Pine Creek Canyon  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Elevation:  7,000' Lat, Long:  37.3822, -118.6724 Map Page Views:  193,364. Good page? (1 like)    Administrators:  Aron Quiter, Euan Cameron, Adam Winters, M.Morley, Sam Vanderhyden, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Tim Steele on Jan 12, 2007 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

Elizabeth shopping for holds on the ultra classic ...

Description 

A beautiful granite canyon nestled between Mount Tom & the Wheeler Crest. Most of the routes are concentrated in Sheelite Canyon, a side canyon that feeds into Pine Creek, but routes are also cropping up elsewhere, especially up canyon. The best season is late spring until the weather craps out in the late fall. Summer conditions are especially pleasant, as most routes are in the shade and a cool breeze often fans the canyon.

The canyon has a long history, with classics such as Pratt’s Crack and Sheila dating back to the 1970's. In the early 1990's, with the boom of sport climbing in the area, Tommy Herbert added what is arguably one of the proudest 5.13a's in the country with his seldom repeated masterpiece, Ecstasy, a 100 foot laser-cut aręte.

The prolific and industrious Louie Anderson almost single-handedly turned Pine Creek Canyon into a sport crag with his development of the Ministry Wall (a dense concentration of quality 5.11’s) and the Planetarium Wall, with his ultra-classic, Atomic Gecko (5.12b) getting the most traffic of any hard route in the area. It stands as a must do for the 5.12 climber. Another standout test piece is 'Wind in the Willows Extension' (5.12d) which sports 110 feet of intense granite climbing.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of development, especially at the hands of the dynamic duo of Marty Lewis and Kevin Calder, who have almost doubled the number of sport climbs in just a couple of seasons, adding numerous new 5.11 classics to the area, including a three pitch affair.

The best source of information for the canyon can be found in Peter Croft's and Marty Lewis’ excellent guide, "Bishop Area Rock Climbs".

Austin Archer on pitch 1 of Moment of Zen Submitted By: rickziegler on Sep 28, 2011

Getting There 

Take Hwy. 395 North from Bishop to Pine Creek Road. Turn left onto Pine Creek Road. Continue through the town of Rovana and several switchbacks until you see Sheelite Canyon (the obvious deep canyon) on your right. Just across from the Campground, take a dirt road and park in one of two parking areas. Walk up the road and into the canyon.

Pine Creek Canyon Submitted By: Adam Winters on Apr 2, 2009

The Classics

Featured Route For Pine Creek Canyon

When the Levee Breaks 5.11a PG13  CA : Sierra Eastside : ... : Avalanche Wall

Start under overlap, climb and clip two bolts. Spy the sick flake feature and figure out how you are going to get there. Awesome liebacking leads to easier ground. Make a commiting move to an undercling and bust hard left. Follow the undercling until it runs dry. Take a breath and get ready to boulder. Crush the boulder problem in the wicked water grove, clip a "thank dog" bolt and run it to the chains. Classic mixed route....[more]   Browse More Classics in CA

Photos of Pine Creek Canyon Slideshow

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Pine Creek Canyon	Pine Creek granite	Looking out over the Owens Valley towards White Mo...
PSOM Slab from the road	Mt. Tom and Pine Creek Canyon	Parking for one of the crags in beautiful Pine Cre...
waiting out a summer rainstorm in PC.	A cloudy summer day at Pine Creek.	Mustache Wall in winter
Wheeler Crest. April 2010	Looking into Pine creek	Beautiful Pine Creek in the spring.
Pine Creek crags. Photo by Blitzo.	Pine Creek Canyon	Early morning light