Charlotte Dome - South Face (III, 5.8)

Last weekend Paul Souza headed over to the eastside to climb on of the "50 classic climbs: of North American, the South Face of Charlotte Dome.

Note - All photos were taken by Paul Souza

Charlotte Dome

Due to difficulties in obtaining permits on the Western slope, we opted to hike in from Kearsarge pass. It was a beautiful but long approach. About 12 miles, with maybe 3500' of elevation gain. It took us around 6 hours to reach the campsite with our heavy packs.

Heading up Kearsarge pass

Your typical Sierra scenery

It looks close, but its still a long ways off....

There was another pair of climbers from Reno already at the campsite when arrived. The winds picked up, and temperatures dropped, things did not look good! I chatted some with the Reno climbers and we discussed how the next day would go. Hopefully that wind would die down!

The next morning, we woke to clear skies, no wind, but a bit chilly. Paul and I headed out of camp about 30 min before theReno climbers and made our way to the base of the climb. From camp, it was a chill, easy approach, taking maybe 30-45 minutes.

Start of the climb

Other than some minor route finding issues at the start, the climb was very straight forward. The crux pitches were casual, the gear was good and we moved fast enough that the Reno climbers were well behind us. The rock quality was excellent, very featured and somewhat similar to what you see on Fresno Dome.

Approaching "The slot" 5.8 crux

crazy features

We topped out after maybe 5.5- 6 hours, sometime around 1 PM. An easy descent and quick hike back to camp.  Overall, the route I would say this is one of the better 5.8s in the Sierra, and is mostly a casual, well protected, and  high quality romp on excellent rock. Go get it!