BETA PHOTO: A topo of our route up the East Buttress of Mt Goo...
Description
8-9 pitches in most guidebooks, this route can be done fairly easily in 7 pitches with a 60m rope. Here's how the pitches break down to do it in 7 pitches.
Approach the base of the climb, and scramble up and left on the 4th-class slab to a good ledge below an obvious corner system with a thin-hands crack on the right wall. Rope up there.
P1: 190' (5.8) Climb the open book with the thin-hands crack to a ledge, then up another open book with a fist crack in the corner.
P2: 185' (5.9) Traverse left across the face, looking for an old piton. Sparse gear protects the traverse, with the crux move of the pitch dropping down across the chimney. Cross the chimney and climb the face to the left (small pro).
P3: 70' Climb up loose, easy 5th class to the base of the steep corner.
P4: 185' (5.9) Head straight up the corner stemming and jamming in the finger cracks, then climb the hand crack/chimney above.
P5: 190' Easy 5th class up the ridge. Communication is difficult.
P6: 80' (5.7) Climb up and right to a 5.7 hand crack to a tight tunnel through to the South. Belay on ledge.
P7: 110' (5.8) Climb the short OW straight up the ridge and follow the ridge to the 5.8 mantel onto the summit block. Easy to bail out left from the start of this pitch.
Many bail slings exist on the route ranging in quality. Bring your own bail slings if the weather looks suspicious. DO NOT bail into the gully to the south as it is a bowling alley of rockfall. Rap directly down the route.
Location
Once on top, the easiest descent is obvious - the talus slope to the South-East leading to scree slopes that drop you right next to Bishop Lake. Don't leave anything at the base of the route because the descent does not take you back to that location.
Protection
1 set of nuts, small cams (set of TCUs recommended), a few mid-sized cams to #3 Camalot, and a few hexes.
Had a hard time finding the official start. The one we did felt 5.10. It was harder than any other pitch on the climb. Great sand descent. Very fun running down little sand chutes. The easiest descent I've done in the Sierras. Goode route to do in a day.
Did this route on 8/4, it's really good. On the traverse pitch, we went straight up after climbing around the first arete. This puts you at the bottom of the loose third class. Kind of a grunt with a .9+/.10- OW crux. We climbed out onto the talus covered ledge near the bottom of the 2nd to last pitch and got off-route again. This time we were rewarded with a fantastic zig-zag crack that goes up the clean face left of a pillar and right of a nasty looking OW splitter, right off the middle of the big ledge. Pull some overhanging .10 jug/crack moves to gain the crack/ramp directly or climb up the side of the lefthand pillar and step over to the ramp. Very fun diagonalling crack moves ensue, awkward but very fun at .9+ probably.
did a version in 1996 w/ Lane Taglio. missed the 4th class approach pitch and went straight up a dihedral from a pretty good bergschrund (below start of traverse)-this was the crux pitch. Had lunch on a sweet ledge in the sun above the (not too) ugly chimney. then on pitch 6 we climbed a nice hand crack hidden behind a huge flake, this took us to a final short blocky pitch and the summit. I remember sleeping the night before at Saddlebag lake and the mosquitos were horrible!
RSS Feed
Slideshow
