Belay on a small stance and move up and left into a corner system.

The Full Monty

Spaceballs

Rock Bottom

The Naked Hedge

Nuclear Combat

Same Reality

League of Doom

Underman

Isabelle (AKA Path of the Righteousness)

Munge

Old Number 7

Whiffle Dick

Riverside Attraction

Large Corner Girdle

Ker Plunk

Nubian Dance

Spaced

Jesus Lives

Rage

Fool's Aid

New Number 8

Monkey's Way

Tra Hex

Fantastic Voyage

Hankin's Route

Vegetarian Delight

Nuclear Balls

Go straight up the overhanging wall above the League of Doom finishing ledge, clipping about 5 or so bolts. Stay true at top and stay off the ledge that offers escape to the right. If you want to, you can rap down to the ledge at the start and do this route. 

Climb the arete to the right of Rage.  Start climbing to a stance on the left side and make thin delicate moves onto the arete.

Lots of Lichen... bring your hedge clippers. 

  Climb the left facing dihedral to the right of Fantastic Voyage.  Probably the easiest line to reach Spaceballs belay station.

Excellent climb. One of the best 5.11's in the refuge. The route begins at the first pitch belay on League of Doom. Do the initial unprotected face climbing off the belay as for League until you reach the initial gear placement in a good flake. Place gear and pull left onto a sloping ledge. Clip the first of two updated bolts on this pitch and carefully balance your way left along this ledge until reaching a second bolt. Crank difficult but well-protected moves (first crux) up into the base of a leaning left-facing corner. A good rest is available here. Jam and lieback up the leaning corner until the left wall ends and the dihedral flip-flops orientation into a right-facing corner. The second crux is making the transition into the right-facing corner. When you can, stem over left into Vegetarian's Delight. These two climbs share their last ten feet or so. Ten feet of easier climbing reaches a good stance with a two-bolt anchor.  

  From this belay you have three options:  

  1. Climb the next pitch of Nuclear Combat, which goes up and left to surmount an initial overhang before continuing up the dirty slab to the top. This is an unappealing pitch, runout in spots and holding copious amounts of moss and lichen. You'll also need to carry gear up to a #3 Camalot if you want to do this last pitch.  

  2. Single rope rappel from this two bolt ring anchor back down to the first pitch belay on League. This rappel can be safely made with a 60-meter rope, although take care to watch the rope ends.  

  3. Climb a recently established 5.10a traverse pitch between this belay and the second pitch belay on League of Doom. You can then continue to the top with Spaceballs or the easier but exposed last pitch of Fantastic Voyage.  

  Protection:  

  For the crux pitch of Nuclear Combat, you'll just need nuts and cams up to a .75 Camalot, with doubles in the .5 to .75 Camalot range. If you want to do the last pitch you'll need gear up to 3-4".  

  Many thanks to Banks for writing this great description.

This sick route goes out the large roof at the top of Lichen Wall.  The roof is the easy part with the crack leading to it being the crux.

P1: 5.10R, maybe X. Begin in the poison ivy and climb the corner. When the crack ends at a bulge, gear up really good, then face climb right a few moves and then up and around the bulge (run-out). It is possible to get a nut in a pocket in the middle of the face. You can then traverse back to the crack for pro or go straight up (slightly easier) to the bolted anchors. 

  P2: 5.11R. Crank up the wall just to the left of the anchors. About 10 feet up, you can use a rotten flake, but pull down (not out!). Get the first bolt, then go up the underclings past another bolt and then right to a hand crack. A #4 TCU can be placed in the undercling above the first bolt. Follow the crack up and to the right to a nice ledge with bolted anchors. 

  Now grab the draws and head up Spaceballs!!

Climb the overhanging face right of Whiffle Dick, about 20 feet.  Face climbing leads to an undercling to overcome the bulge to find a thin crack.

Short dihedral with three bolts located to the left of the upper section of league of dooms second pitch. Follow league of doom p2 to its last bolt before moving left and into the dihedral. You can place a .4 as you move up before committing to the moves up to the first bolt. From the cushy jug rest at the first bolt, intensely technical face climbing and stemming take you past 2 more solid bolts. The holds are smaller than anything on whipping post or any other 5.13 in the refuge.

 Chain anchors can be accessed easily to top rope by first climbing nuclear combat and then traversing over 4 feet to the POTR anchors.

 The first attempt at this dihedral was by duane raleigh, and on a ground up attempt he drilled the first bolt while sitting on a hook. The last 2 bolts were put in on rappel before Marcus Garcia claimed the FFA.

A more challenging alternate to the Spaced line.  Climb the easy ramps right of Naked Hedge to merge with the 3rd pitch of Spaced.

Climb the black stained, mungy looking, left facing corner/groove above that leads into a chimney. About 90 feet up, you can traverse left to gain rap bolts on ledge to the left of Jay Gully or keep going up chimney to the top.

Climb up the gully with some questionable placements, but the climbing is easy.  Up to a large ledge with trees.  Climb up right and onto the large left-facing corner/ramp.  Some small nuts and cams go in to protect this crux section.  Belay around the corner, or you can run up to the tree and deal with the rope drag.  A good moderate lead with a great view.

Great rock, with such a beautiful surrounding.  The crux is at the top during the last 10-12 feet.  Some delicate footwork and a nice sidepull.  A few spicy section by the 2nd bolt too.  Do this route, and if you can pull the moves, you can always lower and climb the Full Monty.

Great rock on this fabulous line.  Your 2nd needs to be competent at the grade, since an early fall with rope stretch could get them into the water.  Crux is up high, the exposed move out left under the roof.  Belay in the corner and move up on easier climbing to the main wall anchors, or (more sensible as the last pitch is lacking) rap off the tree to the right.

Small questionable placements protect the lower moves that traverse up to the ramp.  Up the ramp and belay at the tree. The 2nd pitch is maybe 5.5 up to some chains to rap. 

  The climb was named Ker Plunk after Charlie fell a substantial distance and lived, after landing in the river. In reality, it was a miracle he was not killed. Charlie was a fantastic climber and pushed the limits. But this was enough to pack it up climbing, and too many of his 9 lives were spent on this one.

This route was originally an aid route named "Wet Dream" until Duane Raleigh put it up on lead.

 After pulling the crux hand jam high step move of league, move left to an easy seam and a fixed pin. From there its about 8 feet of extremely technical mid 12 climbing that ends with an epic slap around a corner. Once you pull around the corner you have a good rest stance and 20 feet of well protected 5.10 to take you to the anchors.

Climbs the leaning crack out over the water, turning the lip is the crux.  Then up to the start of League of Doom.

This route climbs the slab to the right of the 1st pitch of League of Doom.  Lichen is a major hazard on this run out slab.

Used to be named Practice Aid Crack.  It finally went on lead, up the nasty narrow crack on the right side of Lichen Wall.

Nice splitter, about 20 feet up the moves get tough as the line moves right.  Exit via the crack on the left or the crack 3 yards right of it, which is the more difficult of the two.

Needs some cleaning up by further ascents.  After going over some chockstones in Old #7 (about 120' off the ground) look for a right-trending small crack that angles up across a dirty and licheny slab. Climb this and then up a black water streak to the top of the wall.  

Start as for Kerplunk, but after you reach the ramp, head up the crack system that pretty much goes straight up. Steep but lots of holds.

The longest and easiest route up Lichen Wall.  Four moderate pitches twist up the face.

Pitch 1: Heinous start, climb the overhanging roof crack (crux).  Past the lip the lichen covered slab is easy terrain with no pro till you reach the belay station. 

  Pitch 2: Climb the dirty ramp up and right to a point directly below the first bolt. Mantle up onto a good flake, clip the bolt, then stem back right onto a sloping stance on the ramp. Climb very thin 5.10 face moves (slightly runout) up to a roof, clip a bolt over the roof, and crank crux moves over the roof to a good ledge. From here jam and stem 25 feet up a crack/chimney until you can pull left onto the ledge atop the second pitch of League of Doom.  

  Pitch 3: Climb the first 10-15 feet of Spaceballs over the bulge above the belay and onto the slab above. Traverse left on big sloping footholds to a bolt and a stance right at the very left edge of the face. Place a good cam in a horizontal and then launch out left on an incredibly exposed overhanging traverse along the lip of the big roof, aiming for an obvious diving board flake. This traverse has good holds and is about 5.8 in difficulty, but be prepared to gun it about 15-20 feet without gear. From the big flake, step up on good holds to clip a bolt, pull up and left around the blunt arête onto a slab and another bolt, then cruise the easy but dirty slab to the top.  

  The original 1/4" bolts on the second and third pitches have been replaced with 1/2" stainless five-piece bolts and the second pitch has been scrubbed clean of lichen as well as dirt, grass, and thorn bushes (!) pulled out of the crack/chimney above the crux. The end result of this monumental effort is an excellent three-pitch 5.10d if one begins the route with the first pitch of League of Doom instead of Fantastic Voyage's 5.12x first pitch horror fest.  

  Thanks to Chris Banks for updated route beta.

Climb the hanging, inset crack, and hanging corner right of Old #7; aid the friable roof to gain it (hooks, 1 LA). The crack (5.9) ends atop the small ledge shared by Old #7. Step right on exposed free moves (5.7) and climb expanding rock to a brief, but clean hairline crack. Sidestep right to a dirty crack that takes medium cams. Above, a corner-ramp system leads to the base of the summit overhangs. Climb steep terrain to the right before cutting back left and escaping to the exit slab (5.6). If desired, belay at the corner-ramp and break the route into 2 pitches.  

This 40' traverse pitch connects Nuclear Combat with Spaceballs. From the double ring anchor atop the stellar 11a crux pitch of Nuclear Combat, step right (yellow alien placement) and traverse on good holds over to the bolted anchor above the unfinished climb that Duane had called Isabel. Clip the anchor and step down and under the big roof to the left of League's second belay. Place a #1 Camalot in a flake under the roof then balance your way out right (crux) until you can pull onto the second belay ledge of League of Doom. 

  This connecting pitch allows the climber to do an excellent four-pitch tour de force of Lichen Wall at 5.11a. Pitch 1 - the first pitch of League of Doom (5.10a R/X); Pitch 2 - the crux pitch of Nuclear Combat (5.11a); Pitch 3 - Nuclear Balls (5.10a); Pitch 4 - Spaceballs (5.11a) or Fantastic Voyage's 3rd pitch (5.8). With the exception of the runout first pitch of League, this entire four-pitch linkup has great protection. All of the pitches are of excellent quality.

The very end of the main area of the narrows. Right side has shade early and the left shades later. Watch for the plentiful posion ivy and poison oak as well as snakes in the summer.

 This is hands down the best adventure climbing in the state as well as the tallest wall (close to 200') . A dicey 5.10 pitch guards the classics up higher. From the first set of anchors you can then embark on an adventure from 5.8 "Spaced" to "isabelle" 5.12d. Nuclear combat and league of doom-spaceballs are the most sought after and well protected, many of the climbs on this wall are rarely climbed.

 After topping each route you can either rappel from the spaceballs anchors (3 raps), or walk right staying close to the cliff line and following cairns and faint climber trails back to the intersection of the trail that takes you down into the bottom of the narrows.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Lichen Wall