The easiest way up Higher Cathedral Spire. 400' of entertainment take you to the top of a spire with spectacular views. This adventure felt like mountaneering as much as technical climbing with the steep approach, many tree belays, and sometimes loose nature of the rock.

As a note there are several variations. I will list as I have climbed it which was great fun. Check the Supertopo guide for a more complete picture. Each pitch listed is about 100'.

P1 (5.5) Up a left facing dihedral to a bushy ledge.

P2 (5.9) Up a crack to a small roof. Traverse left under the roof, then pull up over the steep bulge on decent hand holds. Traverse left more to a nice ASCA bolt, then up and left to an easy crack. Leads to a tree.

P3 (5.9) Up and left to a chimney. Traverse left around a bulge into a chimney hidden from view from the belay. Up the chimney to another tree belay.

P4 (5.9) The standard route goes up and left for a short pitch, then up to the top from there. The varation (best pitch on the route in my opinion) goes straight up through some steep wildly fractured rocks to a ledge with a tree and continues up a short clean hand crack / flake. From the top of this traverse left and then find the easiest way to the top from there.

Rappel from the ASCA bolts on the south side of the summit. Tree rappels from there. A single 60 meter rope or longer is highly advised. Tie knots.

Regular Route (Higher Cathedral Spire)

East Corner

Northwest Face

Steck Route

Southeast Face

Spire it up (first 2 pitches)

Spire it up is an old 5.9 A4 aid route. I have begun free-ing the route and the first 2 pitches are ready to go! You can enjoy the first pitch and second pitch climbing and then easily rappel back to the base.

Pitch 1: over hanging tight hands in the dihedral. Pass the original hanging belay (fixed nuts) and proceed up and eventually left to a nice ledge and bolted rap anchor. A unique pitch due to its over-hanging nature. great stemming up high.

Pitch 2: step back right into the dihedral and climb the arc-ing line up and to the right until the crack disappears. Boulder past 2 bolts to get to the anchor. This is a really great pitch.

Rappel from first pitch with 1 70m rope. Rappel directly down from second pitch with 2 60 m ropes.

P1 5.9/160'belay on the highest ledge go up cracks to the roof pass it on the right pass a small stance and climb 2 perfect finger cracks to a sloping ledge below a huge corner.

p2 *Great Pitch*5.10/180'climb the thin hands corner past a fixed pin and up..up..in to the off with/chimney exit on to a big ledge.

P35.9/70'climb any of the cracks to the next big ledge

p4 5.6/50' grove up to one of the best summits on the valley!

Rap to the west down the standard route w/ 2 ropes. you can do it w/ 1 but we used 2.

Aid Crux is on pitch 7 and can be somewhat intimidating. This route goes directly up the Northwest face and gets very little sun so bring a jacket, it can get a little chilly on this one. The middle pitches of the climb are the hardest and are composed of moderate to hard aid sections (beaks are your friend on this one). Watch out for loose rock as this route does not get done that often. Great Yosemite Wall adventure with likely no lines and a route in the shade when the Valley is a bit warm.

Erik Sloan has a free topo on his website of the climb.

yosemitebigwall.com

P1. Start up the regular southwest face route.

P2. At “first base” follow cracks to the right which lead to a good ledge. Link this pitch continuing up a left facing corner to a big ledge.

P3. Follow a decent finger crack up the headwall to a good blocky ledge.

P4. Climb up and right through blocks to a short .10+ crack and mantle over the top onto more ledges.

P5 climbs easy terrain to the top. Pitch 4 can be linked to the top.

This route is listed as 5.9 A1 in the Reid Book.

A worthwhile line between the Regular Route and the East Corner. Follows a huge left-facing flake and corner which you will probably notice on the final bit of the approach. The guidebook calls the route 5.10d, but I thought it was significantly easier - maybe only 10a or so. The first pitch is really nice, and the climb has good position and exposure, but also some rotten rock in one section on the second pitch.

From the Regular Route scramble uphill to the highest point along the base of the south face. Then descend a short ways to reach the bottom of a prominent fist crack. This is the start of the route.

P1 - Jam and lieback up the 3-4" crack, passing through a roof. Belay at slings around a block, which can be backed-up by cams to the right.

P2 - Climb up the corner with a bit of offwidthing, then undercling under the roof into some chossy rock. At the left end of the roof either go straight up or climb further left then up and back right. (The guidebook shows a belay out left, but the rock is very poor quality). Place a directional in a horizontal crack to keep the rope from getting stuck at the edge of the roof, then climb up through a tricky bulge and either belay on a manzanita covered ledge, or from a solid 3" crack just below it.

P3&4 - From the ledge there are a few finishing options (the Steck Route and East Corner also all converge on this ledge). The best finish is up an obvious finger crack near the right end of the ledge (hard 5.9 to start). Then wander up ledges to the left and finish up a short thin crack. Belay on a 3rd class ramp just below the summit. You can do this in one pitch.

Rap the Regular Route to descend (one 70m rope, or a 60m works but requires a short easy downclimb after the first rappel)

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in 3. Higher Cathedral Spire