Christine

Christine takes a direct line to the summit via stellar (mostly hands) cracks on great granite. I dare say it’s as good as cardinal pinnacle! 

Pitch 1 (5.8, 40m) Start on the left side of the first rocky ledge, left of the start for “Mindy.” You should be below the righthand side of the first massive roof. Stem and jam up through blocky terrain surmounting a few bulges until reaching a pair of twin wide cracks. Climb these to the large ledge above and belay on its left side.

Pitch 2 (5.9, 25 m) Climb the obvious hands crack. Turn the roof on its left. Continue up hands and cut right to a great belay ledge on the right under a massive roof. Belay here. 

Pitch 3 (5.9+, 55m) I hope you like cracks, and roofs, and cracks through roofs because this is what you’re here for. Pull the roof on the right and climb the single crack system 55 meters to a massive belay ledge. Mostly hands. You can split this pitch up into two 5.9 pitches with the multitude of perfect belay ledges throughout the pitch. Triples .75-#2 is nice if doing the entire pitch. 

Pitch 4 (5.9+, 25m) Climb a nice hand crack on the right side of the head wall. Continue up through some delicate face climbing where the crack peters out. Step left on a ledge and climb twin cracks through the center of the face to the ridge and belay.

Getting There:

“Lamorck” is the subpeak visible just behind the left side of Upper Lamarck Lake. Take the Lamarck Lakes Trail to Upper Lamarck Lake. When the trail forks to either go to the lake proper or head left to the Col, head left, cross the creek, and after about 100 yards or so leave the main trail (37.21237, -118.64484) and start heading straight towards “Lamorck” on hills to the left of the lake. Once off of the Lamarck Col Trail, cairns will lead you to the base of the boulder field. Gain the boulder field and head via the easiest line to the base of the crag (there are multiple easy options through the boulder field). The base of the route is (37.20428, -118.65626). It’s about 3.85 miles from the North Lake Trailhead Parking to the base of the wall. 

Descent:

From the top of the route, head left (S/ SE) across 3rd and 4th terrain to roughly the high point on the ridge. Trend down and left on ledges from here to easier ground. Either link up with the Mt. Lamarck Col Trail just to the South and descend or from the easier ground contour down and left below the face of the wall down talus and gravel to the base of the climb (this descent starts near here: 37.20155, -118.65686). In early season, this second option will be snow covered. You are able to see if this descent option is available from the Trailhead or Upper Lamarck Lake. If snow covered, I recommend leaving a pack hanging near the Col Trail to grab on your descent rather than going back to the base or climbing with your gear so you can do the loop. 

OR

Head left (South) along the ridge for about 15 ft. to a rappel station (37.20434, -118.65656). Rappel down and skiers right 35m to the next station under a slight overhang. Then straight down and slightly (skiers) left to another station under a large overhang (it’s the third large overhang you rap over) 34m down. Head straight down and slightly skiers left from here to another station on a low angle slab, 32m. One last rappel drops you at the base of the wall. Scramble skiers left to your gear. The rappels are fixed nuts and tat so consider bringing some tat if you want to do the rappels in case the webbing/ cord needs replacing.  

The route climbs the center of the “Lamorck” sub peak to its highest (visible) point. Look for two massive roofs just left of the obvious lightning bolt OW crack of “Mindy”. The route climbs up through stellar (mostly hands) cracks to the right of these roofs for the upper part of the climb. We are calling this the “Ladies of Lamorck Wall.”

2x .3-#3
Optional #4
Set of nuts
Triples in .75-#2 are nice if you don’t break up the 55m P3