Goldrush

This is the extremely obvious splitter to the left of the east end of tunnel #2 on highway 120. Most climbers have probably noticed it on the drive out of the park, and yet you will rarely ever see someone climbing it.

The climb starts on a narrow ledge about 60ft off the ground. This ledge can be accessed by scrambling through the notch between Goldrush and the adjacent spire with a 4th class traverse leading to the base of the climb. We opted to rappel in from above (there is a large tree to fix a rope on).

The rock is more coarse than most of Yosemite's granite and there is a lot of flaky grit on the face. It's still a great pitch however, with stellar position and exposure. The crack starts out as a leaning, #4 Camalots sized, splitter on an overhang and it will feel hard for the grade if you can't get a decent fistjam in this size. In its second half, it becomes slightly less steep and widens to accept good knee and leg jams. At the top the crack pinches down to hand jams and then fingers with a bit of desperate pawing over a final bulge onto the sloping ledge.

Pro to 4.5", extra 3.5-4.5"