I'd been wanting to climb up at Castle Crags all spring, and Justin was game for the Cosmic Wall (5.6R), six pitches of fun on a granite spire named Mt. Hubris. So we set off early Sunday morning and pounded up the Crags trail, about 3 miles and 2200' elevation gain to the base of Castle Dome. There we hung a left and stayed near the ridgeline, following a use trail through the manzanita to the base. I'd followed this route in July 2005 and was looking forward to doing it again.



Justin took the first pitch, almost a full rope length of slabby 5.4 with little pro and belayed at a tree. It was breezy and cool, and we had on our windbreakers.


The next pitch was juggy 5.6 and I was able to sling some knobs, clip a piton and even placed a cam. The traverse to the bolted anchor was kind of fun and exposed. Short pitch.



Justin took pitch three, which started with some thin moves off the belay ledge up some flaring funky cracks.



Great views of Castle Dome from the belay ledge -


I dragged the rope up another short easy fifth class pitch. Justin got the fifth pitch, arguably the best of all -- cool flakes and fun moves -


Finally I took the summit ridge up, perhaps fourth or easy fifth but with great exposure.


Woohoo ! We signed the summit register, took in the views and proceeded to rap off. Another party was still up there and we used both ropes for a single rappel. Thanks guys.




On the way back down we decided to take a side trip and scramble up Castle Dome. Second and third class ledges lead up to a fourth class "staircase" which is kind of fun.


There is also a third class gully for descending (which we used :) Great views from there.



Fun day. We headed back down the trail snapping pics, and made sure to locate Six Toe Crack for the next morning :)


Monday we got an early start, expecting it to be a warmer day. I wanted to lead Six Toe Crack, but was worried about the offwidth on the second pitch, so I brought a couple extra #0.75 - 1 cams instead of #4's intending to traverse around it.

The opening face moves weren't bad IMO, though the flowers blooming attracted a bee at what could have been a very inopportune time :) The crack had some interesting moves, though little in the way of straight-in jamming.


The second pitch was pretty interesting too. About 20' below the belay I traversed right out onto the face, and then left back to the crack. Kind of heady. Actually the offwidth didn't look as intimidating close-up .. next time I should bring a #4 or two and give it a try.


Justin took the final 5.6 pitch to the top, up a dihedral on the right side. It had some fun moves and a nice top out.




We rappelled three times to the base and had lunch. It was definitely warming up, but not enough to deter the hikers coming up the trail to soak in the views and enjoy the forest.