11 Pitches of overhanging exposure!  A continuously steep and strenuous route with some of the best exposure around.  The route is technically easy, but can be mentally wearing due to the nature of the climbing.  From the very start there is instant exposure.  An awesome wall to cut your teeth on.

Every pitch can be linked with a 60m rope and the hauling is really easy since the bag is almost always free hanging. Link pitches 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 for sure and it's much quicker.  These take very little actual gear.  The route goes completely clean unless any fixed heads blow.

P1: C1F 120' - STEEP! Follow the bolt ladder straight up to a short C1F bulge that requires some small gear (cams, nuts, cam hooks, to 1").  Continue up the bolt ladder to a hanging belay.

P2: C1 80' - STEEP! Continue up the bolt ladder with a few 0.4-1" placements to an OK/poor stance belay.

P3: C2F 5.7 80' - Follow the crack past a few random bolts to a great small ledge belay. Mandatory free move to get onto the ledge itself or a hook move or two.  Not to bad, just awkward.

P4: C1 5.6 80' - Continue following the crack up off the right side of the ledge and finish up on a bolt ladder that curves left to a mandatory 5.6 free finish onto Guano Ledge.  If bivying on Ahwahnee Ledge, move over there and haul from those anchors.  If continuing straight up, haul from Guano Ledge.  Ahwahnee is a great ledge that slopes into the wall slightly with several good bolts along it for fixing a line.  PLUSH

P5: C2 100' - From the Guano Ledge anchor make a free move up to clip a high pendulum bolt.  Swing right around a corner to aid up a C2 crack.  Follow that up to a right leaning small ramp that joins a vertical C1 crack.  Follow that straight up to the belay. Don't haul here!

P6: 5.7 C1 - Mandatory 5.7 moves off the belay for 20-30' no pro.  Not hard, but can be scary in aid boots.  Can't bypass with cheat stick unless you've got an extended "Lovetron" (ha!).  Follow the bolts as they curve left to a hanging belay. No cams needed on this pitch.  Do a single haul from Ahwahnee or Guano Ledge.

P7: 5.10 or C1 140' - Longest pitch on the route.  Straight up the crack off the belay.  Gotta back clean a lot or you'll never make it.  Only 1 bolt on the pitch and it's sorta shady.  Finish on the slab at a poor stance belay.

P8: C1 50' - Follow the crack up to the slab to the roof and follow up to the nice anchor.  Easy and short

P9: C1+F 90' - STEEP and strenuous.  IMHO the best / most fun pitch of the wall.  Follow the fixed gear straight up a crack and up the roof.  Finish on some mandatory 5.6 after clipping some semi hidden pins to get into easy terrain.  Finishes on long sloping poor bivy ledge.

P10: C2 80' - Break out the 4.5" (#4 and/or 5 camalot) and be ready to backclean it. This pitch takes all size gear from micro to huge.  Finish on a horizontal roof traverse and keep your rope extended so it doesn't wedge in the roof for your second.  Finishes on an awesome bivy ledge for 3+.  Fix the rope well for your second.  The good anchor is 30' from the roof, but there are some intermediate bolts and pins to clip so no one takes the big pendulum ride.

P11: 4th class 40' - Easy scramble up and right to the top.  Wonder around and find the rap slings off the back after any Hero Shots have been snapped.

Other info:

The bolt ladders are NOT reachy (Harding was a short dude)

It is 430' from the start of the route at the dead tree to the ground (the Supertopo is incorrect and undershoots it by 30').  You'll need a minimum of a 60m + 70m rope and that will just barely make it (so I'm told)

Many cracks are filled with birds and nests (swifts?), hence the guano on Guano ledge.

If you hang out on Guano Ledge, you WILL be pooped on.

The birds are in their cracks at night, dawn, & dusk, which adds a degree of excitement while climbing past them.  They mostly just squawk at you though.  Don't smack them around!

The route is mostly sheltered from storms, except Ahwahnee Ledge.

Rapping the route is not that hard, but requires some down aiding and swinging (mostly the first 2 pitches)

This is a VERY popular wall, so expect other people.

The route goes mostly free at 5.13b (gotta aid the first 2 pitches) - Freed by Leo Houlding and Jason Pickles in 2001

Most "mandatory free" sections can be skipped with hook moves, but those would be substantially harder than freeing 5.7

portaledges are generally unnecessary

Here is an old Fish Products topo and info (by Russ Walling):

fishproducts.com/topos/yost…

West Face

Jesus Built My Hotrod

Westie Face

Roulette

Wet Denim Daydream

This is kind of like the big brother to the West Face route.  Similar steepness, lots of fixed gear of questionable quality, but with a kick-ass 15 ft horizontal roof crack to cap the whole thing off with.

Climb up to Ahwahnee Ledge, the route starts from here.  Some funky free climbing (best not to clip Hotrod anchor right off ledge as pro), gets you to an intermediate free-climbing belay and below the nice beak and head seam.  From here on out it is up to you to decide whether or not to clip those nice shiny bolts added by Skinner when he freed the route (Dry Lycra Nightmare).  The only person to care or not will be you.  They do change the route in my opinion.  For the worse.

Anyway, keep on chuggin up lots of fixed gear to the splitter roof crack.  Best for you partner if you back clean it all the way out to the lip, or leave enough gear for him/her to easily re-aid it.  If you aren´t crippled by rope drag at this point, climb up thin crack to ledge.

If you are climbing this later in the season, DO NOT TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF ON THIS LEDGE!  It will be pretty sticky and gross.  You have been warned.

This route is a spicy outing, sure to give you what you want if you're after a shorter climb with some thought provoking hooking and thin nailing on it. The pitches are fairly sustained,

do not underestimate how much time they will take!

Most parties complete the route in three days, this should be an indication. The rock is delicate in places, sometimes the edges of cracks will crumble and major hooking features have fallen off in the past - but fear not, it still goes (and with more traffic, will improve!) The rock quality tends to improve the higher you get.

P1: C3F 100’

– STEEP! Begin on fixed heads and hooks to a machine head (not shown in topo), which will bring you into a nice crack. When the crack ends, clip three machine heads and a lots of #2-3 aluminum heads (one fat copper with worn cable) up discontinuous features before a C1 crack takes you to the belay.

P1 anchor: single compression bolt with homemade hanger (bomber) backed up with fixed pink tricam – takes 0.3”, 1”, or 2”

P2: C3F or A3 145’

– STEEP! Head up and right towards the shiny bolt (KB above) and pass through the right side of the roof (big roof in topo not visible from belay). A flake is missing above the first roof; get creative. Several bat hook moves lead to a rivet below the second roof (fixed KBs underneath). Machine head and aluminum heads above second roof.

P2 anchor: two 3/8” expansion bolts  - takes 2” or 3”

P3: A3 140’

– Clip a good cam and then head up and left using beaks, nuts, and hooks. Get ready to commit to some back-to-back(to back?) bat hooks – a good cam placement mellows things out just when you really want it. Finally, somewhere to stand (!!!) followed by 12 more feet of thin crack. Free climb 5.5 to Ahwahnee Ledge. (spoiler alert: the bolt/rivet shown in the topo does not exist).

P3 anchor (

Ahwahnee Ledge

): three 3/8” expansion bolts; giant ledge.

P4: C2 90’

– Traverse left off the far end of Ahwahnee, passing a good bolt and the free variation anchors (two bolts) where you’ll reach a beauty of a crack. Small cams, nuts and camhooks, nothing bigger than 0.5”.

P4 anchor: 4 bolt belay (two 3/8” expansion, one good compression, one bad/smashed over compression)

P5 (Go for the Old E): A3+/A4 130'

– Fixed KBs and thin beak placements to a good nut, followed by more beaks to a good offset cam. Traverse left on a variety of small gear, some fixed angles and LAs. Climb a short section of expanding flakes with secure moves. Rock gets better towards anchor.

P5 anchor: bomber, 2 beefy compression bolts and a 3/8” expansion bolt (not a bad place to set up a portaledge).

P6 (Mini Thin Headwall): A2+ 140'

– aesthetic pitch, first half follows a good cam crack, thin moves or a little pendulum get you to the next crack system.

P6 anchor: Single 3/8” expansion bolt, takes a good medium cam.

P7: A3 150'

– A good consolation prize if you do not get to lead the previous pitch, revenge is sweet but try not to fall on your belayer’s face at the very start. A two bolt free variation anchor is 1/3 of the way up. Pendulum into the big V slot gully to the right. Gentle camhooking gets you atop the loose pedestal, very loose is an exaggeration but run it out just to be safe.

P7 anchor: good cams under roof. I don’t remember if there was a bolt or not.

P8: 5.8 (A2) 140'

– Pitch traverses right. Good bolt 20’ right of belay. Pendulum into 5.8 free climbing or thin aid under the roof (harder). Stay left at the top; bring shoes if free climbing.

P8 anchor: 2 bolts, offset cam

P9: 5.5 100'

– An obvious finish, climb the easy ramp to the summit, build gear anchor under giant block above Wet Denim anchor.

Enjoy the views of El Cap and don’t forget to post a photo to Instagram or whatever your preferred mode of spray is!

The Westie Face is one of the best mostly-free routes anywhere. The movement is stellar, the protection just reasonable enough, the rock immaculate, and the position is simply brilliant. Additionally the fact that it's relatively short and low commitment makes it easier to work than many of the other routes in the area. That being said it's quite sustained and only has one pitch that isn't 5.12 or harder. Lastly, many of the pitches are a little heady to climb. This can be more or less true depending on the condition of the fixed gear.

See the aid route description for approach and traditional descent beta.

Pitch 1: 5.10 A0, 200' This is basically a bolt ladder with either a single hook move or a mandatory 5.10 pull to get to a crack that you can slot a red or yellow C3 in. If you're projecting the route it's nice to fix this pitch to facilitate more efficient ingress and egress. All in all kind of a chore.

Pitch 2: 5.12, 45' The simple liebacking at the start feels like an inadequate warm up for the crux that hits early in the pitch. Engaging stemming and palming lead to good holds and some easier moves up the corner. Take what rest you get and save some gas for a final punchy move before scrambling to the belay.

Pitch 3: 5.13-, 60' After some engaging stemming off the belay, (there was a fixed beak here when I did it) sprint up a section of liebacking to a stance below a small overlap. Fire off a punchy crux on good face holds and follow aging bolts to an excellent rest. Continue up the bolt ladder via more edging and face climbing until you end up on a slab with a final boulder problem guarding the exit to Guano Ledge. The boulder problem is thin and technical.

Pitch 4: 5.12-, 60' From the belay climb down and right by down-mantling a large jug rail. (not the chalked sloper to the right) Traverse right passing a fixed pin followed by some good gear. Execute a final hard move right onto positive holds and mantle up onto a rail via a lieback crack. Don't fall mantling as you'd wing back into the slab to your left. Place a good piece and then do a final airy edging move to gain the right-slanting rail and good gear. Savor the wild position as you sprint up and right on jugs, slopers, and heel hooks. There are a lot of fixed pins of varying quality here that can be supplemented with thin cams. Punch it through a final crux and mantle into a short vertical flare that takes you to the belay.

Pitch 5, 5.12- R, 40' Runout easy climbing on smooth rock allows you to gain the bolt ladder. Clip the first or second bolt and then downclimb left to execute a hard rock-over move on a good left foot. Follow this up more easy face climbing until you can clip one more bolt and gain a very thin, hollow flake up and left. Traverse underneath the base of it on easy, slightly hollow terrain to a shallow right facing flake with a thin splitter to the right of it. This is the mental crux. Build a nest of small cams in the flake and seam above and punch it up decent edges to the chains. Apparently the nest has held at least one whipper from the chains. This belay is fully hanging and kind of sucks.

It's easy to climb the bolt ladder to suss out moves, extend a bolt with a few runners, or fix stoppers in the seam so that you can eliminate the head crux. That being said, there is decent small gear and the moves are relatively easy and secure if you're strong enough to send the route.

Pitch 6, 5.11, 140' A long and awesome pitch and the only one on the route that feels like proper Yosemite crack climbing. Carefully pull around some wedged blocks to gain the corner crack above and enjoy varied crack climbing and engaging movement for the length of the pitch. This thing eats up medium stoppers.

Pitch 7, 5.12, 130' Start up some easy flare climbing on a slab until you can hand traverse up and right to an optional belay. (terrible stance) Above here traverse further right on the slab, clipping fixed pins and finessing past a couple small edges to a stance on the hanging slab below the roof. Once on the slab, get back what you can, clip a high bolt and power into and out of the huge roof above. Wild climbing on good, albeit pumpy holds will take you to the belay on an awesome ledge above.

Pitch 8, 5.12-, 100' The last pitch. Climb up on good holds in the corner past a cool beak jug out and right. Scramble back into the main corner and sprint up decent lie backing to a hand crack flare. The corner takes stoppers well. Crank up the flare on good hand jams and do one last tenuous move to get established at a good stance below the final roof. Dance out left under the roof until you can step onto Dano Ledge and collapse in a heap. Easy scrambling from here takes you to the wild summit ridge.

I've always rapped the route. It's advanced rappelling and if you need specific beta to figure it out, you should probably just walk down the traditional gully descent, but the whole thing can be rapped with an 80 or a 70 with shenanigans. It helps if there's a fixed rope on pitch 1 and to fix pitch 7 with your tag line. The top half wasn't equipped for rappelling so we ended up having to leave slings and carabiners at the top of pitches 6, 7, and 8.

Amazing thin beaking, heading, and hooking line on the right side of Leaning Tower.

No real crux as the route is consistently difficult on every pitch except for the final short pitch to the summit. Previous stories of insane runout hooking seems to be overhyped as the "pancake potential" (text from orig topo) hooking on the first pitch is only about 15'-20' of solid grappling hooks.

This route is real deal A3+ but those not used to thin beaking on Yosemite Granite may feel like it's A4

I upgraded most anchors on the route Nov'19 and all anchors now have two ⅜" bolts except for the last anchor before the top which has one 3/8" bot and a perfect C1 crack to next to it for gear. Most of the  Zamac rivets on the first few pitches have been replaced by me as well and the worst of the rivets on the upper pitches were replaced when possible. Remaining original rivets are fine.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Leaning Tower