Lion Tamer is a spectacular climb- In August 2016 the trail has been cleaned up and a bit of gardening has been done, hopefully it will start to see some more lovin'! The rock could use a little more traffic, but the pitches are long and sustained and the movement is super fun. All of the cruxes protect well and could be aided through if need be.

1. 55M (5.10c) Start up the obvious chimney- dirty looking, but the climbing is clean and quite physical, old-school 5.9. After about 30 meters of climbing you will have two options to finish the pitch. Directly overhead you'll see a 30 ft. squeeze chimney capped by a roof. The most commonly travelled option traverses left on spooky looking flakes for 15 ft.(the pro here is solid), then you climb a crack straight up to the roof. A pumpy undercling traverse right back into the corner leads to an obvious crack exit.

Option 2 is to climb the chimney overhead at 5.9+, then make some tricky 5.10 moves to exit the chimney to a 5.10 hand crack. This crack leads to the same tough moves to surmount the small roof. The back of the squeeze chimney takes #2 C4 cams.

Either way, you will want to save a #.75, #1 and #2 (C4 sizes) and a couple double slings for the traverse and  pumpy roof exit at the top of this pitch..

*belay is obvious- 3 pitons with slings and a couple rap rings (top piton is loose, but the other two are bomber)

2. 5.9 Goes straight up the obvious groove and has a nice 5.9 layback at the end that deposits you on an ample ledge.

*Look for slings on trees, your choice of a couple good belay spots.

3. takes you up some more wide but awesome 5.9 maneuvers and puts you directly into good 5.10 thin hands and laybacks. After this little crux another 50 or so feet of 5.9 will bring you to a comfy belay ledge

4. Fun 5.9 laybacking up a wide crack to an awkward mantle. Some easy face climbing and a finish behind a wide flake.

There is a great 2 pitch variation which actually covers pitches 2, 3, and 4 and deposits you at the base of pitch 5. Here is a picture from the bottom of pitch 2- it shows the features that move to the left, and above you can see the tree that you'll climb to the left of:

Climb the variation as follows:

pitch 2: (5.9) Climb left from the belay on easy flakes with good pro. Stay to the left of the  small ledge and bypass the scrappy tree with slings. Climb fun wide cracks to a beautiful belay ledge in a hidden corner.

pitch 3: (5.10b) more beautiful crack climbing, (though slightly dirty) will eventually deposit you on the big belay ledge and reunite with the route.

5. Climb the chimney overhead (easier than it looks), then a finger crack in an open book. Exit left via a 5.10- hand traverse. Surmount the left-facing flake and climb up a ramp to the right,  to a large mossy belay ledge.

6. Now an easy exit right will get you close to the top. Low fifth. Climb up the corner 15 feet or so, and walk the foot rail to the right around the corner. From here it is an easy scramble to the top, but best to belay soon or the rope drag around the corner can stop you cold.

Lion Tamer

East Buttress

The Great White Corner

This is the best TR I can find of the Great White Corner. It looks pretty fun!

Great White Corner video link

Pitch1:

(5.7) Start up the shallow corner then move to the right and climb a good hand crack for 10 meters. When the handcrack ends, belay at a small ledge on the right.

Pitch 2:

(5.9)move right into the big white corner, jam and lieback the corner. Belay at a notch near the top of the East Buttress

Pitch 3:

Easy pitch to the summit

A fun easier route up the lions head that needs some more traffic to clean it up. Pitch 1: start at the base of the east ridge line and ascend a low angle corner until it steepens at which point you step to the right of the ridge crest and ascend the same hand crack that goes to the great white corner. Right before the corner step back over the ridge crest to the left and climb up and over a bulge protected by a piton. Belay at the ledge here. Pitch 2: climb up over the bulge above the belay ledge and scamper up the slab to the next belay under a roof. Pitch 3: a very short pitch that involves a crawl/ belly flop to the left and up from under the roof followed by a quick scramble to the summit. To descend walk to the lowest point of the south side and look for some trees with rap slings on them, do two single rope rappels from here.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in North Face