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kev
climber
CA
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Nefarius,
Glad you appreciate my humor! Maybe I should have suggested something on Balloon Dome due to the short approach, or maybe the Book of Revelation....I seem to remember something in the description about following the faint wash (which is long since gone from the place that Spencer put it).
kev
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Clouds Rest:
We tried to follow the Kamps/Couch route keeping in mind the style of route finding which they would have been employing on such a big feature back in the day.
Rick Cashner gave us a clue about the big orange boulder at the base, and from there we picked out a line no harder than 5.8, which had a few turns and it and took us all the way to the top.
We descended from Olmsted Point and went pretty much straight down Tenaya Canyon to the base.
Here is the picture provided on the My Favorite Things link,
look how similar the two lines are.
I carefully studied their route descriptions and photographs and I swear I can hardly make heads or tails of it!
This just goes to show how big that place is. We did see features along the way that would be 5.9/10 but we did not go into those.
I'm pretty sure the the line they did is a bit to the left of the line we picked out, perhaps sharing some pitches mid--height.
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Gene
climber
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Tarbuster,
Looks like one of those "Rope up at the bottom and follow the line of least resistance" routes. Looks fun. Thanks for the pic.
GM
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AnnieMae
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2008 - 03:52pm PT
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"The route is Golden Bear. It has one definitely 5.10 pitch and several areas of 5.9. But the majority of the climbing in 17 pitches is 5.7 to 5.8. Beautiful location, beautiful, huge slab. I did a topo that I think is quite good. I don't have it here, but I'll try to post it when I get home."
Excellent! I'd love to see it. Just what we are looking for.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Yes Gene,
That is exactly what we did; we climbed very quickly, but at key points we took great care to unlock it without it being too difficult and that was very rewarding.
My partner was a guy named Tom Carter.
A nice day out.
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WandaFuca
Gym climber
San Fernando Lamas
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I'm planning on rapping in from the top of Clouds Rest to create the perfect route for you.
I will write up an article and provide detailed information for all. This will give everyone an alternative to the selfish obscurist routes that no one does because they don't have route finding skills. Now you will have a choice: adventure or sport.
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Gene
climber
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I'm having fun with this thread.
Re: Clouds Rest - Does it offer the longest moderate free climbs in California? Is there anything down in SoYo or SEKI that is comparable in length that goes at a moderate grade? For the right climb, I can suspend my 20 minute approach rule.
Thanks,
Geriatric Gene
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Wanda, please!
How do you expect us to find the start?!
You may want to blaze the trees on the way out.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Favorite Things has a ton of hiking and would be hard for anybody but a speed climber-runner to link in a day with Hitchhiker, even if you simulcimbed both.
Hitchhiker would make a good linkup with something though cause the approach is short and you can drive away from the top. I can do it in 8 hours (which as far as I know is still the record cause Hans missed all the crux pitches when he went up there in about 6 hours)
Hitchhiker is wet until mid-summer
Peace
Karl
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AnnieMae
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 2, 2008 - 04:24pm PT
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Karl: Talking mid May, is it wet as in totally unclimbable or as in a pitch or two may not be that fun but you can still work your way through.
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Gene,
I suspect you are right. Long romp!
Kev,
What have you got against the Book of Rev. approach? Bushwhack free if you do it right and don't follow Spencer - as Gene knows.
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kev
climber
CA
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Nate,
Nothing againist it at all - totally bushwack free if you don't follow Spencer. I was merely suggesting following Spencer...
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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"Karl: Talking mid May, is it wet as in totally unclimbable or as in a pitch or two may not be that fun but you can still work your way through."
I dunno. Depends on the season. I think it would be worth a try
peace
Karl
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Here's the Golden Bear topo. The route is on Bunnell Point, which is on topo maps of the upper part of Little Yosemite Valley. The route is also described in the Secor Guide. The topo doesn't tell how to get there, but the trail up the Merced River goes right to it (although the rock and the trail are on the opposite sides of the river). Aside from this route on this formation, there is so dam much other rock up there. It's an amazing place.
If the topo won't print out from this site, I'd be happy to attach it to an email to anyone that asks.
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Gene
climber
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Thanks Mtnyoung. I'll be calling on you for the topo if I head up that way.
GM
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Oh, and I should give credit properly. I noted on the side of the document that the topo was prepared by myself and David Harden. This is an error. I did the Bastille Buttress topo at about the same time using Dave's as a draft. On Golden Bear, Harden and I climbed the route together, but it was a topo by one of the first ascentionist's that I took with us and modified/detailed. So, topo by Bart O'Brian and Brad Young is proper.
Does is matter much, though?
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Brad, do you or anyone else know the names and any existing routes on these two domes southwest of Bunnell?
Curious.
(edit) Oh, are they the Cascade Cliffs?
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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I do not know of any routes on those domes west of Bunnell that are on the same (south) side of the river. but there is some some pretty impressive rock there (your photo shows some of it, but it's more impressive close up). West of Bunnell, on the other side of the river (north/trail side) Dave mentioned an old 1960s Chouinard plus partner route (or someone from that era). I think that route is in the Roper Valley guidebook. Or his Sierra book.
We did the route car to car in a day and my focus when hiking up through there was on our goal, so my memory on the subject is dim (it was headlamps by the time we were coming out). I'd be happy to put you in touch with Dave. He's one of the most knowledgeable people I know about climbing in the Sierra back country.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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BTW, in Nate's photo, Bunnell is the huge slab toward the top of the extreme left side of the photo. Sorry if we're hijacking your thread, AnnieMae.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Here is a slightly larger version of Brad's topo for Bunnell Point - Golden Bear, and a full resolution PDF below.
http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/goldenbear.pdf
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Let us know!