Donner Summit

The Approach

We flew into Reno, Nevada with plans to spend a few day's at Lake Tahoe and hoping to climb at Lovers Leap. Upon our arrival we found South lake Tahoe to be in flames. It looks like Lovers Leap is out of the question! After a little research we settled on heading north to Donner Summit. On the drive around the lake we found a climbing shop where I was able to find "A Falcon Guide" for the area.

We had a car full of people and only two of us were climbing so Donner Summit worked out great because there is a ton of climbing right off the road. Travis and I could go climb while the others could go hiking and exploring. Donner Summit is located a few miles west of Truckee, California. It was about an hour in a half from our condo in South Lake Tahoe.

The Climbs

Bastille Slab

Our first climbs that we came to were easy top ropes up a short slab right off the road. Our first thought was that it would be a great place to get used to the great granite the area has to offer. The climbs were all so easy that we ended up just getting bored. I don't think anything that we climbed on the wall was harder than 5.4.

Me climbing some easy cracks on the Bastille Slab.

Travis warming up to Sierra granite.

Moderate cracks dominate the Bastille Slab.

School Rock

Kindergarten Crack, 5.4

Pitch 1, low 5th

Right above the Bastille Slab was a large dome called School Rock. School Rock has a number of multi pitch moderates that looked pretty fun. We hiked along the base until we found what we thought was the start of Kindergarten Crack. After climbing about 50 feet I realized that we could have just hiked a little further and scrambled to our belay. I belayed Travis up and prepared for a cool looking set of double cracks.

Pitch 2, 5.4

To reach the upper slab we climbed the steep double cracks which had maybe one tricky move and then it is all easy slab climbing. The slab leads to a steep step which ended up being really easy although it made you feel quite exposed. I set a belay at the top of the step and belayed Travis up. This pitch was about 90-100 feet.

Me climbing up the slab while Travis belay's.

Travis pulling the steep double cracks.

Travis high on the slab.

Travis pulling the roof above the slab.

Pitch 3, 5.4

We probably could of walked off to the west if we wanted to from here but we decided to give it one more pitch. We had a number of options to choose from, straight ahead was what looked like maybe a 4th class scramble, a little to the left was a cool looking crack with a bulge. We choose the crack and it was pretty cool, for about 20 seconds. Getting over the bulge was great with good fist jams deep inside the crack but once you were over the bulge it was more 4th class scrambling.

Travis on the upper slabs with Donner Lake in the distance.

These were pretty fun climbs but I would have preferred something a little harder. Kindergarten Crack reminded me of the South Ridge of Ingalls Peak a bit.

After climbing in the hot California sun we were ready for a dip in Donner Lake!

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