This is an obvious line on the left middle face of Gem Lake Wall.  It certainly could have been climbed previously.  If it is your route, let me know and I'll fix it.

From a distance, the right side of this modest wall has some prominent chimneys.  As you look closer, you see a few discontinuous lines and a pair of cracks on the left middle face.  This line is the right of these two crack.  Its off-verticality adds to its climbability at a reasonable grade.  This line is generally much more sustained than

Exemplary Behavior

and thus probably deserves its 2.2 stars.

P1. Start of less-than-beautiful rock to gain the obvious crack.  Dance up the crack until it gets wide ~100' up.  Then you can do some offwidthing or face climbing around the offwidth.  Belay on the left on a decent stance.  Double #1 - #3 Camalots are useful.  5.7, 130'.

P2. This pitch starts off in your face with some 5.8 crack.  Move up into a pod below the squeeze / offwidth.  A #1 Camalot below and a tricky yellow Alien on the right at the crux make it feel doable.  Bigger folks may have to face climb around this squeeze section.  Slender folks may get deeper to the point where one's helmet may get in the way.  A #3.5 Camalot comes in handy above the crux.  You may be so relieved to conquer the crux that you don't place any more gear until the belay, but there are placements.  5.9 PG-13, 100'.

P3. You may (we did) belay a 5.5 exposed section to get to the top of the formation and belay behind a thread. 5.5, 50'.

To descend, we scrambled with climbing shoes on east-north-eastward to gain a ramp that led skier's left.  Cross a chimney.  Continue northward quite a ways until you get cliffed by the far north end of the Gem Lake Wall.  There is one spot where we jumped down to a ledge.  You may figure out a downclimb down the north face, but we headed down a 3rd class gully eastward until you are within a short distance of the trail.

Squeezeasy

Left of Cleft

Exemplary Behavior

Gondwanaland

Commendable Conduct

The Cleft

Nameless Dihedral

Climb along a small right-leaning fragile flake and place a cam. Move up, then traverse right to a short right-leaning crack. Climb the crack to its end, near the

Cleft

. Move left and up, into the longer right-leaning crack (on which I am visible in the photo). This crack is thin at first, then steepens awkwardly right (crux, wide hands) before it nears the

Cleft

. I continued up into the

Cleft

, to the same belay position that I had used in the cleft (by the fixed pin and old sling). I led Ross Swanson up this on Sept. 2, 2010.

This is a line on the right side of the southern-most face of Gem Lake Wall.  It ascends a right-facing dihedral and exits in a V-slot.  It is not sustained, but it is fun.  As a result, it is on the lean side of 2 stars, 1.75 probably.

P1. Climb up a low angle, right-facing dihedral through 2 steeper sections to a stance.  Down low, maybe 20-25' up, try to put something in the crack to keep the rope out as you go right around a bulge.  Pro for the belay includes large wires & a red Alien.  5.7, 125'.

P2. Go up to the large roof, skirt to the right over a short boulder problem.  You may be tempted to move left onto a slopy face, but the protection is less than ideal.  Continue right and move up into a V-slot.  Those with small fingers may find it easier than the meaty types.  The difficulty eases as the domes rounds out.  Belay off some natural threads.  You may find easier exits right if you are uninspired by the V-slot.  5.9, 115'.

To descend, we went east to a gully.  Near the base of the gully, it cliffs out.  We moved maybe 80 feet skier's right to find a couple downclimbs/scrambles.  Hike down a brushy gully back to the base.

Starting from the trail, climb intermittent grooves and cracks to an overlap at ~100 feet. Decipher the downsloping features (5.9), and continue up an unprotected slab. Place protection in a horizontal, and traverse right to a ledge (130-foot pitch).

Pitch two diagonals right to the obvious crack/chimney system that continues to the top. The crux is in a flaring, featureless pod (120 feet, 5.9+).

Pitch three follows the chimney system to the end of roped climbing.

Scramble over the summit, eastward then northward, to reach Gem Lake. Or scramble south (tricky and exposed) into a gully, and bushwhack west to the trail.

Climb the first pitch of

Exemplary Behavior

(5.8). I ran out of cams, so I belayed about 20 feet below the roof mentioned in the

EB

description. Grant led through, climbing straight up, continuing above the right end of said roof, instead of traversing right on

EB

. About 30 feet above said roof, he climbed left over a highly lichened bulge that provided gear placements (5.8+). He continued angling left until easy ground. We scrambled to the summit and down to the south into a bushy gully that led back toward the start.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Gem Lake Wall