Intro

For the last two years, I had been working full-time as a data analyst. While I enjoyed some of the benefits of working a full time job (house, security, etc.), I missed the longer climbing road trips of my younger years. So, when I decided to temporarily leave my job to take a full-time 6-month coding bootcamp from mid-June to mid-December, this was the perfect time to build a couple of weeks of climbing road trip into my schedule. Sunny Californian granite was calling. Nate had never climbed in California (!), so it wasn't too hard to twist his arm to join me on a two-week climbing road-trip to experience some sunny Californian granite.

Our first destination of the trip was Whitney Portal, where we enjoyed four days climbing multi pitch routes on the gleaming white granite and hanging out at camp at the Whitney Portal Campground.

The plan for the second destination was The Needles in southern Colorado, where I had climbed in 2017 and 2018 and deemed it one of my favorite places to climb. But when we arrived there after a 4-hour drive from Whitney Portal, we found the gate was closed to access. Dejected, we headed back towards the Sierra East Side and decided to crag in the shade of Pine Creek Canyon for a few days. The rock and quality of the climbing was superb and fun and Nate probably enjoyed this area the most of any destination on our trip, but I found myself craving bigger, higher routes.

Then, Tioga Pass opened for the season, so for our third destination of the trip, we decided to head to Tuolumne for a few days. I had been there a few times before and was happy to return to this land of the granite domes. We climbed in Tuolumne for three days.

Our fourth and final destination of our California adventures was Charlotte Dome. The South Face (5.8, 1500') is a Fifty Classic, and this route had been on my to-climb list for a long time. My friends Erin and Cara (of the Grand Traverse the previous summer) had just climbed it and had a blast, said there was no snow on the approach, and encouraged Nate and I to climb it.

The following page gives route overlays and pitch by pitch photos from our climbs in Whitney Portal.

We arrived at Whitney Portal around noon after a 15-hour drive from Estes Park. Itching to get some exercise and touch the rock, we decided to climb Nimbus, a 3-pitch route on the right side of Whitney Portal whose crux pitch climbs an arching 5.10c crack to a killer finger crack. This was a fun way to begin the trip.

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

Pitch 1

5.9

knobby face

Pitch 2

5.10c

lieback to fingers

Pitch 3

5.8

exposed arete

Descent

Rappel

Rappel the route with double ropes

On our second day, we climbed a 10-pitch link-up of Premier Route (5.8 A0, 5p) on Premier Buttress with Beckey Route (5.9, 5p) on El Segundo Buttress. The Beckey Route is a 5-star classic for the grade, climbing cracks, knobs, and dikes up a sparkling white buttress. Fun in the sun! This was the best day of our Whitney Portal trip, for enjoyability of the climbing and number of pitches.

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

Pitch 1

5.6

Pitch 2

5.8

Pitch 3

5.10c or 5.8 A0

Pitch 4

5.8

Pitch 5

5.7

Descent

Scramble + 1 Rappel

Scramble up and left and make 1 rappel into gully between Premier Buttress and El Segundo

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

Pitch 1

5.7 or 5.10b direct start

Pitch 2

5.9

Pitch 3

5.8

Pitch 4

5.8

Pitch 5

4th

Descent

Walk off

On our third day, we set out to climb Ghostrider (5.10c, 8p) on Whitney Portal Buttress. But we bailed off after the first pitch. That afternoon, we climbed Bony Fingers on The Whale. This route features a striking 300-foot fingercrack peppered with knobs. I had climbed this route in 2018 and it was worth climbing again, although the section between the 5.11b A0 and the start of the crack was as heady as ever (nice cool-headed lead by Nate).

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

Pitch 1

5.11b (A0) direct start to 5.10c

splitter fingers

Pitch 2

5.9

knobby finger crack

Pitch 3

5.7

Descent

Rappel

One double rope rappel to ground

Here are some photos of various other pitches we climbed on this trip. We weren't having the best of luck at times completing routes! The climbing tends to be a bit runnout and hard (particularly the face climbing) for the grade.