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Elevation: 9,091 ft 2,771 m
GPS: 37.87303, -119.40109
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Shared By: J. Albers on Sep 28, 2010
Admins: Mike Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes, Salamanizer Ski
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Description Suggest change

Razor Back is the ridge line and wall situated between Fairview Dome to the south and Marmot Dome to the north. It faces north-northwest, and thus is a reasonable choice for sunny weather.

Until recently, Razor Back had only a few routes; most of these are substantially runout over aging quarter inch bolts. Recently, however, Bryan Law, Linda Jarit, and Greg Barnes have established a handful of new routes. The routes here are of high quality and climb all manner of Tuolumne rock; expect to pull on knobs, smedge, friction, and mix it up with the occasional flake or crack.

The FA's here have done a wonderful job of putting up routes that maintain traditional Tuolumne runout climbing, yet still allow leaders to keep their sanity intact. The climbing here is all ground up.

Bryan et al. have also updated some of the aging quarter inch bolts on the more run-out older routes. Thus if you like, you can try an old Ed Barry 5.10 with minimal, but newly replaced, bolts.

Getting There Suggest change

The approach is a bit difficult to describe. However, if you can find the top of the Whale's Back, the remainder of the approach will be obvious.

Begin by driving approximately two and half miles west from the Tuolumne store and look for any number of pullouts (there is a "most" convenient pullout, but it is hard to describe). If you are lucky, you will find the pullout that has a good trail leaving the south side of the road. This trail leads up onto the top of the Whale's Back (the Whale's Back is the dome/wall that runs north to south and is just northeast of Fairview Dome). Once you reach the top of the Whale's Back, follow cairns south to the base of Razor Back (pretty hard to get lost at this point). You are aiming for the wall just to the left of Fairview Dome.

20 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Razor Back

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a PG13
 19
● Dastardly Rascal
Trad 3 pitches
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a
 6
● Coppertone
Trad
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a PG13
 20
● Flash of the Blade
Trad 3 pitches
5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b
 7
● Cut to Pieces
Sport
5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b
 19
● Slasher
Trad 3 pitches
5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c R
 4
● British Steel
Trad 3 pitches
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c
 13
● Metalhead
Trad 3 pitches
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
● Dastardly Rascal
 19
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a PG13 Trad 3 pitches
● Coppertone
 6
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a Trad
● Flash of the Blade
 20
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a PG13 Trad 3 pitches
● Cut to Pieces
 7
5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b Sport
● Slasher
 19
5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b Trad 3 pitches
● British Steel
 4
5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c R Trad 3 pitches
● Metalhead
 13
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c Trad 3 pitches
More Classic Climbs in Razor Back »

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