Trip Report
Spring '17 Pictures: First Ascents, Descents and Nonsense in Sequoia
Monday June 12, 2017 2:45pm
Haven't been climbing in a while with all of this snow, but the season has started so here's something to hopefully get you stoked!

I can't think of words at the moment so here's a rundown in picture form, feel free to ask questions that the pics don't answer.

The Ascent

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Credit: limpingcrab
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Meet Castle Rocks, as most people see them from Moro Rock or the General's Highway. The legendary spire, beautiful fin, and mysterious back towers.

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Now meet the lesser-seen east face of the Fin, from the High Sierra Trail. 1,000 feet of (allegedly) unclimbed stone. Our objective.

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Out we go to the most sweetestest campsite of all campsites on top of the Fin via the upper approach.

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Rippidy rapping the old bolts of Silver Lining on the west face.

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Stroll around the north end, past the North Buttress route by Dave Nettle, Richard (Dick) Leversee and Kevin Daniels. Note: to find a first ascent you generally have to walk PAST a route by these guys.

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Easy decision.

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Credit: Vitaliy
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Credit: Vitaliy
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Credit: Vitaliy
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Easy, breezy, beautiful!

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Cutting Edge: 5.9 fun and we didn't even need the dumb, heavy bolt kit on The Fin!

Funny that the only signature in the summit register that I placed in 2013 was from Vitaliy and rfshore's ascent of Siver lining a few weeks ago.

The Nonsense
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Meet the back towers (N->S The Keep, The little Spire, South Guard, The Ax and Amphitheater Dome)
Looks like a fun idea to traverse all of them on our way home with our full packs of climbing and backpacking gear, right? *fart noise*

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Vitaliy says bye bye, camp.

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Credit: Vitaliy
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"downclimb over here, don't worry, the holds are big." -Vitaliy

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One high point down, yay!

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Now what?

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Credit: Vitaliy
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Probably time to rope up.

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Chimney with packs :(

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Little Spire doesn't seem too busy.

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Rappin' some Nettle/Thau bolts.

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"This way goes, we don't need the rope." -Vitaliy

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Ok, now it's time to rap.

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Credit: Vitaliy
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Well that doesn't look fun with big packs, let's go around.

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We made it!

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Credit: Vitaliy
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And another.

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And another!?

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Finally, the last one!

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Credit: Vitaliy
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Well that took way the crap longer than expected. Not sure how 5 high points turned into roughly 150!?

*Note to future traversers, bring more than 0.5 liters of water per person and don't bring two giant packs. Also, it's freakin' sweet to tag all of those summits!

The Descent (OT)
Figured I'd throw this in since it rounded out my title.

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Meet Jeff, splitboarding is his life in the mountains and he has snowboarded 45 consecutive months. He has been eyeing a line for 8 years that he has never seen filled in and in good conditions. Supposedly a skier hiked the bottom half but it has not had a full descent. Each time I go out with Jeff it is scary.

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To get to the line we had to ride Emerald Express near Pear Lake.

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I am a park rat, but I survived and we headed towards the main objective.

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#kickingbootsfortheboys

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Scraping knees at 50 degrees.

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Happy to survive my first ever first descent! Well, he thought it was and he's the expert. I was just along for the ride, get it!? Aster Express Couloir.

Hope you enjoyed, your turn!

  Trip Report Views: 3,685
limpingcrab
About the Author
limpingcrab is Daniel Jeffcoach, nice to meet you.

Comments
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
  Jun 12, 2017 - 02:56pm PT
Nice going....
It's good to see the Castle Rocks getting some love....

dirt claud

Social climber
san diego,ca
  Jun 12, 2017 - 02:56pm PT
Always enjoy your TRs Limpingcrab. Looks like another fun one. Thanks.
shylock

Social climber
mb
  Jun 12, 2017 - 03:11pm PT
thanks for replacing the bolts on silver lining.
ec

climber
ca
  Jun 12, 2017 - 06:53pm PT
limpingcrab,
Remember that I was the one that showed you that route was there...

Nice!

 ec
limpingcrab

Gym climber
Minkler, CA
Author's Reply  Jun 12, 2017 - 07:20pm PT
thanks for replacing the bolts on silver lining.
Errr...Ummm... About that...

They're still old.

But, Vitaliy might be headed back soon so he should do it!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Jun 12, 2017 - 09:51pm PT
Hard work homez. Usually dress up in nursing scrubs to make every dollar I could get. :) I will mostly be working this summer, not gonna climb as much. Do have a trip to alaska for 2.5 weeks. Time which I had to try hard to get off. But I don't mind, working in ER is challenging and exciting. Get to make a difference every day, and learn a ton of new stuff. All good.
Thanks to Daniel for being a great friend and a climbing partner. Credit where credit is due, he let me stay over at his place here in Visalia when I was going through the interview process. Proud to be able to call this awesome person a friend.
Pea-dub

Ice climber
sun diego
  Jun 12, 2017 - 10:54pm PT
Sorry I did that last year.
I should have informed you. Instead of rappelling I down climbed.
Bare foot of course but a gallon of water.
Hope that's not too upsetting.
Solo also .you can keep the name
Your welcome.

Nice

Working in ER. Keep up the good work. I visited one last year glad that there are a few around.
Risk

Mountain climber
Marooned, 855 miles from Tuolumne Meadows
  Jun 12, 2017 - 11:10pm PT
Good lord! If this isn't a "Fresno recruitment poster," what is? I grew up there and maybe moving back. After all, access within an hour+ of stuff like this is impossible to beat. Even the Valley is an easy day trip!

Great TR!
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jun 13, 2017 - 03:22am PT
Awesome Tr
Thank you!
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
  Jun 13, 2017 - 05:35am PT
What fun! Rock, snow, and great scenery!
Nick Danger

Ice climber
Arvada, CO
  Jun 13, 2017 - 05:40am PT
WOW, nicely done up and down. Hope the rest of your summer goes as well.
cheers
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
  Jun 13, 2017 - 08:23am PT
Nice. Regarding "Easy decision," did you consider the options to the right or the left of the big corner?
Paul W

Trad climber
Three Rivers, CA
  Jun 13, 2017 - 12:21pm PT
Awesome report! I've got to get out to castle rocks!
splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
  Jun 13, 2017 - 06:16pm PT
fully approve of this TR. Love the chutin' the most. To many things to climb and too many lines to ride down there
limpingcrab

Gym climber
Minkler, CA
Author's Reply  Jun 13, 2017 - 09:59pm PT
Thanks everyone!

Nice. Regarding "Easy decision," did you consider the options to the right or the left of the big corner?
Ya, we looked around for a while at many possibilities but we had seen the big system from a distance so we were already planning on that. Also, we kinda missed our alpine start so we chose the option least likely to end in bolting on lead.
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
  Jun 14, 2017 - 07:49am PT
Cool. Nice looking possibilities. Are you going back?
limpingcrab

Gym climber
Minkler, CA
Author's Reply  Jun 14, 2017 - 12:19pm PT
I'm sure I will 'cause I love it out there and can see it from home so it's always on my mind. Probably not this year though, not enough days and too many places to check out before I start climbing the same place twice!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Jun 14, 2017 - 10:27pm PT
We did not consider any other options, as EC told Daniel (a delusion or his dream?) that that's the route. Credit where credit is due. He only forgot to draw us a topo and recommend the proper rack.
Grippa

Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
  Jun 16, 2017 - 10:58am PT
The climbing looked chossy and mediocre.

The skiing looked MEGA SPLITTER!!!
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Jun 16, 2017 - 12:08pm PT
Congrats to two guys who are:

1. basically unemployed
2. Seem to enjoy long hikes and
3. are apparently immune to poison oak.

If I had those attributes I'd probably get more stuff done out there. When does Courtright open again? I want to car camp, climb slabs and fish between climbs.
limpingcrab

Gym climber
Minkler, CA
Author's Reply  Jun 21, 2017 - 09:05am PT
The climbing looked chossy and mediocre.

The skiing looked MEGA SPLITTER!!!
Watch your mouth, it's called snowboarding!


Micronut, you can always just walk to Courtright :)
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Jun 21, 2017 - 05:56pm PT
bidda bidda! [translated roughly as mumbling something about impressive]
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