Ascent Notes for: East Buttress Middle Cathedral - 5.10c popular Average Rating : 4.71/5

+ Pierre

Amazing route. Climbed with a 70m. We used the rappel route (exiting after p11) and were down in no time. It is a sweet route. Started from car at 6am; back at car at 3:30pm.
P1-P2 Lead - Linked; roof was a little spicy
P3-P4 Follow - Linked; P3 was one of my favorites; loved the finger corner.
P5-P6 Lead - Aided the bolt ladder; traverse left was a little spicy after the last bolt. roof went clean; topo misleadme to traverse hard right (sketchy) and did not find the piton; went for the alternate bolted belay.
P7-P8 - follow, Stucked behind slow party had to wait to continue.
P9 - lead; still stuck behind slow party. belay at a tree. easy pitch.
p9-p11 follow; easy pitch. Splitter was really nice; last portion was unexpectedly fun.
use rap route on the left and came down in about 2 hours.

Killer climb. About 4 1/2 hours. Epic

can see why it was so damn crowded.

did the 50 crowded variation and simuled the three ps after that

bolt ladder variation. Did not climb the 10c and the 5.9 above the ladder was not too hard. A truly classic route. Super fun, super views of El Cap. Descent is longish but pretty easy to follow and puts you right back at the base.

Did the whole thing in 5 hours, the descent was killer though because I was so dead. Gave the 10c a hell of a go but I don't have the slab skills and it was super hot when we were on it. I ended up aiding the bolts after about 3 falls and then OS the rest of it. Awesome climb though... cool to climb with El Cap peering over your shoulder the entire climb. I led most of the harder routes towards the top, and as a reward they happened to be the most aesthetic too! Now I gotta go back and send the 10c section free... can't wait!

We did fifty crowded var but wish I had done the bolt ladder instead.

Descent tricky to find but aim for Higher Cathedral and the gully starts there. A 70m is perfect for the two rappels (we were able to skip the 2nd) . There is loose stone on upper pitches, use caution!

Loved all but the last extremely dirty pitch and the decent is kinda a pain.

P1 Lead - walk in the park
P2 Lead - roof took me a few minutes to figure out
P3 Follow - beginning looked kinda heads up but went clean
P4 Follow - ok, nothing memorable
P5 Lead - I aided the 10c and then loved the roof
P6 Lead - kinda spicy and would have like more pro
P7 Follow - ok
P8 Lead - best pitch on the route, loved the variation in tech
P9 Follow - jugy and fun
P10 Lead - most fun of the day, loved the splitter
P11 Lead - I was tired and hated the dirty groove with a backpack. Next time i'll try the 10a

Led every pitch