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All Locations > California > Sierra Eastside > Lee Vining Canyon / Tioga Road

Lee Vining Ice and Mixed Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in Lee Vining Ice and Mixed

Bard Harrington Wall 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 4
Chouinards 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 4
Heel-Toe Wall 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2
Main Wall 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 5
Narrows - Left 3 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 6
Narrows - Right 11 / 2 / 3 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 13 / 0 / 15
Elevation: 6,781 ft
GPS: 37.944, -119.215 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views: 32,174 total · 231/month
Shared By: Chad Umbel on Jun 3, 2007 with updates from Ian McEleney
Admins: Aron Quiter, Euan Cameron, AWinters, M. Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer suchoski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes
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Description

Lee Vining Cascade is a great ice climbing area that is located just outside of Mammoth. There are plenty of routes to climb, from single pitch to three pitch classics such as Chouinards, Spiral Staircase, The Heel Toe, and the Bard Harrington. The area recieves shade pretty much all day and starts forming usaully aroung Early November.

You can go online and type in Lee Vining ice conditions for weekly updates on how fat the ice is. The website is Sierra Mountain Guides and they post conditons for all of the classic routes. It will also tell you how to drive in from where ever you may be. There are a few nice little places in town that you can rent rooms for reasonable prices. One is called Murphys' which I usually prefer because you can get a room with three beds for about 40 to 60 bucks. Make sure you tell them your there to climb because they give ice climber discounts!

Getting There

Lee Vining Cascade is located in the town of, you guessed it, Lee Vining. You can get exact directions on Mapquest.

Lee Vining ice. Feb 2008. Bard-Harrington out due to fixed leak in water main. Rumor has it the pipe might spring another leak sometime soon.

36 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Lee Vining Ice and Mixed

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
WI3
 29
● Chouinards' Right
Ice
Chouinards
WI3-4
 24
● Main Line
Ice 2 pitches
Main Wall
WI5
 9
● Cave Man
Ice 2 pitches
Main Wall
WI4
 13
● Center flow
Ice 2 pitches
Main Wall
WI3-4
 6
● Bard Harrington
Ice 3 pitches
Bard Harrington Wall
M4-5
 3
● 30 Seconds of Remorse
Trad, Mixed
Narrows - Right > Light-Colored C… > Lower Tier
WI3 M3
 12
● Tree Route
Trad, Mixed, Ice
Chouinards
WI4 M6
 3
● Heel-Toe, Ramp Start
Mixed, Ice 2 pitches
Heel-Toe Wall
M8 PG13
 3
● Jango Fett
Trad, Sport, Mixed
Narrows - Right > Dark-Colored Cliffs
WI5
 3
● Zippo's Frozen Booger
Trad, Ice
Narrows - Left
WI4-
 9
● Comrad's Corner
Ice
Chouinards
WI5
 4
● Womp Rat
Ice
Narrows - Left
WI3+
 3
● Spiral Staircase
Ice 2 pitches
Main Wall
WI4-
 4
● Photoshop
Ice
Bard Harrington Wall
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b PG13
 9
● Barbarians Near the Gate
Trad 6 pitches
Bard Harrington Wall
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
● Chouinards' Right Chouinards
 29
WI3 Ice
● Main Line Main Wall
 24
WI3-4 Ice 2 pitches
● Cave Man Main Wall
 9
WI5 Ice 2 pitches
● Center flow Main Wall
 13
WI4 Ice 2 pitches
● Bard Harrington Bard Harrington Wall
 6
WI3-4 Ice 3 pitches
● 30 Seconds of Remorse Narrows - Right > Light-Colored C… > Lower Tier
 3
M4-5 Trad, Mixed
● Tree Route Chouinards
 12
WI3 M3 Trad, Mixed, Ice
● Heel-Toe, Ramp Start Heel-Toe Wall
 3
WI4 M6 Mixed, Ice 2 pitches
● Jango Fett Narrows - Right > Dark-Colored Cliffs
 3
M8 PG13 Trad, Sport, Mixed
● Zippo's Frozen Booger Narrows - Left
 3
WI5 Trad, Ice
● Comrad's Corner Chouinards
 9
WI4- Ice
● Womp Rat Narrows - Left
 4
WI5 Ice
● Spiral Staircase Main Wall
 3
WI3+ Ice 2 pitches
● Photoshop Bard Harrington Wall
 4
WI4- Ice
● Barbarians Near the Gate Bard Harrington Wall
 9
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b PG13 Trad 6 pitches
More Classic Climbs in Lee Vining Ice and Mixed »

Weather Averages

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Prime Climbing Season
J F M A M J J A S O N D
J F M A M J J A S O N D

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Photos

Lee Vining ice. Feb 2008. Bard-Harrington out due to fixed leak in water main. Rumor has it the pipe might spring another leak sometime soon.
Lee Vining ice. Feb 2008. Bard-Harrington out…
 3
Early morning light on the Dana Plateau while waiting for the coffee to brew for a day of ice.
Early morning light on the Dana Plateau while w…
 2
Dave Sorrick below Spiral Staircase in mixed conditions.
Dave Sorrick below Spiral Staircase in mixed co…
 1
Climber on a lower formation (yellow jacket, upper left). Steep hike down from road on Dec 23, 2011.
Climber on a lower formation (yellow jacket, up…
 1
Mono lake, pink-flowering bush, and Sierra
Mono lake, pink-flowering bush, and Sierra
 2
Climbers on Chouinard Falls!!!
Climbers on Chouinard Falls!!!
 0
Chouinard Falls!!
Chouinard Falls!!
 0
As the screw turns. Souljah 1986
As the screw turns. Souljah 1986
 0
Map of Lee vining area showing approach hike.
Map of Lee vining area showing approach hike.
 0
Tioga Pass was open so easy hike down from route 120 to the Chouinard Wall, Lee Vining Canyon Jan 2-3,2012
Tioga Pass was open so easy hike down from rout…
 0
These two formations are just below Ellery Lake. Super easy access. The one on the left can be easily top roped in dry conditions like this. From Dec 23, 2011.
These two formations are just below Ellery Lake…
 0
Taken from Tioga Road on Dec 23, 2011. Formations in upper right just below Ellery Lake.
Taken from Tioga Road on Dec 23, 2011. Formatio…
 0

3 Comments

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Ian McEleney
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Ian McEleney   Mammoth Lakes, CA
The Guidebook for this area is Eastern Sierra Ice by Robert "SP" Parker: Eastern Sierra Ice, 2nd Edition. A good photo overlay of most of the ice routes can be found here.

PLEASE DON'T CAMP(in a tent, your vehicle, or otherwise) in or near the Poole Power Plant parking. It's not allowed and it jeopardizes access. If you really want to camp out better options exist closer to and on the other side of 395. If you see other folks camping do us all a favor and (kindly) let them know what's up. Jan 17, 2013
Jackson Yip
San Jose, CA
Jackson Yip   San Jose, CA
There are also ice climbs on the north side of the canyon as well, though they are more alpine style climbing rather than the cragging on the southside. After an outing this past weekend, my climbing partner and I stumbled upon some old fixed gear that looked like something to rap off with. Upon further inspection, that being my yanking on a slinged off rock to check its strength, I snapped the band, my partner and I left some fixed tricams and new slings at 30m intervals. We were new to climbing in LV so we weren't sure if there were any set routes but we climbed the left flow which felt around WI 3-4 with some rock bands and steep snow. The route took about 3/4 rock pro and 2 screws to start on the flow. Watch out for undermined ice, it is plentiful. Raps lines are roughly in line with ascent line; watch for avalanche as this side of the canyon sees sun and heavy spindrift. (Ascent, Jan. 17, 2016)
-JPY Jan 21, 2016
Viren Perumal
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Viren Perumal   Mammoth Lakes, CA
I will be posting weekly conditions reports in the form of video, Texts, and Photos. If you are getting out ice climbing around this area please feel free to pass along info so I can include in these weekly reports. Check out the Eastern Sierra Ice Conditions Report Here
Sierra Mountain Guides - Eastern Sierra Ice Report Dec 23, 2016

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