Norman Clyde made the first ascent of this route, and was a true BAMF.  He made numerous first ascents in the Sierras, including that of Mt Whitney's East Face.

The summit of Bollinger is most easily reached by this route, which starts at New York Pass. It would be the easiest descent for other Bollinger routes originating both in Shadow Lake Cirque and Cirque of the Towers.

The route involves mildly exposed scrambling, on predominantly good quality rock. Exfoliating slabs present interesting route finding challenges, and I won't spoil it for you by providing the details. Inexperienced climbers may not be comfortable on this terrain. (Consider a 30 meter rope.)

This route is not worthy of being your primary climbing objective, but if you are traveling between Cirque of the Towers and Shadow Lake it would be very worthwhile to travel via New York Pass (instead of the easier Texas Pass) and take in this fine summit.

The views of Wolf's Head and Pingora are stunning, and the perspective (from the North) of these famous formations is unique to Bollinger.

Bollinger Peak, North East ridge

Bollinger West Face

This stellar route is a variation to the Cattabriga Route. I first tried this route in 1979 with Mary Erdei and Mark Whiton. We got to mid-height on a cold windy day in August only to be confronted by what is now the crux of the Cattabriga Route. I came back in 1994 with Mike Keating hoping to get past that. It's an intimidating looking pitch. We found one fixed peg but still opted to move right and climb one pitch of 'french' free (pulling on gear) to reach the base of what is the crux of our line. Mike did a great job leading it. We then did two more long pitches to the summit. Little did we know that Alan and Skeeter had done their line 2 weeks before we did ours. So credit goes to them for the FA. We just offer ours as an easier variation.

Description

Location

Routes in Bollinger Peak