East Face

Getting There

Follow the driving directions on the main page to the dirt road (River Road West) just east of the peak. Hike cross-country through the desert up to a narrow gully at the base of the east face. This gully is located above a prominent grey talus/scree slope.

Route Description

Scramble up the gully (easy class 3) to the talus slope above. From here, there are at least two basic options to climb the face, with likely many variations possible on these:

Left side (class 3-4): Above the gully is a talus slope. Proceed straight up this slope to the class 3-4 cliffband on the left side of the face. This is steep, loose, and exposed--but the holds are generally good enough that it stays mostly class 3, with just a few class 4 moves thrown in for good measure. (It just feels harder than it perhaps really is because of the extreme cruddiness of the rock.) Above the cliffs, easier class 2 slopes lead up to the final short class 3 headwall below the summit slopes. Climb this headwall, and walk up the remaining easy slopes to the summit.

This is an enjoyable and at times thrilling scramble. Route finding is not difficult (there are probably many ways to go), and the scrambling and exposure is quite sustained.

Right side (class 2, with class 3 summit headwall): After reaching the talus slope above the initial gully, traverse up and right to a bouldery rib (the talus rib labeled in this picture). Climb these boulders (class 2) to the dirt/brush slopes below the final headwall. Traverse up and left to meet up with the left side route, where you make the short class 3 scramble up the headwall to the final summit slopes.

As of April 2007, there was no register on the summit--but there is a massive cairn to confirm that, yes, you did indeed reach the top.

The right side would make for a fairly boring ascent option as most of the route is class 2, but it is a much safer descent option than retracing your steps down the left side. (I recommend climbing the left side, and descending the right side.)

Essential Gear

None required. There is a lot of loose junk on the face, and any pro you could place would be questionable at best--so if you are uncomfortable with the exposure on the left side, rather than roping up, it would be better (safer) to traverse over to the much easier right side.

Images

View East Face Image Gallery - 4 Images