Central Pillar of Frenzy is one of the most popular 5.9 crack climbs at Yosemite, offering excellent jamming with everything from fingers and stems to fist cracks and chimneys. Nate and I been in the Valley for a few weeks and had climbed numerous harder free routes (mostly 5.10 and 5.11 pitches with a few 5.12 pitches thrown in and rarely a pitch easier than 5.10-) . So the Central Pillar of Frenzy sounded like a fun change of pace for our last route together on the trip.

This was my fourth time climbing the Central Pillar of Frenzy. I had climbed it in 2007, 2015, and 2017. I recall it feeling quite challenging. Nate had climbed only half of Central Pillar of Frenzy, in 1995 or so; he recalls not bringing enough big cams and spending so much time getting up the wide crack that they had to rappel down before it got dark. This time, the route felt easy and we were up and down in a few hours. As a change of pace to the theme of the trip (where Nate had been doing the leading), I lead the entire route, allowing Nate to enjoy a toprope for once.

Due to being midweek in November, we were the first party on the route. A party of three arrived about an hour after us. They ended up rapping in the dark (it gets dark early in November--sunset at 4:53 pm).

The following page gives pitch-by-pitch photos for our climb. It was fun. Enjoy!