Routes

 

Most Popular Routes

Lurking Fear VI 5.6 C2+ or 5.13c
Salathe VI 5.9 C2 or 5.13b
Triple Direct VI 5.9 C2 or 5.13d
Freerider VI 5.12d
The Shield VI 5.8 A3
Never Never Land VI 5.7 A3
Muir Wall VI 5.9 C4 or A2 or 5.13c
Dihedral Wall VI 5.8 A3 or 5.14a
Magic Mushroom VI 5.7 A3 or 5.13d/5.14a

All Routes (left to right)

Lurking Fear VI 5.6 C2+ or 5.13c

FA:May 1976. Dave & Phil Bircheff, Jim Pettigrew

FFA: June 2000. Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden

Lost World/Squeeze Play VI 5.7 A3

FA:April 1975. Cal Folsom, Dave Anderson, Mike Warburton

Hole World VI 5.10 A4

FA:November 1990. Eric Kohl

West Buttress VI 5.9 A3 or 5.13c

FA:May 1963. Layton Kor, Steve Roper

FFA: May 2003. Tommy Caldwell

Octopussy VI 5.9 A3+

FA:March 1988. Dan and Sue McDevitt

Winds of Change VI 5.10 A5

FA:August 1991. Richard Jensen

Never Never Land VI 5.7 A3

FA:June 1978. Bruce Hawkins, Mark Chapman

Aquarian Wall VI 5.7 A3

FA:June 1971. Jim Bridwell, Kim Schmitz

Wings of Steel VI 5.10+ A4+

FA:July 1981. Richard Jensen, Mark Smith

Horse Chute/Horse Play VI 5.8 A3

FA:October 1974. Charlie Porter, Hugh Burton

Dihedral Wall VI 5.8 A3 or 5.14a

FA:November 1962. Ed Cooper, Jim Baldwin, Glen Denny

FFA: May 2004. Tommy Caldwell

Cosmos VI 5.7 A4

FA:1972. Jimmy Dunn

Excalibur VI 5.9 A3

FA:1975. Charlie Porter, Hugh Burton

Bermuda Dunes VI 5.9 A4+

FA:1984. Steve Schneider, John Barbella

Pacemaker VI 5.9 A4

FA:June 1982. Steve Bosque, Mike Corbett, Murray Barnett,...

Heart Route VI 5.9 A4

FA:April 1970. Chuck Kroger, Scott Davis

Verano Magico VI 5.10 A4

FA:1985. Javier & Luis Gallego

Jolly Roger VI 5.10 A4+

FA:1979. Charles Cole, Steve Grossman

Salathe VI 5.9 C2 or 5.13b

FA:Sept. 1961. Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt

FFA: June 1988. Todd Skinner, Paul Piana

Freerider VI 5.12d

FA:October 1998. Alex and Thomas Huber

Golden Gate VI 5.13b

FA:October 2000. Alex and Thomas Huber

FFA: October 2000. Alex and Thomas Huber

El Corazon VI 5.13b

FA:October 2001. Alexander Huber

FFA: October 2001. Alexander Huber

Son of Heart VI 5.7 A3+

FA:June 1971. Rick Sylvester, Claude Wreford-Brown

Sunkist VI 5.8 A4

FA:October 1978. Bill Price, Dale Bard

Magic Mushroom VI 5.7 A3 or 5.13d/5.14a

FA:May 1972. Steve Sutton, Hugh Burton

FFA: May 2008. Tommy Caldwell, Justin Sjong

Flight of the Albatross VI 5.8 A3

FA:May 1993. Jon Middendorf, Will Ox

The Shield VI 5.8 A3

FA:October 1972. Charlie Porter, Gary Bocarde

Quo Vadis VI 5.9 A4+

FA:November 2002. Jacek Czyz

Mediteraneo VI 5.10 A5

FA:1981. Miguel Angel Gallego, Jose Luis Gallego, Javier...

Turning Point VI 5.11 A4+

FA:May 1984. Steve Grossman

Muir Wall VI 5.9 C4 or A2 or 5.13c

FA:June 1965. Yvon Choinard, TM Herbert

FFA: May 2001. Tommy Caldwell, Nick Sagar

Triple Direct VI 5.9 C2 or 5.13d

FA:1969. Jim Bridwell, Kim Schmitz

Grape Race VI 5.9 A3

FA:May 1974. Charlie Porter, Bev Johnson

Speed Records

Muir Wall

  • Partner: 19h:56mins - Brian McCray, Nels Davis - Jun 2001
  • 23h:29mins - Hans Florine, Chris McNamara - Aug 1996 ( first one day ascent )

Sunkist

  • Partner: 19h:24mins - Hans Florine, Steve Schneider, Mark Melvin - Jul 1999 ( first one day ascent )

Salathe

  • Partner: 04h:55mins - Sean Leary, Alex Honnold - Jun 2009
  • Solo: 23h:50mins - Steve Schneider - Sep 1992 ( first one day solo ascent )
  • 14h:01min - Steve Schneider, Rick Cashner - Jun 1989 ( first one day ascent )

Triple Direct

  • Partner: 06h:27mins - Hans Florine, Chris McNamara - Dec 2005
  • 23hours - Rick Cashner, Mike Corbett - Jun 1975 ( first one day ascent )

Flight of the Albatross

  • Partner: 24h:04mins - Steve Gerberding, Conrad Anker, Dave Bengston - Aug 1994

Grape Race

  • Partner: 13h:25mins - Chris McNamara, Jose Pereyra - Jun 1999 ( first one day ascent )

West Buttress

  • Partner: 13h:42mins - Hans Florine, Chandlee Harrell - Jul 2000
  • Solo: 20h:08mins - Kevin Thaw - Sep 1996 ( first one day solo ascent )
  • 18h:01min - Steve Schneider, Jeff Schoen - Jul 1998 ( first one day ascent )

The Shield

  • Partner: 10h:58mins - Chris McNamara, Cedar Wright - Aug 1999
  • 23h:09mins - Rick Lovelace, Kevin Fosburg - Jun 1991 ( first one day ascent )
  • 15h:30mins - Tommy Caldwell, Erik Sloan - Jun 2000 ( onsight ascent )

Never Never Land

  • Partner: 16h:00m:02secs - Ammon McNeely, Chris McNamara - Aug 2004 ( first one day ascent )

Dihedral Wall

  • Partner: 14h:06mins - Hans Florine, Steve Gerberding - Sep 2002 ( hammerless--first one day ascent )

Octopussy

  • Partner: 27hours - Steve Gerberding, Dave Bengsten, John Harpole - May 1993

Lurking Fear

  • Partner: 03h:04m:54secs - Yuji Hirayama, Nick Fowler - May 2003
  • Solo: 09h:20mins - Hans Florine - Jun 2000 ( two El Cap routes in a day Solo )
  • 17hours - Scott Stowe, Kevin Fosburg - Sep 1990 ( first one day ascent )
  • 05h:17mins - Timmy O'Neill, Miles Smart - Sep 10, 1999 ( onsight ascent )

Horse Chute/Horse Play

  • Partner: 20h:39mins - Ammon McNeely, Chris McNamara - Oct 08, 2004 ( first one day ascent )

Aquarian Wall

  • Partner: 23h:50mins - Greg Murphy, Peter Coward, Steve Schneider - Oct 1996 ( first one day ascent )

Magic Mushroom

  • Partner: 20h:02mins - Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden - Jun 2008

Son of Heart

  • Partner: 29h:24mins - Hans Florine, Steve Schneider, Peter Coward - Sep 1993

Excalibur

  • Partner: 39h:01min - Steve Schneider, Willie Benegas, Andres Zeger - Oct 1998

Lost World/Squeeze Play

  • Partner: 23h:29mins - Ammon McNeely, Ivo Ninov - Jul 08, 2009 ( first one day ascent )
  • 23h:44mins - Max Rodatz, Chip Snyder - Jul 17, 2010 ( Squeeze Play--first one day ascent )

Golden Gate

  • Partner: 19h:50mins - Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden - Jun 03, 2007 ( first one day free ascent )

Welcome to YosemiteBigwall.com!

YosemiteBigwall.com is a community space for collecting and sharing Yosemite Bigwall climbing information. This new website contains basic information about Yosemite Bigwall climbing routes(Washington Column, the Leaning Tower, and some El Cap routes at least ☺)—detailed topos, trip reports, photos, and route history—all available publicly, free-of-charge.

Till now, information about Yosemite bigwalls has been scattered across many websites, making it is difficult to find information about many(or most!) of the routes. A commercial interest or mentality has prevailed—routes that are popular and get climbed often are easy to find basic information for while routes that are seldom climbed languish in out-of-print guidebooks, in the notebooks of the first ascentionists, or are buried in ‘obscure’ sections of websites.

This is a community work in progress, and as they say, “it takes a village to raise a website” (or is that “a child?”), so please, jump on in and join the fun. If you pioneered one or more bigwall routes in Yosemite, please share information about your climb. If you climbed a bigwall route and found the topo to be inaccurate, or have photos, beta or stories you’d like to share, please do so. With your help, YosemiteBigwall.com will continue to develop into a community supported and run website for all Yosemite Bigwall beta—a true online Yosemite Bigwall library.


Contact Erik with any info/suggestions/updates: erik@yosemitebigwall.com

 

Book/website updates available at www.facebook.com/Yosemitebigwall

 

Special thanks to Tom Lambert(ultriaskier.com) for his sage advice/expertise, and to James McBryan(thetechscouts.com) for developing the site.

Thanks and enjoy the site,

Erik Sloan

 

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:136:]]
Erik Sloan is an Alaskan native, who lived and worked in Yosemite from 2002-2012, and has been bigwall climbing there since 1994. Erik has climbed El Cap over 80 times. He is the co-author of Supertopo’s Yosemite BigWalls 2nd edition, and the author of a community website for Wawona climbing: wawona.yosemitebigwall.com. Erik is currently working on a new, more comprehensive book project that will replace the now out-of-print Yosemite Climbs: BigWalls by George Meyers and Don Reid.