Petra

Petra climbs a plumb line from base to summit via a single crack system on great granite!

Pitch 1 (5.8, 35m) Climb up a crack system through a series of bulges. Jam, stem, and lie back your way to the obvious large ledge and belay below a hands/ fist crack. 

Pitch 2 (5.10, 33m) Climb the hands/ fist crack to the roof and duck left. Continue up cracks to a ledge then Continue up the triple cracks in the left facing dihedral until you pull onto another ledge below the obvious right facing dihedral with the big roof. Belay here.

Pitch 3 (5.10c, 45m) Climb the fingers crack to the roof. Pull the tips/ fingers roof (crux). Continue on up and then fight your way through the bulging fist crack to a massive ledge and belay. 

Pitch 4 (5.8, 25m) Climb up the dual hand cracks above the blocks on the left side of the massive ledge. When the hand cracks end pull onto a small sandy ledge and rather than heading straight up the chossy chimney, instead angle up and left on the arete. Gain a narrow ledge and climb up and left through twin cracks with good face climbing to the top of the ridge and belay.

Getting There:

“Lamorck” is the subpeak visible just behind the left side of Upper Lamarck Lake. Take the Lamarck Lakes Trail to Upper Lamarck Lake. When the trail forks to either go to the lake proper or head left to the Col, head left, cross the creek, and after about 100 yards or so leave the main trail (37.21237, -118.64484) and start heading straight towards “Lamorck” on hills to the left of the lake. Once off of the Lamarck Col Trail, cairns will lead you to the base of the boulder field. Gain the boulder field and head via the easiest line to the base of the crag (there are multiple easy options through the boulder field). The base of the route is (37.20428, -118.65626). It’s about 3.85 miles from the North Lake Trailhead Parking to the base of the wall. 

Descent:

From the top of the route, head left (S/ SE) across 3rd and 4th terrain to roughly the high point on the ridge. Trend down and left on ledges from here to easier ground. Either link up with the Mt. Lamarck Col Trail just to the South and descend or from the easier ground contour down and left below the face of the wall down talus and gravel to the base of the climb (this descent starts near here: 37.20155, -118.65686). In early season, this second option will be snow covered. You are able to see if this descent option is available from the Trailhead or Upper Lamarck Lake. If snow covered, I recommend leaving a pack hanging near the Col Trail to grab on your descent rather than going back to the base or climbing with your gear so you can do the loop. 

OR

Head left (South) along the ridge for about 15 ft. to a rappel station (37.20434, -118.65656). Rappel down and skiers right 35m to the next station under a slight overhang. Then straight down and slightly (skiers) left to another station under a large overhang (it’s the third large overhang you rap over) 34m down. Head straight down and slightly right from here to another station on a low angle slab, 32m. One last rappel drops you at the base of the wall. Scramble skiers left to your gear. The rappels are fixed nuts and tat so consider bringing some tat if you want to do the rappels in case the webbing/ cord needs replacing.  

The route starts about 5 ft. right of “Christine.” Start under the P2 wide hands/ fist crack visibly cutting through the center right of the gray head wall above. We are calling this the “Ladies of Lamorck Wall.”