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All Locations > California > Yosemite Nation… > Yosemite Valley

El Capitan Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in El Capitan

Base Routes 36 / 5 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 39
East Buttress 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Southeast Face 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 14 / 0 / 0 / 15
Southwest Face 10 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 9 / 0 / 0 / 12
West Face 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 4
Elevation: 7,118 ft
GPS: 37.731, -119.636 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views: 614,381 total · 4,090/month
Shared By: Josh Janes on Jun 15, 2006
Admins: M. Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer suchoski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes
Access Issue: Yosemite National Park climbing closures and conditions Details

Description

The Captain. How can you properly describe 3000 feet of beautiful granite loaded with awesome routes? El Cap is probably the most recognized chunk of rock in the world to rock climbers. Climbers come from across the globe to challenge themselves on the 3000 foot walls of El Capitan. It's an awe-inspiring thing that first time you go to the Valley and stand at the base of El Cap, looking up. So much rock, so little time...

Note: When climbing El Cap, parties should come prepared for harsh weather with little notice. Rescues and even deaths have occurred over the years due to unprepared climbers that were hit by unexpected storms.

Getting There

El Capitan is found on the north side of the Valley, just east of where highway 120 meets highway 140 coming in from El Portal. Can't miss it...

71 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at El Capitan

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
C3
 92
● Zodiac
Aid 16 pitches
Southeast Face
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 147
● La Cosita, Left
Trad
Base Routes
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 304
● Pine Line
Trad
Base Routes
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b C2
 91
● Lurking Fear
Trad, Aid 19 pitches
W Face
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 125
● Little John, Right
Trad 3 pitches
Base Routes
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 75
● Little John, Left
Trad
Base Routes
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 177
● La Cosita, Right
Trad
Base Routes
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a C2
 307
● The Nose
Trad, Aid 31 pitches
Southwest Face
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a C2
 103
● Salathe Wall
Trad, Aid 35 pitches
Southwest Face
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
 337
● Moby Dick
Trad
Base Routes
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
 191
● Sacherer Cracker
Trad
Base Routes
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 311
● East Buttress
Trad 9 pitches
E Buttress
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 60
● Ahab
Trad
Base Routes
5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b
 159
● Salathe (pitch 1)
Trad
Base Routes
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c
 115
● Freeblast
Trad 10 pitches
Base Routes
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
● Zodiac Southeast Face
 92
C3 Aid 16 pitches
● La Cosita, Left Base Routes
 147
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b Trad
● Pine Line Base Routes
 304
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b Trad
● Lurking Fear W Face
 91
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b C2 Trad, Aid 19 pitches
● Little John, Right Base Routes
 125
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Trad 3 pitches
● Little John, Left Base Routes
 75
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Trad
● La Cosita, Right Base Routes
 177
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad
● The Nose Southwest Face
 307
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a C2 Trad, Aid 31 pitches
● Salathe Wall Southwest Face
 103
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a C2 Trad, Aid 35 pitches
● Moby Dick Base Routes
 337
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a Trad
● Sacherer Cracker Base Routes
 191
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a Trad
● East Buttress E Buttress
 311
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Trad 9 pitches
● Ahab Base Routes
 60
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Trad
● Salathe (pitch 1) Base Routes
 159
5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b Trad
● Freeblast Base Routes
 115
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c Trad 10 pitches
More Classic Climbs in El Capitan »

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Add New Photo
Photo Photo (copy)
Photos

West face of El Cap <br>
West face of El Cap
 23
The porch swing on El cap
The porch swing on El cap
 17
El Cap in a storm, May 2008.
El Cap in a storm, May 2008.
 20
The stellar crux pitch of The Prophet<br> Photo Cody Sims
The stellar crux pitch of The Prophet Photo Co…
 25
El Cap at night. Photo by Yaman Ozakin
El Cap at night. Photo by Yaman Ozakin
 23
EL Cap, Winter.<br> Photo by Blitzo.
EL Cap, Winter. Photo by Blitzo.
 20
Dale Bard 5 rurp belay.
Dale Bard 5 rurp belay.
 100
Well hello there.
Well hello there.
 18
Beware of lizards.<br> Photo by Blitzo.
Beware of lizards. Photo by Blitzo.
 34
Nice summit shot from the top of El Cap, showing Juli's freshly amputated pinky finger.
Nice summit shot from the top of El Cap, showin…
 26
A climber and the Salathe Headwall
A climber and the Salathe Headwall
 11
The captain from the meadow
The captain from the meadow
 7

5 Comments

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Scotty Nelson
Boulder
Scotty Nelson   Boulder
I can't seem to find this rock... Jun 22, 2006
jeff newsom
jeff newsom  
Scotty---
If you're coming in from the west it's on your left.It's kinda greyish............... Oct 12, 2008
Alex Temus
Utah
Alex Temus   Utah
First Free Solo Ascent: Alex Honnold via "Freerider (5.12d)"

Holy crap! Jun 3, 2017
Erik Sloan
Erik Sloan  
I made a detailed East Ledges Descent page in my Yosemite Logistics section

yosemitebigwall.com/logistics Sep 26, 2018
Olek S
Olek S  
There are two sets of static ropes on East Ledges: a white one and the blue one. On the second rap the sheath of the blue rope slid/wrinkled right at the anchor which makes really hard to remove the rope from a belay device. 3 days ago · Temporary Report

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