What is the Greatest 5.6 in the World?

Regardless of status I've always loved climbing that peak. Its been a popular and busy shit show for 20 years or more so crowds are not a new issue. As many point out there are lots of alternatives to avoid the traffic jams at the chimney. Its a super climb and I can understand why folks get stoked about it. Mid-week is best. 

John Clarkwrote:

So worldly. Many grades. Wow.

Maybe you missed the thread title: The Greatest 5.6 in the World?  The OP probably isn't really interested in discussing that.  You don't appear to be.  But some are and it has been a topic of discussion here before.  If you have something to contribute I'm interested.  There are relatively few very high quality 5.6 alpine routes to choose from. As I said above, Cathedral is a fun day in a nice setting, but there are way better routes at the grade out there.

It isn't even the best 5.6 in Tuolumne... https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105835754/great-white-book 

More accessible, fewer people (on the route, at least), great views, comparable length, more interesting climbing, etc...

ddriverwrote:

Maybe you missed the thread title: The Greatest 5.6 in the World?  The OP probably isn't really interested in discussing that.  You don't appear to be.  But some are and it has been a topic of discussion here before.  If you have something to contribute I'm interested.  There are relatively few very high quality 5.6 alpine routes to choose from. As I said above, Cathedral is a fun day in a nice setting, but there are way better routes at the grade out there.

And that guy wasn't talking about a 5.6 either. For my two cents on the best 5.6 that I have personally done, Solar Slab and After Six (with C.S. Concerto start to keep it 5.6) offer more interesting climbing than Cathedral, but the setting on Cathedral is the best of the best if you get a warm day. That said, your enjoyment on those routes is highly dependent on the style you are doing them, because pitching them out with a rope is a junk show ( and potentially dangerous on Cathedral). However, if you are romping up any of those ropeless, they flow well, offer many detours around slow parties (you can even climb the outside of the chimney on Cathedral if someone is in it), and are an enjoyable half day outing at most and a 30 min stop before leaving the Valley in regard to Manure Pile. And if you are looking for more adventure, go do the south half of Matthes Crest, which is probably more like dicey 5.5, but plenty of fun.

Technically it's 5.8 but the South Face of Charlotte Dome is absolutely fantastic from bottom to top! Unbeatable. Does require effort to get to though. Weekdays you'll likely not see another party at Charlotte dome.

So far as I can tell, "that guy" was talking about the Kain Route on Bugaboo which is rated 5.6 here. Not harder than that anyway. After 6 has a nice line. Solar Slab I have yet to do.  I think the North Face route on Haystack is better than most mentioned here. Just don't go crowding it up.

Has anyone mentioned

West Ridge of Mt Conness ?

Feels like surfing a wave that's about to break over that great big face....oh yeah the stuff dreams are made of !

North Carolina's The Daddy gets my vote as a contender. Beautiful setting, steep, juggy climbing, and a spectacular finish make for an absolute classic. 

Brian Ewrote:

North Carolina's The Daddy gets my vote as a contender. Beautiful setting, steep, juggy climbing, and a spectacular finish make for an absolute classic. 

Nice climb, but IMO not even in the same league as the other climbs being discussed. 

Funny how different an experience people can have on the same route. I spent 5 days in Tuloumne in August 2018, prime season.  After doing a couple domes the first couple days, we started the Cathedral approach around 6 or 7 on a weekday, aware that it had been storming every afternoon around 2 or 3 PM, and also aware the route can get pretty crowded. At the base we were the only party in sight. At the logjam chimney we saw a soloist below us. On the summit it started to sprinkle, but we were back to the base before it really started to rain. We looked through driving rain - and soon, thunder -  to see the soloist sitting under the chimney, stoic as the Buddha. We debated whether they'd want/need a rescue but figured they had to know what they were getting into. It stopped raining a few hours later, we assumed they finished when it was dry enough,. 

Best 5-6 in the world? Honestly I was underwhelmed by the actual climbing. Aside from the position, it was just average climbing. I had done the easy/safer (non X rated) half of Matthes Crest several years earlier and thought that was much more exciting, with cooler features and exposure. Not complaining, and I'd climb Cathedral again, but all that hype (and threads like this one) surely brings the crowds.  I guess my point was if I'd believed the crowds were unavoidable, I'd never have done the route, but I went anyway and we had the route more or less to ourselves and had a great experience. Every day is different, sometimes it's worth rolling the dice.

The first time I climbed it was with Alan Bard in the early 80s . There was a steam  running down the descent & we got soaked . Alan had just returned form New Zealand & found his missing Vuarnet sun glasses in his rock shoes . On Sunday we went to the Ahwahnee for the all-you-can -eat brunch & got kicked out after only a few hours !

Not Hobo Greg wrote:

Yeah mellow crack-face-chimney-knob climbing on impeccable granite is just sooooo overhyped.

I didn't say it wasn't fun or worth the time, and i'm not arguing anything. I just sincerely hope there are better 5-6s on this earth I have yet to be lucky enough to climb, and which aren't overhyped to the extent people run into traffic jams on them.

bryanswrote:

I didn't say it wasn't fun or worth the time, and i'm not arguing anything. I just sincerely hope there are better 5-6s on this earth I have yet to be lucky enough to climb, and which aren't overhyped to the extent people run into traffic jams on them.

LOLz

Moon Goddess Arete

Obelisk, W face

Jim, neither of those are 5.6. I got no real reason to argue the point with the o p.  I've climbed Cathedral two different ways and somehow avoided crowds each time.  Not that sustained but good rock, fun climbing and a gorgeous setting.

splitclimberwrote:

Jim, neither of those are 5.6.

5.6 is in the mind of the climber, highly subjective. I took him to mean 5.easy, say 5.0 to 5.8 or so.  I'm sure it would be great in mid to late fall but Tuolumne crawls with people mid summer. He asked for alternatives and so I gave a couple.

Its an interesting transition for a climber or a team to go from being challenged by Cathedral to being challenged by the Moon Goddess. Definitely a bigger step up in commitment, route finding and self-sufficiency. From the Moon Goddess to the Sun Ribbon, again another transition (and all the other climbing a person does to prepare for those transitions.

DO THEM ALL!

A lot of the routes that people have suggested are super cool. But I’m skeptical about rock quality (moon goddess, for example) and ease of approach and descent (moon goddess...) for some of them. Obviously, a simple approach and descent makes the route more likely to be a cluster, which as noted by others, could decrease the route’s quality. For those people, a more remote route is probably going to be “better” than something more accessible. I was thinking of quality along the lines of someone climbing at that grade rather than what’s best at the grade for someone with a broader skill set. All cool ideas. 

ddriverwrote:

Spectacular setting but so-so climbing. The Comici Arete on Torre Piccolo de Falzarego is classic steep 5.6 arete climbing in a tremendous setting, easy approach, stunning.  The Cosmiques Arete on the Midi gets 5.6 here (albeit 5.6 AI2 M4) and 5.6 is a sandbag imo but you will be hard pressed to find more spectacular 5.6 than that. 

I’ve heard that rock quality is kinda crappy in the area, but never climbed there myself. Also heard that protection can be poor to nonexistent. Any truth to that?

Doctor Drakewrote:

A lot of the routes that people have suggested are super cool. But I’m skeptical about rock quality (moon goddess, for example) and ease of approach and descent (moon goddess...) for some of them. Obviously, a simple approach and descent makes the route more likely to be a cluster, which as noted by others, could decrease the route’s quality. For those people, a more remote route is probably going to be “better” than something more accessible. I was thinking of quality along the lines of someone climbing at that grade rather than what’s best at the grade for someone with a broader skill set. All cool ideas. 

An additional thing that Cathedral Peak has going for it, is climbing history.  It's well known that John Muir climbed it in his second year in California, 1869, probably, but not certainly for the first ascent.  It is possible that a cadastral land survey party may have climbed it 14 years earlier, when they were surveying the Mount Diablo Base Line, but offset five miles south of it's actual location due to the need to avoid the Tuolumne River canyon at lower elevations (they moved W to E across the range).  If so, this would have made it the second peak climbed in California (by other than Native Americans), the first being John Fremont's ascent of Red Lake Peak near Carson Pass, in 1843.  The survey line goes right past Cathedral, and peaks were frequently climbed so that the surveyors could get the best idea of what they in for in the coming miles, in terms of possibly needed traverses and triangulations.  However, there is no indication one way or the other in the survey notes, that the Von Schmidt survey party climbed it (I have these notes,used as part of research I was doing in the area about a decade ago).  It is known that they climbed Mt Lewis, which is just outside the Yosemite E boundary, and my guess is that there's a solid chance they climbed Cathedral also.