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Mescalito
5.9+ A3,
Trad, Aid, 2800 ft (848 m), 26 pitches, Grade VI,
Avg: 3.9 from 56
votes
FA: Steve Sutton, Charlie Porter, Hugh Burton & Chris Nelson, 1973. FCA: Dave Dyess, A.C. Robertson, 1997
California
> Yosemite NP
> Yosemite Valley
> Valley N Side
> B. El Capitan
> 3. Southeast Face
Access Issue: Latest updates on closures, permits, and regulations.
Details
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climbingyosemite.com/ and
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Description
Hard to describe a 26 pitch route. You'll obviously want a topo but here is some basic info to get you started. Amazing route - one of the major highlights of my climbing career and one of the best experiences of my life. I highly recommend this line for a big El-Cap route without undue difficulty. You need to pay some dues on easier and smaller routes but you don't need to be an aid master or put your head on the chopping block for this one. I put a free rating of 9+ because you will do much better freeing a couple of the awkward chimney pitches instead of trying to aid them. The chimney on pitch 19 was especially awkward to aid, I had much better luck with freeing it. Lots of amazing pitches. No stand out crux but alot of spicy A/C2-3 pitches. The bismark is pretty exiting at the top, be ready to belly flop! Make sure you plan a bivy for the Bismark ledge, unbeleavable views of Halfdome and the Valley. Be efficient on cleaning lower outs and traverses, no big pedulums but some devious pitches to clean - especially the seagull and the molar traverse. Get good at highstepping it really helped me with the rivot ladders and getting past some spicier terrain.
Location
EL CAPITAN. Right of the Nose, Left of POW
Protection
All belays are bomber! We placed a total of 4 pins but didn't have any cam hooks. I think you could do this clean with a few cam hooks and a little trickery. Lots of aluminum dowels. Several fixed head pitches as well. Be prepared to replace heads or blown dowels/rivots. Some dowels have allready been replaced with quarter inch bolts. We had a double set of HB offsets that were incredibly usefull. We had one hybrid alien (green/yellow) and used it on every pitch. A full set of hybrids up to yellow/orange may be nice. We had a #6 friend for the top of the bismark and it worked out pretty well. Several hooking sections - we had a basic selection of 3-4 hooks. 3-4 sets of the smaller cams up to #1 camelot and doubles in the bigger sizes to #3.5 camelot. Single #6 friend. For pins we used a few short LA's and some baby angles. Bring a few bigger angles and a few sawed off angles as well. Also bring a selection of heads and keyhole hangars.
![FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie Porter, Hugh Burton & Steve Sutton at the start.]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie Porter, Hugh Burton & Steve Sutton at the start.
![Callum and I on The Molar Traverse.<br>
Photo: Tom Evans. http://www.elcapreport.com/]()
[Hide Photo] Callum and I on The Molar Traverse. Photo: Tom Evans. http://www.elcapreport.com/
![FA Mescalito (The End All Wall), Steve Sutton on top of the Bismark waiting (or sleeping) for a good picture of Charlie & Hugh climbing above.]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito (The End All Wall), Steve Sutton on top of the Bismark waiting (or sleeping) for a good picture of Charlie & Hugh climbing above.
![FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie jumaring.]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie jumaring.
![Rob Brown on Bismark Ledge. He took me by surprise with the glasses. I laughed so hard I almost fell of the damn ledge.]()
[Hide Photo] Rob Brown on Bismark Ledge. He took me by surprise with the glasses. I laughed so hard I almost fell of the damn ledge.
![FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie Porter leading the last pitch.]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito 1973, Charlie Porter leading the last pitch.
![FA Mescalito 1973; Steve Sutton back at the Bismark.]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito 1973; Steve Sutton back at the Bismark.
![FA Mescalito 1973; Hugh & Charlie at the base]()
[Hide Photo] FA Mescalito 1973; Hugh & Charlie at the base
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Sacramento, CA
Overall a pretty sustained and fun route and one of the best its grade on the capitan. A fantastic route and fun experience for me. Oct 9, 2007
Durango, Co.
Marcus Mar 2, 2008
Broomfield
Sacramento, CA
...
Las Vegas, NV
Loveland, Co
Modesto, Ca
London, UK
It was a very happy experience: great climbing, sustained but never very hard, and a fabulous bit of rock to hang out on. Feb 4, 2020
Yosemite NP
Certainly an excellent adventure. The only moments we felt really spooked was due to bad bolts. With 8-12 bolt replacements most the “dangerous” moments would be reduced.
Apparently the Seagull experienced some rock fall earlier. I couldn’t identify where this rock fall came from as I led the pitch. Lots of hooking on this pitch!
Pendulum on pitch 20 is awesome aside from the old bolt you’ swing off.
2 #4, 1#5, 1#6, and the largest big bro make the bismark very reasonable. Lots of green and purple camalots leading up to the wide.
We used each size of tomahawk, the mediums saw the most action.
50ft lower-out cord helped the bags well enough on the big lower outs.
Save the #5 for the final big awk slot on pitch 22.
PM me for any more bets. We took a lot of notes at the end of every day.
EPIC ROUTE! Props to Porter et al, can’t imagine going up this route on-site with the gear of the era. Truly inspiring. Oct 26, 2024