back to home page
May 16, 2026
Crack Kingdom is a fun 4-pitch route with excellent rock quality. It features all sizes of cracks from fingers to chimney, and serves as an excellent test of broad crack technique for the the 5.10 climber. Most of the route gets shade until noon, making it an excellent short morning romp on a warm day.
Routes climbed
| Name | Grade (YDS) | # Pitches | Quality (1-5) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crack Kingdom | 5.10c | 4 | 5 | trad |
Peaks/Towers climbed
| Peak | Elevation | Topographic Prominence | Summit Coordinates (lat/lon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Pinnacle | 9,600 ft | 80 ft | 37.22783, -118.59573 |
Gear
- 70m rope
- cams: doubles .2-4
- 11 alpine draws
Total Stats
0.7 miles
910 ft gain/loss
Approach
We parked at a large pullout on the east side Hwy 168, about a quarter mile northwest of Cardinal Pinnacle, then hiked up through the talus to a point about 100 ft left of the toe of the pinnacle. The entire approach took about 15 minutes.
Pitch 1 (5.10a, 120 ft)
This served as a good warmup for what was to come. I started up the right side of a large detached block on a 0.5" crack, then worked my way up easier terrain to a rightward step into a second corner. A thin crimpy finger crack brought me to a huge ledge with a bolted rap anchor to the left. I belayed at this anchor, which we would also use later on descent.
starting pitch 1
pitch 1 top belay
Pitch 2 (5.10-, 200+ ft)
We first moved the belay about 100 ft left, passing the giant offwidth above. Easy hand cracks led up to a short section of 4.5" offwidth (fists for me since I have big hands), then a second short 4-5" offwidth slightly up and left. I had heard of multiple knees getting stuck in this crack from previous parties, so I avoided stuffing my knee in altogether. Above this, the terrain eased as a long section of blocky ledges and then a short chimney funneled me up at a gradual angle. I slung a horn and belayed at the base of a right facing corner capped by a triangular block which was the following pitch. Pitch 2 used up just over 60m of rope.
looking up pitch 2
first offwidth
Pitch 3 (5.10c, 120 ft)
This was probably one of the highest quality pitches of 5.10 trad I had ever climbed in the Sierra, comparable to that of the Hulk or Needles. A few bodylengths of easy right-facing corner brought me up to the triangular roof. I stepped left of this roof to place gear, then stemmed out right and up to ascend a perfect finger splitter. The locks were just thin enough to not feel perfectly snug, but there were ok feet. As the splitter ended, I stepped left onto the red arete which was covered in all sorts of interesting quartz crystals, then finished off this awesome pitch with a thin hand crack just left of the arete, belaying at a large ledge just above this crack.
looking up the initial pitch 3 corner
Pitch 4 (5.10c, 100 ft)
A short bouldery right-facing move on a thin flake started off this pitch. After that, easy wandering climbing brought us to the base of the summit block.
thin flake
Summit block (optional, 5.6)
We climbed the west arete of the summit block, smearing on slab and grabbing the arete when possible. This was easy but completely unprotected. We were able to rappel off a quarter inch drilled angle which was glued to the rock. Not the most confidence inspiring.
Descent
Just west of the summit block was a bolted rap anchor. We first did a short 40 ft rap southwest, aiming for another rap anchor which was visible from the first. Four additional raps down west, roughly following The Prow, brought us back down to the packs.
first rap anchor
No comments:
Post a Comment