This is a classic long-day alpine route on good rock with some unique features, not least of which is a Tyrolean traverse. Most people start from an obvious crack in a left-facing dihedral (as seen in Mike Morley's picture here near a big grey scar, some distance (300'? 500'?) from the base of the snowfield and the start of Dark Star. The main drawback is the descent through Contact Pass, though you could bypass that by traversing to Gayley and Sill...
This route has many variations and it's wise to take a topo unless you've climbed a lot on Temple. A good topo can be found in Croft's book or the High Sierra Supertopo book (the latter has some errors). However, Bruce Bindner (R.I.P.) posted a better topo right here; it's the best I've seen and you will appreciate it once on the route.
The rock on the route is overall pretty solid, but there are plenty of loose blocks that could kill you if you got careless. It would be a good idea to start early (regardless of whether you plan the ascent car-to-car or from a camp site) because Temple is plenty exposed to electrical storms. When Scott and I climbed the route, a storm blew in after we had passed the crux, my hair stood up, and the rope started making crackling noises... luckily for us the storm changed directions and did not get any nastier. Check the weather beforehand!
Location
The first pitch of the route can be seen in Mike Morley's picture among the 'Beta photos'. It is near a large grey scar and a says uphill from the toe of the Dark Star buttress. It's a good idea to start early and go fast, because the descent requires some attention; Contact Pass is unpleasant no matter how you approach it. A single-rope rappel from the rightmost rappel station should plop you down onto the scree, and from there it's mostly slogging back to the snowfield and your campsite (or the trail and your car).
If you're camping, a good idea is to pitch your tent at Second Lake, and then walk over in the afternoon to kick steps in the soft snow leading up to the base of the route. In the morning the steps will have hardened. Going car-to-car, a set of lightweight aluminum crampons will be helpful in early season.
Protection
Alpine rack -- some nuts, a few cams, many slings.
We always camp as close to the base as possible, it is a bit of a hike from 2nd (and even 3rd) Lake.
Water is usually not an issue with glacial melt. You can often crawl behind the glacier to approach this route on loose/sandy rock. This obliviates the need for axes/crampons.
Contact Pass can get messy quick, after you dropped down from the buttress proper (scary 4th or a rappel) I recommend that you "stay high and right"--don't get drawn into the large talus.
Alternately, if there is enough snow you can glissade large portions of Contact nearer to the buttress.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Jun 13, 2007
Fantastic route!
We camped at Third Lake and that worked well for us, but Second Lake also works. From Third Lake, it is a mere 45-minute hike up a talus slope to the base of the steep snowfield. Getting up the snowfield might be the crux of the route, depending on the conditions. With only approach shoes (no crampons or boots) and one ice axe each, we were able to kick/chop steps, but it cost us over an hour to reach the rope-up ledge. From there, you can toss your axe and hope it reaches the base of the snowfield to retrieve on your descent.
The route: after ascending the snowfield for a few hundred feet, gain a rock band and scramble up to a large ledge. Walk to the far right edge of the ledge and rope up at the base of a left-facing corner system. Ascend this (5.6). The next 2-3 pitches are 3rd/easy 4th class scrambling. Another 3 full pitches brings you to the top of the Second Gendarme, where you will need to set up a tyrolean traverse to cross! This is the most fun and memorable part of the route. Toss a loop of rope across the gap, aiming for a horn of rock about 20' on the other side. Once you have successfully looped it, secure both ends of the rope on your side, and tyrolean across the gap. Re-rig for the second to retrieve your rope. From here, more scrambling and a couple of short rappels brings you to the route's crux - a steep 5.9 hand and fist crack on the left side of the arete. Climb this, then traverse right at a slung block (crux). This section is rated 5.10a in the Croft guidebook. Continue up crack system to easier ground. Several more easy pitches (mostly 5.5ish) from here along the sometimes knife-edge ridge lead to 4th class and eventually 3rd class to the summit.
Descent involves one single-rope rap to Contact Pass.
After Bruce posted his topo, I could hardly be excused for failing to update the route description, and so I've revised it to include all of the detailed information everyone here has contributed.
It's a great route and I certainly enjoyed it (although the electrical storm that paid us a visit scared the shit out of me).
By Sirius From: Oakland, CA Sep 23, 2008 rating: 5.10a
Hard-pressed to think of a route I've enjoyed more. Absolutely stellar.
One tip: bring about 5 or 6 feet of untied webbing if you plan to do the left (5.9 crack to face traverse) version of the crux. You'll be glad you did when you find the tied sling currently in place.
Know also that there are many errors in the ST topo - Croft is a much better source for this climb.
We simuled every pitch except the crux, and still did the descent in the dark. This is a (gloriously) long route.
426's advice to stay high and right in Contact is gold, and crucial, especially if you descend in the dark.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Jan 30, 2009
Fun route, very long, should keep you going for a while! I know it's the Sierra, but this one just had too much loose rock for me to give it 4 stars. Having done Venusian with the same partner the previous summer, we both agreed that Venusian is a much more solid route. Much more tick tacking around the loose crap on Sun Ribbon.
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