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The Silent Line

5.10 C1, Trad, Aid, 1000 ft (303 m), 8 pitches, Grade IV,  Avg: 3.5 from 46 votes
FA: Layton Kor (of Gold Wall). FA of Silent Line: Werner Braun and Rick Cashner. FFA of Silent Line: Dean Potter.
California > Yosemite NP > Yosemite Valley > Valley N Side > A. Ribbon Falls… > 5. Ribbon Falls Amphi…
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Description

The Silent Line is the free version of the Gold Wall. It has been freed in its entirety by Dean Potter at 5.13a, but since 99% of folks (myself included) will aid the crux, I've posted it here as 5.10 C1.

Once you've arrived at the base of the wall (see area description), look for a flake system with a slung horn about 25' up. Up and left of the slung horn, you'll see a line of bolts leading to a splitter crack system. This is the route. There is another partially bolted route in the vicinity, about 100' right of Gold Wall/Silent Line. This follows a splitter crack to a bolted arete to bolted anchor. I haven't done this pitch, but include it here as a reference point.

P1: Climb up flakes, past the slung horn/hole, and then traverse left to the bolt line. Climb the bolt ladder directly (A0), and then make some thin aid or free moves (5.11 or C1). I believe the free line clips the first bolt and then traverses right on some cool looking knobs. Looks difficult and bold. Either way, end at a 2 bolt anchor, 90'.

P2: A burly pitch, definitely the crux of the route if you're climbing at 5.10 C1. Difficult moves up a flaring crack with pins scars greet you just off the belay (5.11 or C1), and then an unrelenting flared groove provides insecure free climbing or awkward aid. Big cams (#4 camalots) might be nice if aiding. Ends at 2 bolts, 120'.
P1 and 2 Link with a 70m rope, and it's probably a good idea if you want to free the 5.11 at the start of the pitch, other wise you'd be whipping onto you're belayer.

P3. Climb straight up, pass right around a chockstone with a tree at the top, and continue up a flaring fist crack. Keep an eye out left, because you're going to leave the main crack system here and traverse left on face holds to a small RF corner. The 2 bolt anchor for "Gold Wall" will be above you, and the 2 bolt anchor for Silent Line is visible to the left. Make the fun traverse left (5.10), and gain the flared crack, following it to the anchor. 90'

P4: The Money Pitch! More tricky groove climbing above the anchor gives way to a beautiful splitter, starting as fingers, passing a large tree (optional belay) and widening to fists. Its mostly glorious hands, though, so enjoy it! 200', 5.10.

P5: Another wild and enjoyable pitch! Go up a flared hand crack and enter the maw above, a huge triangular chimney leading into the massive roof. Enter the dark recesses of the chimney, and when all appears to be lost, an exit appears! Slither out a slot, and pull up into a hand crack. Revel in the exposure, be amazed at how somehow you're rope doesn't get stuck (backcleaning gear in the final handcrack is advised), and enjoys this totally unique pitch! 2 bolt anchor, 90', 5.9.

P6: Up flaring hands, fists, OW and chimneys. Very fun, although you might be getting tired of handcracks. 2 Bolts, 90', 5.10.

P7: More of the same, 5.9, 110', to a small ledge with a tree and a fixed stopper anchor. P6 and 7 link with a 70m cord.

P8: Traverse left off up a groove, past some big flakes, and into a huge flake/chimney system. At the top of the chimney, the angles lessens as you scramble up easier grooves. When you get to the ledge with trees, traverse right to a slung tree anchors, and enjoy the spectacular view of Ribbon Falls. Even though you could hear it the whole time, and occasionally felt some spray in the air, the falls have been hidden for the entire route until now!

This is where we stopped, and I think most people will as well, especially if they plan to rap the route. If you want to continue, it looks like dirty, low-angle climbing.

Descent: We rapped the route. Supertopo mentions that there is another descent option if you want to top out, involving walking west and rapping a gully. Sorry I don't have more info.
To rap the route, you'll need 2 ropes, or a 70m and some shenanigans for the top rap.

First the beta for 2 ropes:
Rap from the tree atop P8, straight down to the fixed stopper anchor atop P7, 140'. Continue down the route, entirely on nice new ASCA bolted anchors. Passing the huge roof, you'll use 2 stations on Gold Wall, since Silent Line is too far left.

Beta for a single 70m rope: From P7 down, you're fine with a 70m, although be careful on P2, we had a skinny, stretchy rope and barely made it. If you rapped from P7, you wouldn't be missing too much climbing-wise, just a 5.9 chimney, but you would be missing the awesome view of Ribbon Falls. It is possible to rap from P8 with a 70m if you traverse hard left, back into the chimneys you just climbed, and get to a slung chockstone. One rap from here gets you back to the fixed stopped anchor atop P7.

Protection

You're rack depends on how much you plan on aiding. A party comfortably climbing Yosemite 5.11 can get by with a single rack to #3 Camalot, with doubles #0.4 to #2.
If you plan to aid the 5.11 and some 5.10, bring extra small gear (hybrid aliens useful), extra #2-3 Camalots, and a #4 Camalot.
Bring a full set of wires including RPs, again offsets are useful.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Taken on lead.
[Hide Photo] Taken on lead.
Vitaliy cruises the SPLITTER hands of P4 on Silent Line
[Hide Photo] Vitaliy cruises the SPLITTER hands of P4 on Silent Line
burly
[Hide Photo] burly
Gold Wall in red. The Silent Line splits off to the left about 300' below the roof, and rejoins Gold Wall at the roof.<br>
Photo Credit: Chris McNamara, Supertopo.
[Hide Photo] Gold Wall in red. The Silent Line splits off to the left about 300' below the roof, and rejoins Gold Wall at the roof. Photo Credit: Chris McNamara, Supertopo.
Julian Poush on the 3rd pitch traverse
[Hide Photo] Julian Poush on the 3rd pitch traverse
Overlay Silent Line.
[Hide Photo] Overlay Silent Line.
A decent view of El Cap from high on the Gold Wall.
[Hide Photo] A decent view of El Cap from high on the Gold Wall.
Vitaliy leading up into the maw. An amazing chimney exit awaits!
[Hide Photo] Vitaliy leading up into the maw. An amazing chimney exit awaits!
Silent line<br>
Richard Shore following P2
[Hide Photo] Silent line Richard Shore following P2

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Scott Bennett
Western North America
  5.10 C1
Sirius
Oakland, CA
 
[Hide Comment] I lead p1 and wished I had linked to 2! The belay on top of 1 is hanging and pretty brutal; on top of 2 is a good ledge. May 25, 2010
Michael Ybarra
on the road
[Hide Comment] Did this with the Reed topo and wondered when we got to the base why a party had fixed the first two pitches. I soon found out. 5.10, my ass. Aug 25, 2010
Rob Dillon
Tamarisk Clearing
[Hide Comment] Bring a 70, and jugs. Link 1 & 2, then leave jugs/aiders at the p2 anchor. Pick them up when you rap. The hanging belay is a crippler! Sep 2, 2010
Luke Stefurak
Chattanooga, TN
 
[Hide Comment] I had a 75M rope and the knots were just at the rings when rapping from P2 to the P1 anchor. I would suggest bringing two ropes and leaving the second one at the ground.

It is easy to rap from P7 to P2 with a 70m rope. At the P2 anchor fix a single 70m and it will reach the ground. Have the first person rappel and tie the second rope (which you left at the ground) onto to the rope that you just rappelled. (60m or 70m should work for the second rope)

The person at P2 can pull up the second rope and do a 2 rope rappel to the ground. Dec 12, 2012
Dustin Stephens
  5.11- C1
[Hide Comment] Awesome...one of the best handcracks in the Valley. Do NOT attempt to walk off!! Jul 23, 2013
Erik Rieger
Maine
 
[Hide Comment] Freeing the 5.11 start to P2 felt hard. If you can't do the move (I sure couldn't!), a quick C1/C2 placement leads to good free climbing. Might be worth mentioning this route is essentially a water groove. Oct 21, 2013
[Hide Comment] We were able to descend from top of P7 all the way to the ground on a single 70M. Knots were right at the chains on top of P1, though, so bring that second cord and leave it at the base in case your rope isn't as long. Link 1&2, and start free climbing in the vicinity of the knobs after a few aid moves above the P1 anchor. Handcracks for days! Jan 13, 2015
Vlad S
San Francisco, CA
  5.11- C1
[Hide Comment] I came prepared to aid only the bolt ladder, so we didn't bring jumars, thinking we could pass aiders to each other the 2nd could just quickly run up the bolts. Well, big mistake. The 2nd pitch is a vile pile and not really worth the effort. Bring jumars, folks! The rest of the route is better, but a total grovel and a bit of a sandbag. Be prepared for some suffering on most pitches and consider taping up to your elbows if you have small hands!

The traverse left on the 3rd pitch felt WAY reachy. I had to ninja stem and stretch my body completely horizontally, then cut my feet and swing wildly. Probably a 5.11- move. My wife at 5'1" had to do some 5.12 face climbing on imaginary holds to span the gap. The finger crack at the start of pitch 4 also felt closer to 11- than 10a. The rest of the pitches would be worth doing if they were in the middle of a good route, but stacked on top of one another, it just felt like one giant human-grinder that you are squeezing through.

Hold on to the ends of your ropes when you rap. It seems like lots of parties got theirs eaten by the cracks. Mar 16, 2015
Anthony H
Bellingham, WA
[Hide Comment] If you are weak like me and are planning to aid P2, here is some gear beta: bring a single set of offset cams (black/blue to yellow/red aliens), and don't bother to bring hooks/camhooks. With offset cams it's basically C1 the whole way and it can go fast. Start free climbing once you are in the chimney at the end of P2. Nov 4, 2015
Erik Sloan
Yosemite, CA
[Hide Comment] This is an awesome route. That said, it is a route characterized by deep cracks, so it favors those with big hands, or those who wear rubber crack gloves (which make your hands bigger). There is also a bit of flaring cracks on it, where you have to reach deep for the best jams - another example of how the route is easier for bigger, longer-armed, folks.

Regarding rappelling: stations were added around 2015 to facilitate one rope rapping with a 70m rope. The rap from the first anchor (the first belay, right off the ground) is 125', so folks would fix the rope and have the first person rap to the ground, and then the second would rap to a horn (more like a big piece of the mountain you can tie webbing through) 15 - 20 feet off the deck, and make an additional, short, rappel to the ground. It sounds like someone has removed the webbing from the horn, so folks are lugging up a second rope, which they leave on the ground, and then have the first person rappel the fixed rope to the ground and attach this second rope, which the second person pulls up and two-rope raps from the first anchor to the ground. That works, though it seems easier to just bring a piece of webbing to leave on the horn - apples and oranges I guess.

Really amazing climb in a stellar location. Woot!
Erik

Rockclimbyosemite.com - Yosemitebigwall.com Aug 6, 2017
Tony Lobay
San Carlos
 
[Hide Comment] As of June 17, 2018 there was a really aggressive crow (raven?) that appears to have made a nest or is otherwise occupying an area near the tunnel through on P5. My partner got about 20 feet up P4, and watched the crow land about 8' to his side. It kept crowing at him. It was not happy. It sat there crowing for a good 20 mins while we contemplated what to do. We lowered my partner to the belay, the crow flew away. Back at the belay (getting ready to rap) we could see the crow hanging out above the block at the tunnel through pitch. There seems to have been two or maybe three crows (we were Counting Crows for a while, but couldn't say for sure).

I've been chased off a route by a peregrine once. I've never seen an aggressive crow in 28 years of climbing in the valley.

This is a great route. I'd like to come back, but not get... murdered.

Also we left a really old green alien and a shiny biner up there. If anyone goes up there and feels like it, could I get my biner back?

Update: apparently this would have been a raven, not a crow. Nevermore. Jun 20, 2018
Dom R
Estes Park, CO
 
[Hide Comment] Really physical climbing up the whole thing. I thought the chimney was friggin stout, Kor you bastard. Aside from that it has some wild pitches, the handcrack is amazing, the 5.10 traverse is super wild, I found that climbing up above the flake you need to step left to and then down stemming out of the flare over to it to be the beta. And the belly crawl out of the chimeny is pretty unique and wild as well. worth a lap. Nov 18, 2018
Greg Gavin
SLC, UT
 
[Hide Comment] 80m is the beta for the raps. We banked skiers left a bit, and hit some of the stations (1 or 2?) that are shared with Gold Wall. Thus avoiding the shitty tree rap that is in the middle of the 200ft hands pitch. Apr 29, 2019
Bart Young
Boulder, CO
[Hide Comment] Does this route get soaked by the falls in the spring? May 2, 2019
Greg Gavin
SLC, UT
 
[Hide Comment] Bart - we just climbed it last week, and the falls were raging. Expect to get wet on the approach when within a few hundred feet of the wall, and to feel a slightly mist on your neck while aiding/freeing pitches 1 and 2. Once a couple hundred feet up (ie - the start of the badass hands pitches) you should be dry barring any extreme winds. Be sure to put your shoes under a boulder or you'll rap off to soaked socks and shoes like I did. May 2, 2019
Brian Cooper
Northern California
[Hide Comment] Definitely don't plan on rapping from P2 to P1 with a 70m rope! We came up 3 feet short and wasted a lot of time fixing that mistake. One option would be to carry maybe 20 feet of extra line. First person raps a fixed line from P2 to P1, attaches 20 foot line to 70m, fixes the end of the 20 foot line to the P1 anchor, second person threads rap rings with 70m line, then raps down the side opposite the fixed line (the 20 foot extension gives you enough to reach). Jul 1, 2019
Austin Roe
Sonora
 
[Hide Comment] Nick Stong got the crux .13a pitch on the 3rd or 4th try 4/11/21. Then lead free climb to pitch 3. We rapped down do to time.. Hes going back soon for the full free send. He did a sick dyno out right. Was that Dean's Style when he did it? Apr 11, 2021
Austin Donisan
San Mateo, CA
  5.10 C1+
[Hide Comment] The rappel from the top of the 8th pitch is only ~40', not 95' as in the Sloan topo.

The top 2 rappel anchors only have old tat on the bolts; they could use quicklinks and rings.

The guidebook rack is definitely a bit heavy. I didn't find the extra hand size pieces necessary if you're comfortable with 15' spacing on sinker 5.9 hands. The #5 could be placed on every pitch, but it was pretty unnecessary. If I were to climb it again:

1x 0.3-0.4
2x 0.5-3
1x 4
Set of offset cams for pitches 1-4
Offset nuts for pitches 1-2 Nov 3, 2021
Michael Vaill
Yosemite
[Hide Comment] One endless and beautiful splitter for pitch after pitch. Reminiscent of the stovelegs. Completely worth the hike! Do it! If these cracks weren't guarded by a little hike and a little aid climbing you'd have to wait in line every weekend. Apr 7, 2022
Jon.R
Tucson, AZ
 
[Hide Comment] My partner (6'2") and I (5'6") had pretty different opinions on the grades. The route felt pretty sandbagged to me. Recommend bringing the "aid" rack cams described above if you're on the shorter side and don't "cruise" Valley 5.11. This route is a great option if Gates of Delirium is too wet. P8 rap station is still tat and deserves quick links and rings. Apr 16, 2024
doug hartman
Oakland, CA
 
[Hide Comment] Just did this yesterday - Wow!
1st - spectacular route with spectacular rock quality! really clean rock all through. Big thanks to those putting in the work for such nice bolted belays and an easy rap route.

2nd - if it's possible to get lost, i'll do it... for the approach, there's a dirt parking lot immediately after the meadow, this isn't the lot. Go to the next one on the right that is labelled with a "V7" mile marker to the right of the road. Hike on the east side (right side) of the parking lot and you'll see the old paved road. The trail is really nice and not bad at all. A few hundred feet from the top there's a left going (westward) switchback with a flat segment and a cairn marking a split to either continue left and turn right to go uphill. The left fork takes you to Silent Line, the right fork goes to the Amphitheater and Gates of Delirium. I of course went the wrong way and then wrestled trees and manzanita for 10 minutes to get back left to Silent Line.

3rd - to counter the comparison with Central Pillar of Frenzy, this is just as a spectacular route, but waaaaay more physical, so just don't want people thinking that this will feel as relaxed as CPoF. Besides the thin aid sections and the splitter hand crack of p4, the entire thing is essentially a flaring offwidth (protected with a hand crack in the back), so it'll be much more enjoyable if you have some basic wide skills. Having said that - it's completely easy to protect, and easy to pull through any section if you need to, so it's great to practice your wide skills and with all bolted belays there's minimal commitment. It felt much more like the NEB of Higher Cathedral Rock than CPoF (and with bolted belays, probably a good warm up for the NEB).

4th - bring knee pads!!! lots of knee scumming through those deep flaring cracks

5th - as much work as it is... it's 100% worth it to belly-crawl out of that window - have definitely never done anything like that before. so rad

6th - don't need a #5 unless you're doing P8. you might want 2x#4s for P2, but otherwise you could get by with doubles to #1, triples of 2-3s, and a single #4. I did use three small metolius offsets (2/3, 1/2, and 0/1 i think?) and a black totem was really nice too!

Thanks to all for all the bolted rap anchors, made for a really nice experience! our single 70m got us down to the top of P2, and then someone had a fixed line that let us get back to the base, but you'd likely need a tag line or some cord as Erik mentions to get from anchor of P2 to P1. Oct 25, 2024