Pinnacles “Triple Crown”?

Howdy all. Looking for a long day of fast (within safety of course :)) simuling on easy terrain at Pinnacles. Thinking it would be fun to do a Triple Crown of the larger formations on the west side- think like the triple crown traverse in Tuolumne. I have two obvious routes in mind:

1. Costanoan (The Citadel)
2. Old Original (Machete Ridge)
3. ????

What’s a good option for route 3? Preferably 5.6 and under terrain.

Also, I know this idea is pretty half-baked, but what is the feasibility of downclimbing Costanoan? It would be nice to just bring a 35m rope on this adventure, which would eliminate the possibility of rapping that route.

Thanks!

Ally, add in The Inn Crowd (5.6, two pitches) and finish up the last bit of Desperate Abandon (5.7) and you're on top of the Balconies upper tier, left end and can walk off from there (walk off left, under the route Cover Girl). Or, on The Balconies far right side (behind the Echoes Corridor), climb Leaking Fear to the top of Dodderers' Slab (two pitches, 5.6) and this puts you on top of The Balconies lower tier. Make a long but very viewful walk off left from that one (across the whole top of The Balconies lower tier, directly to the base of The Inn Crowd).

And it's not that hard to do the class four descent off the back side of The Citadel and then walk back around to the front (if you've been up that class four route it's especially easy to find and descend it). No need to rappel Costanoan if you do that, and no need for a full length rope.

But 35 meters might be a little tight for the first rappel off Machete after Old Original - that first rap is 60 feet. With a little easy down climbing you could make that rope work there too though.

Happy to lend my Beal Escaper to make the Pinnacles Triple Crown a reality with minimal shenanigans. Well, I mean, using a Beal Escaper IS shenanigans, but it's much less shenanigans than whatever you'd be doing otherwise. 

this sounds like a pretty cool Pinns day. Good ideas Ally and Brad!

Bagging all the fun moderates along the High Peaks Trail works pretty well:

Little Flatiron

Photographer's Delight

Long's Folly

South Finger

North Finger

The Sponge

Burgundy Dome, Rappel Route

Piglet

I wouldn't try it in August, though.

More fun in December when the Tarantulas are on the trail!

---

P.S. In the original Roper guide to the Pinnacles,

there was a section in the back about linking routes.

It ended up with a ridiculous itinerary of something like The Yaks, The Hand, Mechanic's Delight, Jamcrack Rock, Machete Ridge, and Premeditated....

Roper was into speed climbing at the time.

Brad, as always, thanks for the awesome Pinnacles beta! It’s probably the most efficient if I descend Old Original and approach the balconies by the west side, however walking along the entire balconies would be rad- while climbing Machete Ridge I thought the balconies was the most striking feature! Great addition to a Pinns Triple Crown.

Thanks for the winter goal, Clint! I thought it would be fun to post my times for the Triple Crown and maybe set a Pinns speed record…I’m sure Roper has already well smoked me haha.

Yoooo Ricky, I’d be down to borrow the escaper! Also are you interested in a Pinns speed record ;)?

Ally (and anyone else):

If you're in the mood for Pinnacles "link-ups" and "tours," here's one you should know about:

http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=1794.0

This "conditioning tour" started out as me making a tongue-in-cheek response to a friend's thread about doing several routes in a day, all of which share a theme.

In spite of me thinking it was tongue in cheek, Adam Long took the idea and ran with it. This linked thread starts with his brilliant trip report about doing the tour. Later pages include a second trip report from Shane and me about following up Adam by doing it ourselves.

This is a tour that extends over the whole of Pinnacles National Park. To do it successfully requires good knowledge of the Park, it's climbs, and ways between them. Stated another way, anyone intending to do this tour must either know Pinnacles very, very well or be willing to learn it well as they try to complete the day.

Warning also: I know Pinnacles intimately, and knew exactly where I was going the whole time. And doing the whole tour still left me completely spent!

Thanks Brad, yours and Adam’s trip reports are a great read. The bushwhacking/approach finding seems like the crux of the tour. Also appreciate the tradition of tall cans at completion…that I can accomplish!

Stoked to continue the Pinns tour tradition, although I don’t think my Triple Crown time will come close to your speed (<1hr on The Citadel!!!)

Gotta admit that my Pinnacles knowledge is pretty shallow- got any extra of your guidebooks for sale? :)

The bushwhacking/approach finding seems like the crux of the tour

Having done Brad's tour I found the crux being comfortable climbing on unprotected loose 4th class Pinnacles rock. The majority of the routes on the tour are pretty solid but there are a couple or few that are loose and  have serious consequences. Downclimbing is a different ball of wax because you need to remember which things were loose and not step on them.  Wear sturdy stiff shoes and kick stuff to test it out.

^^^

There is no climbing on this particular set of back country routes that is difficult in any way. But the descents can start to worry a person. The occasional section of looseness on some of these "tour" pinnacles isn't hard to manage going up. But it takes on a whole new meaning if one intends to down-climb.

I would highly recommend taking a lightweight rope like Shane and I did for use just in making descents.

Ya know, I’ve never really experienced an issue with choss at Pinns, save for a very minor chip taken off of Coyote Ugly. The only sketchy descent I’ve had was a brief slippery traverse down a grassy knoll halfway down the Machete Ridge descent (which I think we roped up for?). So I guess I’m vastly underestimating the choss here on the descents- thanks for the heads up!

I've only climbed one day in Pinnacles NP, which involved taking a beginner along Machete Ridge.  I would never dream of trying a speed record on that choss.  But I'm a weenie I guess.

This Pinnacles Tour thing is incredibly rad. Definitely want to do that some day-- sounds like a huge amount of fun!

Ally Lwrote:

Yoooo Ricky, I’d be down to borrow the escaper! Also are you interested in a Pinns speed record ;)?

lol I think I am more well known for being heavy and slow than light and fast so I'm not entirely sure I'm the right partner for the mission, but I'd definitely have an extremely good time doing it! It's a great idea and sounds like a blast!

JaredGwrote:

I've only climbed one day in Pinnacles NP, which involved taking a beginner along Machete Ridge.  I would never dream of trying a speed record on that choss.  But I'm a weenie I guess.

I'm not a Pinnhead, I only have 10 or so days in the park, but I've climbed a small smattering of the less travelled routes and just really haven't encountered that much choss anywhere, really. Were you actually ripping holds off or was there something visual about the rock that spooked you? I'm not going to say that Pinnacles isn't chossy, but I think the reputation greatly exceeds the reality, especially if you stick to more well traveled routes as do the majority of climbers there.

I am frequently far more terrified on "casual" Yosemite walk offs than I am on Pinnacles "choss." Numerous walk offs of even gumby routes like Munginella can be more committing and dangerous than the typical Pinns climb. This is my hill and I'm going to die on it. Pinns isn't that chossy. It ain't no Fisher Towers.

Ricky Harlinewrote:

Pinns isn't that chossy. 

Fair enough.  I knocked off some pebbles but it wasn't a big deal while roped up on 4th class terrain.  The grassy knoll on the descent was indeed the most harrowing part.  Maybe the real climbs clean up after some traffic.  

I'm no stranger to a little choss in the mountains, but I wouldn't think about doing speedy linkups.  Glad to hear the Pinns choss reputation is overblown, maybe I'll go back for another try.

Ricky said:

"I am frequently far more terrified on "casual" Yosemite walk offs than I am on Pinnacles "choss." Numerous walk offs of even gumby routes like Munginella can be more committing and dangerous than the typical Pinns climb. This is my hill and I'm going to die on it. Pinns isn't that chossy. It ain't no Fisher Towers."

I pretty much agree with him. Here's my view about "choss," loose rock and danger at different California climbing locations.

I started climbing in May, 1983. I've done thousands of climbing routes on granite. Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, Tahoe areas, Sonora Pass. Twenty foot routes to nine day El Cap routes and everything in between.

I've also climbed every route at Pinnacles easier than 5.10, most of the 5.10s there and about two thirds of the 5.11s (in good style - redpoint or better).

I've been hurt badly climbing once and been around a bad climbing injury to a climbing partner once. Both of the bad incidents happened in Yosemite Valley and both happened because big chunks of rock came off. Think about it: yes, lots of rock at Pinnacles is less than perfect. But it rarely breaks off in sizes or ways that will kill a person. Whereas with granite? Yes, granite is solid, knobs don't break off and it's a great and fun medium. But although knobs don't break off, huge chunks can and sometimes do (I rode a 100 pound chunk to the deck in Yosemite Valley in 1999 - it seemed solid... but wasn't).

Climbing can be dangerous. Hell, that's a big part of the attraction. But "choss" isn't necessarily dangerous. At least not as dangerous as "perfect" rock can sometimes be.

Brad Youngwrote:

lots of rock at Pinnacles is less than perfect. But it rarely breaks off in sizes or ways that will kill a person. Whereas with granite? Yes, granite is solid, knobs don't break off and it's a great and fun medium. But although knobs don't break off, huge chunks can and sometimes do (I rode a 100 pound chunk to the deck in Yosemite Valley in 1999 - it seemed solid... but wasn't)

That’s insane!!! Literally the ride of your life.

Super agreed with this. Some of the most dangerous loose rock I’ve experienced was the granite at Tahquitz. Like mini-fridge sized blocks balanced precariously on ledges. Pinns is more like composite rock I think? So the loose stuff I’ve encountered are pebbles mostly.

Another dimension to looseness beside the "block size" is that one tends to be on "high alert" for loose holds at Pinnacles - testing how much the flakes are flexing, tapping on the rock for hollow sounds, etc.  While on granite we might do no testing except maybe on FAs, because usually nothing moves.

I'm reminded of Brad's story of doing a rare repeat on Herchel Berchel (left side of Resurrection Wall) and finding it pretty dangerous.  But that is part of the exploration game.  And Brad was smart and didn't get hurt on it.  There are plenty of loose rock stories in Yosemite, too.  I have ducked out of the way of blocks flying my way, and cut stuff loose by mistake as well.

Nice, just seeing this thread, thanks all for the ideas. 

I've also always been curious if there are known car to car times logged somewhere for Pinns? Or typical base to summit times?

I use to arrive pretty consistent after work, so it was fun using that climbing log at the west side parking lot to try and beat my own car to car times. I felt like I was the only person signing that thing for a while. Goal was to watch the sunset on Costanoan and then the race started right as the sun disappeared to see if I could get back to the parking lot before needing a headlamp.

Isaac Leijawrote:

Nice, just seeing this thread, thanks all for the ideas. 

I've also always been curious if there are known car to car times logged somewhere for Pinns? Or typical base to summit times?

No times logged yet for my “Triple Crown” (Costanoan -> Old Original -> The Inn Crowd to Desperate Abandon on Balconies), but I’ll be back in CA in a few weeks and hope to log my first time for it on this thread! Would be kinda stoked if someone else hopped on it and set a baseline for me to beat, just saying ;). Didn’t know there was a climbing log, is that at the Bear Gulch parking lot?

It's been awhile, but there were 2 logs/registers:

1. At the upper Bear Gulch parking lot, at the start of the main trail.

2. About 300' NE of the West Side parking lot, where the 2 trails from the parking lot converge.

The one on the West Side is now in a cabinet in the back of the sign board by the bathroom with the photo of the climber that says "above and below"

Hardly anyone uses it.  Maybe because they don't know it exists.