West Ridge route starts near here.
Descent: After summiting, walk north off the summit ridge (a few Class 3 moves). Hill says to then descend back to the La Luz trail by bushwacking south, down the gully on the east side of the crag, but that’s crazy talk. Since you probably left your water and packs at the western base, you can just as easily rock-hop down the loose Class 3 gully that leads west, between the Frog and Yataghan. Do a 40-foot rap off the chockstone at the bottom of the gully to land next to the cave.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Frog:
West Ridge   5.7     Trad, Alpine, 3 pitches, 450 feet   
Browse More Classics in Frog

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By Reed Cundiff
Sep 15, 2009

Dave Hammack and I did this around 1961 or thereabouts. We named it "The Frog" since there was a tiny green frog (toad?) inside a crack on the second or third pitch.