[Hide Comment] Chad recommended this route to me too. I've spent 38 years of climbing avoiding routes like this one. It will take a while for the memory to fade.
Take knee pads. Mine are a mess. The route takes more time than half dome RR. Don't let the moderate grade fool you. After pitch 7, you are half way done. A few notes. We didn't use the recommended belays on every pitch. We didn't run full pitches together either. The first few pitches are easy. Turning the roof on pitch 3 looks like a horror, but it is very easy on the left by way of a finger crack. The top of the safety valve gives you an idea of what is to come. Expect many feet of this type climbing. The OW on pitch 5 is easy. Pitch 6 is odd and wonderful stemming. My partner said that going straight up the OW squeeze was 5.11. Going around right was easier. Pitch 7 (the rotten chimney) is easy, but dangerous and intimidating toward the end. A yellow totem cam might have made it R instead of X. Pitch 8, with the good bolt, is dangerous. Imagine an open flaring green chimney with a bad fall (before reaching the bolt). This stretch was at my limit. After this, more flaring squeeze. Pitch 9 Starts with 70 feet of flaring squeeze. The bolts on the topo are useless, but cams fit in the back. About 70 feet up, tunnel in a tight squeeze, and then back out above chock stones. This pitch is hard. Pitch 10 is pure joy, steep hand and finger cracks.

We took a set of offset nuts from about #4, double cams to #1, and a single "2,3,4,5,6. Seemed about right, and allowed us to make two or three piece belay anchors. Two quarts of water were plenty, but expect to burn 1000s of calories.

The Rap map isn't accurate. However, it is easy to find the anchors. Don't use the anchors out left on the second rap. The good anchors are hidden lower in the chimney (straight down) The only rap station that wasn't straight down was second from the end. Easy to see, 150 ft, and a bit climbers left. A few hanging belays are very uncomfortable. Jun 29, 2015

[Hide Comment] This was an awesome route -- A few notes about it to supplement the various forums on Supertopo/MP

Link 1/2 (100ft Simul)
Mostly trivial climbing, there is an improbable looking roof on pitch 1 seen from the ground, climb up to this and move left at the base of it.
Link 3/4
Bypass Offwidth roof by climbing crack on left -- easy. Safety valve starts easy, ends harder, protects with #6
Link 5/6
5 is mostly trivial until Super wide stem, stay in middle crack using the right crack for help (left off). I found start of pitch 6 to be easy, you can wide stem the entire lieback, protects with .75/#1, this leads to easier O/W.
Link 7/8 (50ft of simul)
If you link these two there will be some rope drag at the end.7 I found not rotten, theres just not really any pro in the beginning, but its very easy. Some harder climbing at the end of 7, start of 8, but it can be protected. I thought the offwidth flare at the end of 8 was the easiest on the route, but could have just been my style. Lieback at the end with back against wall.
Pitch 9
Crux offwidth for us, long thrutchy flare off the belay protects with both 6's, to an easier squeeze above. Tunnel behind the chockstone, its bigger than the Harding Slot, but I still had to take off my helmet, and extend my knot.
Pitch 10
This ones funny. easy climbing up to the 5.9+ thin hands, short enough, place a #1 high and go for it. We went right here on less than desirable rock to a traverse on shitty rusty pitons and a rusty fixed nut. This is not confidence inspiring, but you can place a #4 directly after traverse. from here its a wide stem with a discontinuous thin hand/finger crack on the right. This is way harder than 5.9, or at least felt harder at the end of this route.

Rack I would take doing it again:
1 .2
2 .3-#3
1 #4, #5
2 #6
no nuts

This route could really be cleaned, we found more tat on this route than ive ever seen. Unfortunately we were not prepared to haul a bag of tat off the route. Bring a knife and a trash bag! Aug 6, 2019

[Hide Comment] A few comments for this route: 1) No pitch (as far as we went, top of pitch 8) is really "easy." I disagree that anything is trivial, although some sections (like pitch 5) are much easier to protect than others. 2) Be prepared for slick chimney, some crumbly feet. We ended up bailing because we were tired, it was getting late, and pitch 8 and 9 could have consequences if you fell in those harder flare spots. 3) For bailing: it can be done! We successfully kept both our ropes by strategically picking places to rap. We found some old rope in there and made a couple new chock slings. However, we were lucky. Any pitch could easily eat your rope. There are no real "anchors" except for the first couple pitches. At the top of pitch 8, there were supposedly two bolts, but there are not bolts! There is a ledge, and a piton 5 feet or so above the ledge. But don't look for bolts. Otherwise, nothing much on this route to help you in terms of fixed gear or anchors. Try not to bail if possible, but if you need to, you can.
I think this route is really interesting from a historical perspective, and had a few cool sections (like beginning of pitch 6). Oct 22, 2019

[Hide Comment] One of the very best routes in Yosemite. Amazing climbing in an unreal location. If you think you can do it, give it a go. But beware it’s solid 10c wide crack on the wide crack scale. If you’re mentally ready, it’s amazing.

In terms of beauty, adventure it’s incredible. Better than the Steck, DNB, or Rostrum. It’s super out there. You think about how long ago the FA was, it’s mind blowing.

Now in difficulty it’s a harder line. A step up from the Steck. In some ways it's kind of a 5.10 wide for 5.12 trad climbers kind of route. (You don’t have to be capable of valley 5.12, but it’s really hard.) The profile of other commenters illustrates this - see 5.13 climber (stevecurtis) talking about some pitches being at his limit. I'm a 5.10/5.11 climber, but survived. Though, our strongest leader was a 5.13 trad climber. We did have a Merlin #8 along - that cut the danger factor down significantly. A 5.10 aid-baller could probably get up this with a cheat stick, and a #8 or two.

We did not end up linking pitches. We got started a bit late - 9AM started climbing. Topped out at 10PM. We were a group of 3 - the 3rd came up on mini trax. We had 2 packs, pulled them up most of the time, but did have 2nd/3rd bring them up occasionally. Nearly every pitch is sustained. The climbing is enjoyable if you're in the mindset for it. If you're just not having a good time, then bail.

P1 - grassy on the start, but gets better. Sustained 5.9. Least enjoyable pitch.
P2 - up and over a 5.9 roof, then easy (easiest pitch on the route). Starts getting fun.
P3 - two options - recommend going left. Our leader went up the wide in the middle - dirty and burns energy.
P4 - Safety Valve pitch. This was easier 20 years ago. I led it then. Could barely follow this time. Dunno. Felt harder than Ahab.
P5 - Wider pitch - felt closer to 10a. I got going without the full rack. That slowed me down - pulled up the #5.
P6 - A 10a pitch. Fun. But beware the small chock stone after the crux moves.
P7 - 5.9 fun chimney. The #8 and the #6 made this reasonable.
P8 - OK, this is where sh*t gets real. John led this. John is a 5.13 climber these days, generally not afraid of anything. He stepped on the bolt. Yep. Kind of hard. The upper part felt 5.10+. Not a squeeze, more a stem. So, enjoyable. But on lead, scary. (Someone more aid climber-like could maybe get past this with Totems + a cheat stick.)
P9 - It was 8PM at night by time I got going on this, had a pack on. After 10 feet I opted to pull up the second pack and jug the line. I really want to go back for this pitch. The pitch ends at a really cool cave. Nice bivy/nap spot. This is probably not where the Harding Hole starts - I think that starts higher up.
P10 - OK, this pitch gets weird. Up, then across right, up, back left, clip a sketchy pin, then into an alcove I think where the harding hole goes, then up a 5.10b/c finger crack.

Rack - we had a standard rack of double cams (aliens, totems, bd's mixed) to #2, 1x #3, 1x#4, 1x #5, 1x#6, 1x#8 Merlin. We got lucky, found a 2nd #4 on route. Were happy. We used the #8 quite a number of times.

Note: the first time I tried this we only had up to a #4, and no knee pads - didn't go so well, we bailed at p6 that time.

Notch Rappel:
From the notch, work your way out to the belay bolts for the spire. They're on a little ledge. This is the first rap anchor. Rap straight down, not to climber's left. The second rap anchor is just over a lip. There are a couple bolts. If for the second anchor, you find yourself on a sandy big ledge that you could bivy on, you are off route! The sandy ledge is off to the left, it has a bolt and a pin. That is a belay anchor for Lost Arrow Direct. Do not go that way - we almost did, would have been a very long night. The rest of the raps go down a wide chimney system, then down the face.

Also - WTF is up with all the tat rope in the chimney?? I've never seen anything like it. I think there were three abandoned ropes, all caught up in chock stones. Bring a knife, cut it loose, let nature flush it down the chimney. Or better, haul it out. I didn't have a knife. Nov 12, 2019

[Hide Comment] Tony's comments about this 5.10a route is little bit dramatic. Route for "5.13 climber", "5.12 trad climber" , "dangerous" etc. If I read those comments 8 years ago, I [ 5.10 climber] probably. would never tried it. But fortunately I read other mortals's reports for this stout 10a old classic route. For this route you need long day endurance, experience with chimneys , arm-baring and chicken winging at 5.10 level , have a long day to climb [ spring is the best] - no rush, no trashing and save energy for all 10 pitches. Knee and elbow pads too. You can take as mach big gear as you want since the best strategy is to take trail rope and haul your backpack with shoes and water. What you does not need for this route is finger boarding strength of 5.12 crimper climber Nov 13, 2019

[Hide Comment] Phillip Bay's rack is good; substituting a #7 for the 2nd #6 was nice but not super necessary. A few small nuts to back up the 1st 2 anchors would be good if you might bail.

P4 is the first real taste of the route, and if it's anything other than a small challenge it's probably wise to bail. Pitches 8&9 are worlds harder. The 5.9 generally felt 10- and the 10a felt 10+.

I didn't see a piton for the traverse on p6. I went up to a higher one that seemed off route.

The crux on p8 is extremely unpleasant. You have to crank on chossy, sharp, chiseled pockets while smearing on kitty litter.

The anchor on top of p8 doesn't have a bolt like the topo shows but needs one. The only gear is in a hollow flake and the climbing off the belay is some of the hardest on the route.

For following the rappel route look for 1 new wedge bolt at every anchor. The 2st 2 rappels are only 80'. Then a few ~140' that might go with an 80m. The final 2 are ~90'. Oct 27, 2025