Wed, Oct 14, 2020
|
With: | Robert Wu |
Higher Cathedral Spire in Yosemite Valley is the highest free-standing pinnacle in North America, rising more than 300ft on its uphill side and 1000ft on the downhill side. Tucked partially around the corner of the far more massive Middle Cathedral Rock, it does not stand out well from the bottom of the Valley, blocked from view by trees from most vantages, visible from a few locations along Northside Drive near the base of El Capitan. It was first climbed in 1934 by a trio of the Sierra Club's best climbers led by Jules Eichorn, using dozens of pitons, many for direct aid to surpass the hardest sections. Chuck Wilts and Spencer Austin did the first free ascent in 1944. I've been wanting to stand atop this iconic pinnacle for more than two decades. I first visited it in 2003 while scrambling solo around the area. I managed to climb the first pitch on its easier left side, but the route goes near vertical after that and it was no place to be without a rope, a partner and some skills. While Robert was staying in the Valley for several months in 2017, he invited me to join him for some roped climbs, one of which would include HCS. Robert had already been up the feature once, and kindly offered to lead all the pitches and help me in my quest to stand atop it. The hardest pitches go at 5.9, well above my ability to climb, so I came equipped with an ascender that I thought would suffice to allow me to aid the difficult sections. Just above the start of the second pitch, I quickly found how badly I was lacking in upperbody strength, unable to lift my body more than a few inches before exhausting myself. It was a dismal failure, and we retreated. It was clear that if I was to have any chance at HCS, I would need months of intensive rock-climbing training or a pair of prussiks. Naturally, I chose the latter, because in the end I didn't really care if I was able to climb it in "proper" style - I was a peakbagger and just wanted to stand on the summit.
Robert and I set out from Southside Drive shortly before 6a by headlamp.
The goal was to get to the start of the climb early, but not too early -
climbing by headlamp wasn't desirable. It was forecast to be warm in the Valley
so it would be helpful to climb in the shade as much as possible. The route
works nicely for this, starting on the southwest side, spiraling around the west
and north sides, leaving one in the shade all morning. There is a use trail that
leads to the start of the climb, though it is not obvious where to pick it up.
Despite the fact that both of us had been up the main gully at least twice
before, we didn't find the trail until 1/3 of the way up the 1,500ft of
scrambling.
The route is heavily forested, littered with leaf & needle
debris, and acres of lichen-covered
granite rocks and boulders. It would
take us about an hour and a half to reach
the start of the route.
The first pitch is rated 5.5 and fairly easy. It goes up a crack in a corner on
the right side, past a boulder to a belay at a medium-sized tree called
First Base. We dispatched with that one in 30min.
The real work begins at P2, where there are two options, both rated 5.9. The
easier route goes to the left with a 5.9 bulge to overcome followed by 5.7 and
5.6 climbing. The alternate, original route goes straight up for 50ft,
then left under a small roof, both routes ending at another tree belay. This
vertical portion is beefy 5.9, the hardest pitch on the route. As on our first
visit, Robert led this in fine style. Once he had set up his anchor and gotten
me on belay, it was my turn. I climbed the initial 10-15ft, no harder than 5.6.
This was as far as I had gotten on our first attempt. This time I had my gear
ready and called up "Fix it!", our signal for Robert to switch from belay to
fixed-rope mode. This would allow me to climb the rope with prussiks. I had
two pieces of cord for this. One piece had loops to go
around my feet,
then to an ascender fixed to the rope. The other, a simple loop of rope, tied
to my waist harness, then to a second ascender
on the rope above the
first one. Like an inchworm, it would allow me to alternately move up the rope,
first bending my knees, sliding the ascender up, then standing up, followed by
sliding the top ascender up and then weighting on it. Rinse and repeat. It was
critical to have a good leader placing solid pro above me since some of these
would be taking my full weight as I ascended. The key piece on P2 was the one
Robert placed at the start of the traverse under a roof. For this he used a
small nut in a thin crack. I ascended the rope, cleaning gear as I went,
sometimes having
to unweight the rope in order to remove pieces under tension. It is not an easy
feat to switch between rope ascending and free climbing, so generally I would
not switch between the two modes of travel once I had the prussiks installed.
The traverse under the roof had me a little worried since once that nut was
removed, I was likely to pendulum to the left. Luckily there were holds to grab
onto with one hand while I removed the gear, and I could slowly walk myself
left without really swinging. The only real trouble I encountered on P2 was my
inability to remove the small nut - my weight had seated it quite firmly and
with only one free hand I was unable to dislodge it. We would have to see if
it could be retrieved on rappel later. We spent an hour on this second pitch.
Once I had joined Robert at a
second belay tree called Second
Base, my confidence in the route
increased. The prussiking wasn't easy, but it wasn't really stressful, allowing
me to enjoy the experience more than if I was desperately trying to make a
5.9 move. The third pitch begins with some 5.6 for about 20ft, becoming 5.8 as
one traverses across a rotten orange chimney (of sorts, not really chimney-like
in my view), then
an airy 5.9 step around a buttress to a hidden
chimney that goes at 5.7 to the third belay,
a sloping ledge with
another tree for an anchor. I climbed the initial 5.6 section before calling up
to Robert to fix the line once again. After climbing the rope a short distance,
I removed a piece and did a slow pendulum below the rotten chimney, landing me
in
the crown of a small pine tree, somewhat comically. I
inched my way up and around the buttress to the second chimney, then
up to join Robert. Another hour was taken up by this third pitch.
The fourth pitch has some 5.7 to start,
growing steeper, then
a longish 5.9
traverse to the left. This last part had me a little worried, but with some
previous experience with shorter traverse sections, I was still feeling pretty
good. After Robert climbed this again in fine style, I had him belay me up the
initial 5.7 section before fixing the rope for a third time. The climb went
smoothly until I got to the end of the traverse, just below Robert who was
waiting at yet another tree. I could see the taut rope ahead of me going over
the edge of the rock before connecting to the tree. As I got within a few feet
of it, the rope slid a few inches to the left and I was appalled to see a faint
bit of pink coloring left behind on the rock from where the rope had moved.
This was not the rounded rock edge one hopes for, but a sharper version.
Fully weighted on the rope, I was perhaps six feet from Robert and imagining
the sharp edge cutting through the rope and hurling me 800ft to my demise. I
froze momentarily, not wanting the rope to move any further along the edge. I
slowly worked directly towards it, keeping the tension directly along the line
of the rope. I had one last piece of gear to remove just above the edge and I
found myself looping a finger through that piece's carabiner as a backup while
I inspected the rope a little closer. I conveyed my concern to Robert, but he
didn't seem to worried. Indeed, the rope looked fine upon a closer look and I
could relax. That finger around the carabiner would have been useless had the
rope actually severed, but somehow it made me feel better. I
joined Robert and breathed a small sigh of relief. Moving more smoothly
now, this pitch took us only 45min.
The last pitch is easier, mostly a low fifth traverse to the left under
a roof, then a short 5.8 bulge move, then some 5.6 climbing to the spacious
summit patio. To help me hear him better, Robert broke this into two short
pitches, stopping for
a belay just above the bulgy move. Robert belayed
me along the traverse and up the bulge, then went
around the corner to
the east side for the final
5.6 climbing to the top (Supertopo has this
last bit as 5.8, but that's only if you stay on the north side and go up a
vertical crack - the east side has much better holds and easier climbing). It
was
an airy stance where I stood to belay Robert for this last half
pitch. There is an incredible view looking down on
Lower Cathedral Spire which really gives on a strong feel for the wild
amount of exposure - terrifically exciting and a little scary, too. We finished
up on
the lower patio a little after 11:30a, having spent almost
exactly four hours on the climb. A short bit of class 2-3 scrambling leads to
the highpoint just west of the lower patio.
The upper patio is equally spacious, providing a bird's-eye view of
much of Yosemite Valley - Cathedral Rocks to
the west,
El Cap
and
Three Brothers to the north,
Sentinel Rock and
Lost Brother to the east. We were elated with our success, taking
selfies and a collection of photos of the surrounding views. We took a
20min break atop the summit, knowing we weren't really done until we had
rappelled back down the route. I wasn't much worried about these - Lower
Cathedral Spire had a much more technical descent with a hanging rappel,
something the higher spire would not have. A set of stout steel rappel chains
attached to two solid bolts facilitates
the start of the descent.
For each rappel, Robert would
go down first, myself following. We'd
then
pull the rope down, thread it through each of a series of
rap slings, and
repeat. The first rappel drops down to the top
of P3. A second party on the route that we had heard occasional below us was
climbing P4 as we went down. Lucky timing
had them off the belay station just before we reached it, allowing us to pass
without getting in each other's way. Our 60m rope was just sufficient to make
this rappel - not recommended to use a 50m rope on this route even though the
climbing pitches themselves are fairly short. We then
rappelled down
the next three pitches to the preceding belay trees, Robert pausing on P2 to
successfully retrieve the stuck nut. Because the rappels are near vertical,
pulling the ropes were pretty easy and we had only minor issues that were
easily remedied. We got back to
the start of the climb by 1p, having
spent a full hour on the descent. There was some confusion as Robert found his
pack opened, its contents strewn about the area. Evidently the ravens had
learned to open packs and snatch any edibles they could find. All of his edibles
had gone missing. I'd had my pack with me the whole time to carry water for the
both of us, leaving only my boots and some random gear at the base. The other
party knew of this problem and had placed large rocks on their packs. Good to
know.
We had only to put away our rope and gear, change out of our rock shoes and make
the long descent back down to the Valley floor. We were able to follow
the climbers' trail the entire way, making it easier than we'd found in the
morning.
Finished by 1:45p on the last of our three-day trip, we had
only to make the long drive home. I showered roadside and changed into some
fresh clothes to make the drive more comfortable. Robert did likewise, minus the
jug shower. It
had been a fine three days, and our failure on K P Pinnacle that first day
would provide impetus for another return before the winter season was upon us.
And with that we parted ways, another grand adventure in the books...
For more information see these SummitPost pages: Higher Cathedral Spire
This page last updated: Wed Oct 21 22:11:04 2020
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