Munginella

Approach

Park at or near (side of the road is acceptable unless signs say otherwise) the Yosemite Falls parking lot. Follow the trail (and the tourists) toward the falls staying on the main walkway for about 100 yards from the road. Look for a short wooden post (with a biner symbol on it) on the left side of the trail. It marks the beginning of the climbers' trail that reaches the Five Open Books area. Hike up the climbers' trail passing (well beaten as climbers' trails go and easy to follow) another two (maybe 3) more of the same wooden posts. You'll reach the base of the rock wall in about 10 - 15 minutes. There's also the last wooden "biner post" there. The route (or the 3rd/4th class scramble to the base of the 1st pitch) starts about 15 feet right of this last wooden post (it's NOT at the dihedral you'll see to your left at this point!). Scramble up the low angle face (3rd or 4th class) for about 20 feet and reach a narrow "catwalk" that diagonals up and right past trees and bushes for about 50 feet. Scrambling is easy but exposed - some might want a belay here. Look for a large tree (near the end of this catwalk) below a huge, right-facing dihedral. This is the start of pitch one (about 80 feet from where you left the ground).

Route Description

The route reaches the top of Five Open Books Wall in three pitches. It provides an easy introduction to Yosemite climbing with a good mix of crack climbing, stemming, easy laybacking (probably optional), and some face smearing. The protection is excellent.

Pitch 1: 5.6, 70 feet. From the nice belay ledge under the large tree, move up the 4th class rock for about 20 feet until you reach an arching flake. Follow the flake (5.6) as it curves up and right then back left toward the lower terminus of the large, right-facing dihedral. Moving far left toward the dihedral on face features is probably the easiest option. Reach a "sloping ledge" with a splitter crack in it. Move up the crack (5.5 awkward). Belay from the tree directly above the crack.

Pitch 2: 5.6, 80 feet. The crux pitch. Move up the face/crack to a small "roof" about 20 feet above the belay tree. Move up the crack in the "roof". Traverse left toward the dihedral. Climb up the dihedral as it steepens and forces you to stem then eventualy move onto the face. Belay above where the angle eases (gear anchor).

Pitch 3: 5.6, 70 feet. Move up the low angle slab above the belay. Climb the steep dihedral (40 - 50 feet?) to the top via a series of stem moves. Watch for loose blocks near the top - USE CAUTION!!

Descent:
Walk off. Unrope and hike directly up the sandy/bushy ledges. Find a climbers' trail and turn left. Keep moving until the forest thins out and you can see 3rd class terrain that'll take you down all the way. Some rappells might be required if the slabs are wet (traversing to far right - that's descent right - will put you on easier terrain). Once in back in the dense forest bushwhack under the wall until you come back to the base of the climb.

Additional Information Provided by Misha:
Munginella can also be climbed in two longer pitches if you have a 60m rope. Your first belay station can be set up on the comfy ledge next to the tree inside the main "open book", approximately 15' to the left of the awkward 5.5 crack. You can easily traverse to it from the top of the 5.5 crack. Your second pitch will take you all the way up (almost the full rope length).

Essential Gear

Helmets are an excellent idea on this route as there are rocks & boulders waiting to be dislodged by other climbers at the top of the third pitch (elsewhere possibly as well). A full rack including some smaller cams. Double or triple length slings for slinging trees/bushes etc. The route can probably be done with a 50 m rope (though a 60 m was used by us).

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

Images

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