I have put up two new climbs in the Shuteye Pass Trail East area. I assume they are first ascents, as I did not see any other traces of climbs before, but it is possible that someone may have climbed them before.
On September 27, 2015 I put up an easy climb on the southwest face of the North Egg. This climb starts in the gully between the North Egg and the South Egg. The climb starts in an enclosure formed by two boulders and has a small stream gully running through it. The climb goes up an easy left-facing crack to a slanting ledge. It crosses over a leftward trending wide crack and then goes up a face with large chicken heads to a second leftward trending wide crack. The final section goes up a short vertical face covered with huge chicken heads to the top. A top belay can be arranged either on two large chicken heads or with wide cams in a crack further up. The climb is only about 25 m long and is rated around 5.2-5.3. Walk off to the north and circle around down the gully to the start. The climb is called "OMG, Look At Those Chicken Heads". The climb was done rope solo and requires very small through 5.0 cams plus slings.
I have put up another new climb at on a formation behind the Eggs. This area is very remote and probably requires over 2000 vertical feet ascent to get to. I had to blaze a trail through the henous bush to get to it. The climb is located on a formation that did not previously have an established name (that I know of). If you look at the top photograph on Page 187 of Grahm Doe's "Shuteye Ridge, A Rock Climber's Guide to California's Shuteye Ridge", you will see a brownish triangular shaped formation at the same height and to the right of Tombstone. Since this formation does not have any known name, I have called the formation Slab With A View, which aptly describes it.
To get to this area you have to park at the Shuteye Pass (East) Trailhead on FS Road 6S66. You hike up the trail, which is covered in downed trees that were felled to prevent excessive erosion after a fire break was make up the trail to combat the French Fire in 2014. Currently you follow pink and white surveyor tape tied to trees until you reach an opening where the un-maintained and somewhat hard to follow old Shuteye Pass trail goes up switch backs. Continue up higher past massive boulders on either side of the trail. When you get to the second creek crossing (assuming you have not lost the ill-defined trail), backtrack about 150-200 feet and then go up the hill on the right, aiming for the south face of the South Egg, which will soon be visible. Then aim for the left side of the south face of the South Egg, going through an open section of brushes and go up low angled slabs. Pass through some bushes at the top of the slabs to go to a large, sandy flat area behind the South and North Eggs. Look for a large boulder at the north end of the large opening. From this boulder, turn left and follow a trail through the trees and bushes marked by cairns that takes opening up the path of least resistance. Look for cairns as you go up the hillside. At one point the trail takes a jog to the right and passes through an opening in the bushes. Then go up the well defined trail through deep bushes to slabs. Follow cairns up the 3rd class slabs to the base of the Slab With A View. Look for some huge boulders in front of a section that has a lower angle than adjacent areas. Pass through openings between the boulders, all of which require at least 3rd class moves to the starting location, which is a slight corner going up to low angle slabs.
My climb is called "Chasing A Horny Dyke" and the title makes sense when you climb it. I did the first ascent on October 10, 2015 and did not find any other bolts in the area. I would rate the climb about 5.6-5.7 and the crux move is the first two moves onto the slab (the rest of the climb is much easier). Make a difficult move onto a slanting face and then move up to clip the first bolt. Now traverse left across a face to a wide dyke. Clip the next bolt with a double length sling or use double ropes (if you clip with a short sling, the rope drag will be horrible). Now traverse left on the dyke to a bolt. Continue traversing left to another bolt, which you should clip with a double length sling. Then do a few face moves on easy footholds up to another dyke that is covered in huge horns. The climbing is very easy, so I ran it out for a very long distance until the next bolt, but there are plenty of places to sling horns if you like. Clip the bolt and then reach a two bolt belay on a slight ledge. For this pitch you will need at least two double length slings, some single length slings, and a web-o-lette or cordelette. The first pitch is probably a little less than 60 m.
Pitch two traverses left on a different type of dyke that has lots of crystals. The climbing is very easy, but the route traverses. Clip the only bolt on the pitch and then traverse left to the arete. You can put cams in several places as you go up the low angle arete, but I only used one cam much higher on the first ascent. The route goes up the arete, which also has many horns. I used a small cam up higher in a crack and then set up a two bolt belay. For the second pitch you need several quick draws, a few small to medium cams, and perhaps several slings although I only used two quick draws and one blue BD X4 cam on the first ascent. This second pitch was a disappointment because I thought it would be harder. It turned out to be only about 5.2. The second pitch is probably about 52-55 m.
Although you can rappel the route with two ropes as I did on the first ascent, the rope drag while pulling the rope will be horrible. You may want to consider climbing up to the top of the formation and then hiking down the gully on the left to the base.
I do not expect many people will do this climb considering the approach is probably 75-90 minutes and requires over 2000 feet of vertical gain. However, there is potential for other bolted and trad climbs in this area.
Mark Fletcher
