Best routes on Cannon that are not WG, MG or Lakeview?

Climbed in the teteons, Black Hills, glacier, a few other spots in wyo, Colorado,Montana and quebec as well. on the road for 7 1/2 weeks this summer, cannon is a total heap compared to anything we climbed on this trip.

Nick-- you must have climbed some piles. the better routes on Cannon are awesome lab Wall,,DD, Fall from grace..Stretched..on your Grave..Masterpiece..all 4 stars...and the Ghost

Just gotta harden up

don't get me wrong. I love cannon but it is a serious pile. Everyone seems to think the rock in the tetons is crap? we thought it was pretty damn nice. Been up DD and have been on VMCD etc and they are awsome but will fall down sooner rather than later.....

Union Jack.....

How's vertigo without a big bro? I've heard mixed things about how much you need it and the over all difficulty of the OW

Consolation Prize. Not hard but fun.

Going back to Ward's mention that Duet-Direct was rated 5.9 in the Ross-Elms guidebook. At that time there was a hold near the top (I recall it as a flake wedged into the crack) that has long since broken off (sometime in the late '70s)making the pitch noticeably harder. Even with it the climb seemed on the hard side for 5.9--likely one of the notorious 5.9+s!!!!!

Also someone mentioned a bolt on Downeast---when did that appear? We surely didn't place one on the FA.

Nick---back in 'prehistoric' times I went to do the W-G for my first time with a friend who'd never been on Cannon and had heard how loose the cliff was. I'd been on it before (Old Cannon) and assured him that it wasn't bad at all. I was just back from a trip to the Tetons and feeling pretty good about dealing with 'mountain rock', but I was really blown away by the number of precarious big blocks we had to climb over on what was the classic route of the crag (admittedly there was no guidebook then and we were likely off-route much of the way--never found the Pipe Pitch, for instance). That experience made me recognize the inherent instability of Cannon climbs even compared to many in the 'big mountains'--though it surely didn't put me off from continuing to climb there.

Hey Alan,

There has been much mention, over the years, of how loose Cannon is.

I would include Half Dome, in Yosemite, as pretty comparable. In fact, from my experience Half Dome is worse, at least in the area of the RNWF route. I've bivied at the base, at least 4 times, and every time, stuff was coming down all night. I've come close to getting killed by falling rock on Half Dome; even thou I've spent many more hours on Cannon, experiencing less rock fall.

It's a real crap shoot, predicting when some of the classic routes on Cannon will fall down. Routes like the Direct/Direct, put in close to 50 years ago, could come down tomorrow, or remain for another century. Who know's?

It appears trad. climbing is making a come back, from the activity on Cannon this season. I'm heading to Yosemite in a few days for a bit of climbing.

your right Stave,,The Big onion of half dome is bad. i bet a bivvy at the base is terrifying.

Lots of cannon climbs were good..hanson-erchardt, Sextet, ..etc but i was never brave enough to do the infamously named Dolomite Wall !

Hell, the upper part of Lab Wall is no dream either.

Hey John, your memory must be failing you...must be the altitude in Colorado. Apart from one pitch (which was really good) Hanson-Eckhart was total choss from the word go, Sextet from what I've heard didn't even have that one pitch.

Could be...I mis-remembered Fugue as H-E . I thought Sextet had a nice finger crack to start ?

they have all fallen off now I guess

john strand wrote:they have all fallen off now I guess

My partner and I did Blockade some time in the late 70's, which is also residing in the talus slope now. We did that because we couldn't find Old Cannon, apparently because parts of that at the start that were referenced in the guidebook we had no longer existed.

stephen arsenault wrote:In fact, from my experience Half Dome is worse, at least in the area of the RNWF route. I've bivied at the base, at least 4 times, and every time, stuff was coming down all night.

Were there parties on the wall? Some of the bivis that were commonly used were covered in rubble, notably the sloping ledges at the top of P6.

Mark801,

Yes, I'm sure some of the rock coming down was knocked off by climbers, but not the 1st time, back in 1972, while doing the Direct NWF.
We were past Thank God Ledge, when a HUGE rock fall occurred below us. I thought the whole cliff was falling down.
Four years ago, I climbed the RNWF, with my son. I observed many huge blocks,just waiting to come off.
But I must say, there is plenty of stuff on Moby Grapes, waiting to come off as well.

Safer to half Dome in a day.

Brian wrote:Consolation Prize. Not hard but fun.

Disagree, that route is anything but.

Poor fixed protection the entire way.

D-Roc wrote: Disagree, that route is anything but. Poor fixed protection the entire way.

Well like much of Cannon it is not Rumney. The run-outs are on <=5.5 terrain.

Brian wrote: Well like much of Cannon it is not Rumney. The run-outs are on >=5.5 terrain.

Perhaps you meant <=5.5 ?

ward smith wrote:I agree with Vertigo. Although it doesn't go to the top, Duet Direct is awesome.

What happened it used to go to the top .....

USBRIT wrote: What happened it used to go to the top .....

Technically I think it still does, but everything above the top of the Duet Buttress is miserable lose choss.