Geek Tower via Freestone

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May 25, 2025
Freestone climbs the left side of the infamous Geek Tower in Yosemite. It is one of the "big three" Yosemite 11c classics (with the other two being Astroman and the Rostrum's North Face). I'm my opinion it's the most adventurous of the three and by far the headiest, featuring some decent runouts, thoughtful gear, and a few sections of protection on suspect rock. The route was very committing, with all gear anchors and a very old-school feel to it. There was only one bolt on the entire route and it was just 30 ft off the ground! 

A big highlight of Freestone is that it climbs only a few hundred feet away from Yosemite Falls. For maximum excitement we chose to climb it in the spring when the falls were at full force and the sound of thundering water would accompany us on the entire route. It turned out to be a beautiful clear day with no wind, and we could still hear eachother well the whole time despite the constant roar of the waterfall. 

Routes climbed:

Name	Grade	# Pitches	Quality (1-5)	Type
Freestone	5.11c	8	4	trad

Peaks/Towers climbed

Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
Geek Tower	5,734 ft	10 ft	37.75613, -119.59514

Gear

- 70m rope

- tagline (mandatory for raps, unless you bring an extra rope or one 80+m rope)

- cams: doubles 0.1-2, singles 3, 4, 5

- small nuts; no brassies needed

- 13 alpine draws

Total Stats

5 miles

2,100 ft gain/loss

Approach

Since we had heard this route climbed pretty slowly, we decided to get a head start and bivy halfway up the approach. We parked in the Yosemite Lodge lot across from Camp 4 and took the paved trail to the base of Yosemite Falls, then continued further east until we were right above a maintenance facility to the south. Right where the trees opened up to a boulderfield, we took a well worn use-trail which ascended steeply to the north. At the top of this scree slope, the trail made a hard left to the west, traversing along a ledge system until we were right above Lower Yosemite Falls. About 3/4 of the way along this ledge, we came across a trickling creek on a nice mostly-flat slab and decided to bivy there, noting that continuing any further would result in getting a misty spray from the falls. This was an amazingly scenic bivy spot with plenty of room to spread out and an excellent open view of the valley, Sentinel Rock, and Half Dome.

awesome bivy

The next morning we woke up before sunrise and continued west on the ledge system before it dead ended at an obvious spot where continuing further west would plunge us right into a giant chasm with the waterfall. We veered north here on fainter use-trails, doing an initial section of class 3 scrambling before the terrain smoothed up and became a series of faint sandy trails. We followed these to the base of Geek Tower just west of Lost Arrow Spire. The route started from a large flattish ledge about 100 ft east of the raging waterfall. This would've been an awesome spot to camp if it wasn't for the waterfall spray. 

looking up from the base

The following pitch descriptions (in blue) are taken directly from Mountain Project, with my remarks below each one. 

Pitch 1 (5.11a)

Climb up some 3rd class and clip the only bolt on the route. Make a tough move up and left to gain a ramp/corner system. Corner gets steeper and a little tough/spicy in spots. Eventually move out left of the main corner and climb up to a nice ledge. This pitch was wet in March. Not necessarily from the falls, but from seasonal seepage. Still doable though.

The pitch became fairly obvious once we saw the bolt. David led up the easy terrain leading up to it, clipped it, then made some difficult slippery moves up and left on a dry water streak, taking a fall when a foot slipped. He got it on his second try and continued up to the main corner on easier terrain. None of the pitch was seeping or wet except for when it would briefly dampen when the wind whipped waterfall spray into it. 

 

Pitch 2 (5.10b)

Climb up 15 ft. or so and make a face move out left to get established below a splitter crack/groove. Clip a pin and start up. It looks like it will be unprotected but good gear consistently becomes available. short pitch, belay at a horrendous stance marked by some tat. If you have the bravery/gear left I would link it into the next one.

We made quick work of this one. The climbing was slightly runout in certain spots but only on easy terrain, and as a whole it felt quite comfortable. The hanging belay was indeed uncomfortable. 

looking down pitch 2

Pitch 3 (5.10b)

Noted as "thin and scary" in the Reid guide and "really thin" in the Sloan guide, it's not that big of a deal. Make sure to get in some gear off the belay and then make some tough moves up and right to gain the next crack/groove splitter. Climb this thing for a ways to a somewhat nicer stance at some tat.

This was my favorite pitch on the route. A few moves to the right led to a thin crack with good gear and then a long section of disjoint cracks which would periodically close up completely, resulting in several cool reachy moves between pods. The gear was consistently great and I used all but a couple pieces by the time I arrived at the belay. I had to place one of them at the belay and lower off it to retrieve some gear to build the anchor with. No part of this pitch felt runout; just seemingly miles of amazingly thoughtful and flowy climbing. 

David following pitch 3

Yosemite Falls

Pitch 4 (5.10d)

Indeed, a tad spicy. Big hollow flakes off the belay lead up until you must make a difficult face move with pro at/below your feet to gain a ledge/ramp. This ramp becomes the corner system of the upper half of the route. Many options for a belay but I went all the way up to a little stance right below the obvious thin corner of the next pitch.

The gear for the first part of this pitch was a bit suspect, with the last piece before the business being a #3 cam behind a hollow flake followed by a few difficult moves and then a runout on easier terrain. The cam held as David took a whip on it, but I couldn't help notice that the flake vibrated and shed a few grains in the process. Once on the ramp, the terrain eased up and good gear became available.

Pitch 5 (5.11a)

Sweet 11a tips crack in a corner. Infamously pinned out, I didn't think it was too crazy. Anyway, keep going until you get to a much-deserved, amazing, plush-as-it-gets belay ledge. Plan on having lunch here. Sit back and enjoy the falls thundering right next to you...

Just like pitch 3, this pitch was very well protected even if it didn't look like it would be from the belay. It was also easier than it looked and I made quick work of the corner with bomber thin pieces placed from pumpy stances. Thankfully these just slotted right in without much fiddling. After the corner, some steep but easier romping on some precarious flakes brought me up to the awesome ledge. We chilled here for a bit and ate some food while watching the falls. We also watched a helicopter swing by and hoist someone off the Yosemite Falls Trail. 

looking down pitch 5

views from the p5 ledge with helicopter

Pitch 6 (5.10d)

Really fun pitch, if a tad stout, and the geometry of the crack makes pro a little hard to get. Short pitch. I belayed in an alcove of crap rock. A little higher up might be better but will require bigger gear that you may need on the next one.

Contrary to the description above, this pitch was the only one that felt right on point for the grade as opposed to being slightly sandbagged like the others. David made quick work of this steep and amazingly fun corner. The gear was fiddly but overall it protected very well. 

Pitch 7 (5.11c)

11c and every bit of it. Climb the steep, mostly fist/cupped crack past a fixed #4. Higher, another crux wide section is encountered. Make sure to save a #4 of your own for this!! Eventually the climbing eases and then a belay ledge is reached out right. Belay takes .75-3. A long, burly pitch.

This was the business, and I spent probably 30 minutes struggling up it. An initial easy section of fists suddenly turned up in difficulty at a wide #4s bulge. I just managed to get past the bulge before my left arm torqued in the wrong direction, throwing me off balance and resulting in a 15 ft whip. I brushed myself off and worked the move for a bit before turning the bulge into the wide crack above. I took out the #5, bumping it up as well as clipping a fixed #5 halfway up the wide section. Even as the wide section ended and the crack became hand-sized, it still felt hard due to fatigue from all the wide climbing. This was a long tiring pitch with great movement. 

Pitch 8 (5.7)

Easy climbing to the summit of the Geek Towers.

A short easy section of hand crack brought us up to the top, where the first rap station could be found to climber's right. 

Descent

We made 6 total raps down the right side of Geek Tower, making the first 3 raps with a single 70m rope and the remaining raps with the rope tied to a tag line. Each rap station contained a good newer bolt and crappy old bolt. Some of the bad bolts were bad enough that we were essentially just rapping off one good bolt. 

After reaching the ground, we walked back to the left side of Geek Tower to grab our bags at the base and then started the hike down. The sun hadn't set yet and we made good time back down to our bivy site where we grabbed our stashed sleeping bags before descending into the valley.