North Face Rock Climbing

Likely due to the fact that just up the valley one finds classic climbing on the Cathedral Wall and Cathedral Spires, this large 1200 foot North face feature has seen very little documented activity by rock climbers (two high end mixed routes have been done in the winter). The wall is characterized by two distinct rock types separated by a large ledge system at 450 feet. Below the ledge system is super high quality, slabby granite marked by sparse crack systems and seams. This stone reminded me of the granite I enjoyed on a recent Sierra trip, albeit less splitter and much lower angle. Above the ledge system, the stone turns into your typical Hallett flavor of gneiss. While the lower granite face consists of gear protected slab climbing, the upper portion of the wall gets steeper, is highly featured (like Hallett), and has several intermittent crack systems. The majority of the rock climbing up here will be on the more moderate side of things.

Portions of the wall seep throughout the summer, but for having seen little to no action from climbers, the rock is remarkably clean on both the upper and lower sections of the face. Although identified here simply as the "North Face", it actually has more of a Northwest aspect and sees sun hit the lower slabs around noon in late August.