Eichorn Pinnacle

Eichorn Pinnacle is an inspiring spire right next to Cathedral Peak in Yosemite. It is often down via an unlikely 5.moderate route from the saddle between it and Cathedral Peak as a link up. The prior time when I had visited Cathedral I was impressed by its sheerness, but we hadn’t had time to climb it, as we were racing darkness as smoke from the 2020 fires blotted out the sky. We were back to tackle Eichorn, but it seemed like an awful long way to go for a short few pitches, and we were worried about the crowds on Cathedral getting us behind schedule. Rather, we opted for the West Pillar Direct route, which goes at 5.10-. Jacob was trying to break into the grade and was intrigued by the 10b lieback pitch. We got quite worked by this one. The approach was sandy and loose. We were slow on most of the pitches and ended up doing it in 8 rather than 5 in order to have better communication on the cruxes.