I’ve chosen to keep this website subscription and ad free, but donations help support the site—thank you!
-Steph

www.StephAbegg.com
Since 2006.

Subscribe for Full Access!


Trapezoid Peak, Rasta Root (5.12a/b, 5p)

Trapezoid Peak

Route:

Rasta Root

5.12a/b, 5 pitches

A classic on Trapezoid Peak. This route features an amazing 50m splitter fingercrack and a wild roof, both with 5.12- cruxes. I have climbed it twice.

Region: California
Elev: 12,920 ft
Rock: Granite
Mode: 
Trip Report 1:
Date(s): August 31, 2025 (Sun)
Partner(s): Brandon Adams
Trip Report 2:
Date(s): September 3, 2026 (Thu)
Partner(s): Sean McLane

Related trip reports:

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Map & GPS Track

GPS Track for approach.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Approach map.
GPS track from Garmin watch, colored by elevation.

Rockfall Zone as of August 31, 2026

When Sean and I climbed Puff the Magic Dragon (5.12b, 6p) a few days before we returned to climb Rasta Root, rocks were constantly raining off the upper wall (fortunately off of both Puff and Rasta Root). That evening, I compared a photo I had taken of Trapezoid Peak’s East Face the previous year with the photo I took that day. A massive section of rock was now completely missing—almost certainly the area of instability responsible for the rockfall. Looking through recent Mountain Project ticks, with no mention of the rockfall even in reports from the day before, it seems possible that the collapse occurred sometime late on the previous day or early on August 31. Rocks rained down again when we were climbing Rasta Root a few days later. Given the recent rockfall and ongoing instability on this section of Trapezoid Peak's east face, climbers should avoid Shield of Dreams and Harvest Time until the area has stabilized.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Part of the rockfall zone. Photo taken from top of Pitch 3 on Rasta Root.

Intro

Trapezoid Peak is a striking vertical wall of green granite, clearly visible as the next peak west of Mt. Goode from the Bishop Pass Trail. Its distinctive trapezoidal shape stands out on the skyline, with a sheer east face that basks in morning sun before shifting into shade in the afternoon.

The monolithic east face remained unclimbed until the summer of 2020, when three high-quality routes were established on the smooth green granite. Four more routes were added in the summer of 2022. The wall features some of the best rock and cleanest hard splitters in the Sierra, and for accessibility, difficulty, and overall quality, these routes are hard to beat. 

Rasta Root is one of these lines—featuring an amazing 50m splitter fingercrack and a wild roof, both with 5.12- cruxes. The route has excellent belay ledges, all belays are bolted, and the route can be rappelled with a 70 m rope.

I have climbed Rasta Root twice, a year apart. Because it is that good.

The following page gives a route overlay, map, time stats, and pitch-by-pitch photos from each of the times I climbed Rasta Root.

Gear

BD Camalots: 0.1×2, 0.2×3, 0.3×3, 0.4×3, 0.5×3, 0.75×2, #1×1, #2×1; small to medium stoppers; draws/slings; 70 m rope. 

Trip Reports

CLICK ON TRIP REPORT TO DROP DOWN CONTENT

Intro

I had lined up a climb for Sunday, but plans shifted at the last minute. I had a couple of solo objectives in mind, but I still posted on Mountain Project to see if anyone was up for something. Brandon Adams had also just had a change of plans with his partner and came across my post. He reached out, and before long we had a plan: Rasta Root (5.12a/b, 5p) on Trapezoid Peak. I hadn’t known about this route beforehand, but it looked pretty cool, and Brandon was psyched to lead the two 5.12 pitches—so I was in. A few texts later, we had gear sorted and a morning meetup arranged. Psyched!

Brandon took the sharp end on the first three pitches—the 5.11 and the two 5.12s—while I led the final two easier pitches to the summit. He earned the onsight, and I settled for the less-than-epic tronsight.

Thanks Brandon for the awesome day in your backyard!

Time Stats

Times
Leave South Lake Trailhead: 6:05 am
Base of route: 8:27 am
Start climbing: 8:49 am
Top of route: 11:30 am
Summit: 11:35 am
Begin rappels: 11:50 am
Base of route: 12:10 pm
Back at Trailhead: 2:56 pm
Splits
Approach: 2 hours 22 minutes
Climb: 2 hours 41 minutes
Descent (rappels): 20 minutes
Total car-to-car time: 8 hours 51 minutes

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
From South Lake, follow the Bishop Pass trail past Long Lake, then head SW on faint paths to Margaret Lake. From the lake’s north side, contour west into the drainage right of the steep moraine. Easy slabs and grass lead ~1 mile until talus takes over. Angle up and right to a narrow talus drainage from the west; follow it ~¼ mile to the base. (~5 mi, 2,500 ft gain).

Climb: Begin below the long central splitter on Trapezoid’s face.
Trailhead. We wondered why it was so busy. But then we realized it was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.
Starting the approach, hiking alongside South Lake.
Reflection of Mt. Goode in Long Lake.
Reflection of Mt. Goode in Long Lake.
The east face of Trapezoid Peak basking in the morning sun.
We cut off the main trail here. Trapezoid Peak can be seen in the distance.
Reflection of Goode and Trapezoid in Margaret Lake.
Talus as far as the eye can see.
A snow highway that gave a nice reprieve from the talus.
The east face of Trapezoid Peak.

Pitch 1

5.11a, 20m
Climb thin green rock past three bolts off the ground (crux), then follow a broken but easy crack that takes medium to small cams. When the crack fades, clip one more bolt and traverse left to the large flat belay ledge.
Brandon on the slabby bolted start of Pitch 1.
The belay ledge at the top of Pitch 1.
There was a fingerboard at the top of Pitch 1. When we rappelled we rapped off an anchor to climbers' right of Pitch 1, so I am guessing this was accidentally left behind by a climber who thought he/she would be returning to this belay on the rappel.
The fingerboard. We left it up there. So you can warm up your fingers for the fingercrack above,.

Pitch 2

5.12a, 45m
The Root Crack. Climb past two bolts to gain the splitter, then follow it for 40m (crux in the first 20m) to a belay ledge out right. Protection: 2 bolts, plentiful small–medium cams, and small–medium stoppers.
Brandon leadng the sweet crack of Pitch 2.
Looking up Pitch 2.
We climbed in fix-and-follow mode.
Steph toprope soloing the Pitch 2 crack. Photo by Brandon.
The belay ledge at the top of Pitch 2. The route has nice belay ledges.
A view out from the east face of Trapezoid Peak. Goode dominates the view.

Pitch 3

5.12b, 35m
Rasta Roof.  An incredible pitch! From the belay, continue up the same splitter as Pitch 2 to the roof. Clip a couple of bolts to traverse right into a stunning white finger-crack corner. Follow this to the next roof, exit left, and finish up the steep face with big holds past two final bolts. 
Brandon starting up Pitch 3.
Pitch 3 starts with a continuation of the awesome splitter.
Brandon leading Pitch 3. The wild roof feature.
Taken when starting up the splitter.
A view down the splitter.
The bolted flake traverse.
The corner leading to the roof.
Steph on the upper stretch of Pitch 3. Photo by Brandon.

Pitch 4

5.7, 15m
A short pitch. Climb the hand crack directly above the belay for 30 feet, then up the loose blocky ledges to the belay. 
Looking up the 5.7 splitter of Pitch 4. I placed one cam on this pitch.

Pitch 5

5.9, 25m
Climb the pink face directly up to the right-slanting roof, pull over its right side, then step left to the belay ledge. Protection: 5 bolts.

Note: we both broke off a hold (me a foothold, Brandon a handhold) on this pitch, so the rock is a bit friable, but the climbing is still quite good.
Pitch 5 climbs the bolted pink face.
A view down of Brandon following the pitch.
Goode from the top of the route.

Summit

3rd
Scramble to the summit of Trapezoid Peak. It's worth it if you have come this far!
A short romp to the summit.
Brandon on his way to the summit.
The view towards Goode.
Summit 360° pano.
The view toward Mt. Agassiz to North Palisade.
Mt. Humphreys in the distance.
So much rock....

Descent

Rappel
Rappel the route with a single 70. The rappel down P2 will not reach the top of P1 belay, but will reach another two-bolt anchor 25 feet to climber’s right of the route.
The first rappel, from the top of Pitch 5.
Careful about the loose rocks at the top of Pitch 4 when you pull the rope.
Rappelling down the steep face.

Hike Out

2nd
Hike out the way you came.
Trapezoid Peak has a lot of pretty freckle-like features. Xenoliths!
If it's green, it's olivine.
Hiking out.
Hiking out. Long Lake.
I want this rock for my porch.
Hand for scale.
Some interesting geology on Chocolate Mountain above the trail.
A view back towads Goode across Long Lake.
A crowded Labor Day weekend Sunday afternoon at the South Lake trailhead.
My standard post-climb treat. All four.

Intro

Intrigued by the other routes on the wall, I returned the following year with Sean to climb Puff the Magic Dragon (5.12b, 6p), which features several pitches of technical 5.11+ climbing and a 5.12b crux. Sean was interested in climbing Rasta Root (5.12a/b, 5p), and since I couldn’t decide which route I liked better, we returned a couple of days later and climbed Rasta Root again. Tough decision. Ultimately, I gave Rasta Root the slight edge—it felt a bit more approachable to me while still delivering plenty of hard, memorable climbing. The 50m finger crack and wild roof pitch are rather incomparable.

This time, I led Pitches 1 (5.11a) and 2, the endless finger splitter with a 5.12a crux section. Sean led Pitch 3, the wild roof with a 5.12a/b crux, then linked Pitches 4 and 5 to the top to finish us off. Both cruxes went in one go for the top-roper, with strong effort from the leader.

Rasta Root is a rare route for both Sean and me in that it remains on our to-do list—we both still want to redpoint it. The crux pitches are simply too good, engaging, and unique to climb once and be satisfied.

Rocks rained down again from the area of instability we had discovered while climbing Puff the Magic Dragon a few days earlier. The rockfall was to the left of Rasta Root, keeping us safely out of the fall zone. By this point, we were a bit more desensitized to the rockfall, as evidenced by the video clip in this report.

Below are time stats and pitch-by-pitch photos from the day.

Time Stats

Times
Leave South Lake Trailhead: 7:30 am
Base of route: 9:56 am
Start climbing: 10:21 am
Top of route: 2:28 pm
Begin rappels: 2:40 pm
Base of route: 3:02 pm
Back at Trailhead: 5:08 pm
Splits
Approach: 2 hours 26 minutes
Climb: 4 hours 7 minutes
Descent (rappels): 22 minutes
Total car-to-car time: 9 hours 38 minutes

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
From South Lake, follow the Bishop Pass trail past Long Lake, then head SW on faint paths to Margaret Lake. From the lake’s north side, contour west into the drainage right of the steep moraine. Easy slabs and grass lead ~1 mile until talus takes over. Angle up and right to a narrow talus drainage from the west; follow it ~¼ mile to the base. (~5 mi, 2,500 ft gain).

Climb: Begin below the long central splitter on Trapezoid’s face.
Approaching Trapezoid Peak.
Final talus field to base.
Slogging up the talus field to base.
Base of Rasta Root.

Pitch 1

5.11a, 20m
Climb thin green rock past three bolts off the ground (crux), then follow a broken but easy crack that takes medium to small cams. When the crack fades, clip one more bolt and traverse left to the large flat belay ledge.
Pitch 1 of Rasta Root. I brought my mini stick clip and got the first bolt clipped before starting up.
Sean following Pitch 1.

Pitch 2

5.12a, 45m
The Root Crack. Climb past two bolts to gain the splitter, then follow it for 40m (crux in the first 20m) to a belay ledge out right. Protection: 2 bolts, plentiful small–medium cams, and small–medium stoppers.
Looking up Pitch 2.
Pitch 2 splitter.
Higher on the Pitch 2 splitter.
There was still some rockfall activity (recently a large chunk had broken off the upper wall and it was still kinda active).
There was still some rockfall activity (recently a large chunk had broken off the upper wall and it was still kinda active).
Sean starting up Pitch 2.
Anchors at the top of Pitch 2.
Mt. Goode.
Sean climbing Pitch 2.
Sean nearing the top of Pitch 2.
Sean at the top of Pitch 2.

Pitch 3

5.12b, 35m
Rasta Roof.  An incredible pitch! From the belay, continue up the same splitter as Pitch 2 to the roof. Clip a couple of bolts to traverse right into a stunning white finger-crack corner. Follow this to the next roof, exit left, and finish up the steep face with big holds past two final bolts. 
Sean starting up Pitch 3.
Sean cruising up the first half of Pitch 3.
Sean cruising up the first half of Pitch 3.
Sean leading into the wild roof on Pitch 3.
Sean leading into the wild roof on Pitch 3.
Splitter at the start of Pitch 3.

Pitch 4

5.7, 15m
A short pitch. Climb the hand crack directly above the belay for 30 feet, then up the loose blocky ledges to the belay. 
Pitch 4.
Rockfall zone.

Pitch 5

5.9, 25m
Climb the pink face directly up to the right-slanting roof, pull over its right side, then step left to the belay ledge. Protection: 5 bolts.

Note: we both broke off a hold (me a foothold, Brandon a handhold) on this pitch, so the rock is a bit friable, but the climbing is still quite good.
Pitch 5.
Not the most comforting bolt. On Pitch 5. Fortuantely, pretty mellow (5.9) terrain.

Summit

3rd
Scramble to the summit of Trapezoid Peak. It's worth it if you have come this far!
We did not go to the summit this time. See my 2025 trip report on this page for summit photos.

Descent

Rappel
Rappel the route with a single 70. The rappel down P2 will not reach the top of P1 belay, but will reach another two-bolt anchor 25 feet to climber’s right of the route.
The final rappel to the ground. This is off an anchor to the right of the route.

Hike Out

2nd
Hike out the way you came.
Don't go anywhere without your Febreze. (Yep, correct spelling - gets me every time.)

Previous and Next Adventures

Trip Report 1

Laurel Mountain (Northeast Gully), CA
Crystal Crag (North Arete), CA

Trip Report 2

Mt. Goode (Sky Pilot), CA
Third Pillar of Dana (High Gravity), CA

Comments Pertaining to this Page / Trip Report

Useful beta. Updated route information. Corrections. Historical notes. Interesting facts. No fluff please.
Please do not put links in your comment, as my spam filter will filter those comments out.
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *