Moderate Yosemite Sport Climbing: Pat and Jack's Pinnacle

Pat and Jack's Pinnacle offers several well-protected sport routes rated 5.7 - 5.8 on well featured, knobby granite that is quite different from the typically glacial polished Yosemite granite found on any of the Park's hundreds of crack routes. Given the ground-up and traditional ethic of Yosemite, it is rare to find well bolted moderates. This makes Pat and Jack's a very popular area with the weekend warrior gym-climber types and so its best to arrive early on weekend mornings or plan to visit this area mid-week.

Approach: At the Hwy 120/140 junction, take Highway 140 south for several miles until you see Cascade Falls on your right. Just ahead, park in the paved parking lot on the left. Cross the road and locate a climbers trail (marked by a signpost with the image of a carabiner at least as recently as February 2012) and hike up for no more than 10 minutes to the base of the crag. The moderates are all the way at the right end of the wall, so skirt along the base until you reach basketball size knobs and closely spaced bolts.

Routes:

Kiddie Corner (5.10a): At the far right end of the crag is Kiddie Corner. This route ascends past 3 bolts up large featured terrain before angling back and heading up 5.7slab past 5 more bolts. The route then follows a traditionally protected crack in a corner up to a two bolt anchor. Two ropes are needed to rappel. The views of the Merced River off to the right and the sound of Cascade Falls add to the pleasure of this climb.

More Mental than Mantel (5.10b): Just left of a shallow groove/crack (20 feet left of Kiddie Corner) is this absolute gem. Pitch one climbs up well featured rock past 7bolts to a two bolt rappel anchor. Rap down from here on a single rope, or continue up the somewhat awkward mixed bolt/trad 5.10b second pitch. Rappel with two ropes.
Note: Pitch one is our favorite moderate at P&J's and we highly recommend it!



Makayla's Climb (5.8): Just left of MMTM, ascend well featured rock up past 7 bolts to a two bolt rappel anchor. While a great climb, be aware that this is much more run-out than either Kiddie Corner or More Mental than Mantel and is likely not a good choice for the new to 5.8 leader. A top rope can be set on P1 of Makayla's Climb by first leading MMTM and traversing down and left to the anchors for P1 of Makayla's.

Beginner's Yosemite Multipitch: Oak Tree to Bay Tree

Oak Tree-to-Bay Tree is an excellent introduction to multi-pitch climbing, and given the low angle nature of the climbing and its 5.6 rating, the climb is suitable for beginning trad leaders who have some experience building trad anchors. Opportunities to place protection are abundant and a single rack of cams and stoppers with a few extra slings should be sufficient.

The climb is located at the Western end of Swan Slabs near Camp 4. The first pitch is the small chimney located just left of the Oak Tree Flake.

Pitch One ascends a small chimney for approximately 60 feet. Protection is somewhat limited, but a cam placement or two are available higher up near the crux of the pitch where the chimney narrows and forces larger-bodied climbers to come out of the chimney to make a face move or two. Otherwise the chimney feels very secure. Arrive at a large and comfortable platform and build an anchor in the vertical crack behind you using cams #1 -#3.

Pitch Two is where the real fun begins. Ascend blocks past the Bay Tree (which may be slung for protection) and climb to the summit ledge via a right leaning 5.6 finger crack (sweet!) on low angle terrain. Protection is abundant and the setting and views are excellent. Again arrive at a large and spacious ledge that features a single (and quite antiquated) bolt for protection. I was also able to get a BD Cam # 0.4 behind a flake (pictured above) to supplement the bolt.

To descend, walk straight back away from the climb across class 3 ledges (careful here!) and curve down to your left. Here you will arrive at the rap bolts above the Penthouse Cracks. Rappel on a single 60 meter rope or build an anchor, rappel, and use the rope to top rope the excellent Penthouse Cracks. After climbing the cracks, batman up the unclimbable slab to retrieve your gear and rap off the rappel rings.

Consumnes River Gorge

Located near Placerville, approximately one hour South of Lake Tahoe, Consumnes River Gorge offers great climbing on superb granite. The area includes dozens of routes including short trad cracks, bolted-top ropes, face climbs, and on the Guttenberger Wall located on the opposite side of the river (pictured above) there are several multipitch lines that can be led as sport routes (if you don't mind 30 foot run-outs between protection) that can also be supplemented with trad gear. Be very careful crossing the river. People have drowned here, especially during high water times such as late winter/early spring.

Directions: From US-50 E heading towards South Lake Tahoe, take exit 44A for Missouri Flat Rd. Left onto Pleasant Valley Rd and then a right onto Bucks Bar Rd. Head downhill on Bucks Bar Rd until you see dirt pullouts on both the right and left sides of the road. If you reach a bridge, you've gone just a mile or so too far. From the pullout on the right hand side of the road, pick up an obvious trail and follow this down to the top of Buck's Bar Dome. A vast majority of the routes are located on this dome. Continue straight ahead to pick up a trail that switchbacks down to the base of the Dome.

The first prominent climb you will come to is Dinkum (5.9) the crack route pictured below.

Bolted anchors are standard here, so top-roping is very accessible, especially on the Beginner's Cracks. For other routes, the bolts may be somewhat difficult to reach either because they are positioned over the sloping lip of the dome or because they are atop formations that can only be accessed via 4th to 5th class terrain. For climbs such as Dinkum, a tree on the top of the dome can be used to rap down to the bolts from where a top rope may be set-up. That said, the tree is not of a very large diameter and we would absolutely not suggest using this as a climbing anchor!

This is a great area to practice leading on trad gear, but be warned some larger pieces are necessary for a number of routes here. Bring along your #4 and #5 cams (or a friend who owns them!)




Other Considerations: This area is somewhat popular with locals who use the river here as a swimming hole. In summer, this area which has limited tree cover can be very hot, and its really tempting (and fun) to have a swim following a sweaty day of climbing. Again though, be very careful as the water's surface, while seemingly still in the late summer/early autumn months, may be masking faster moving currents below.