Lost Arrow Spire

Lost Arrow Spire
Highest point
Elevation 6,930 ft (2,110 m)
Coordinates 37°45′22″N 119°35′35″W / 37.75600°N 119.593°W / 37.75600; -119.593Coordinates: 37°45′22″N 119°35′35″W / 37.75600°N 119.593°W / 37.75600; -119.593 [1]
Geography
Location Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California, US
Parent range Sierra Nevada
Geology
Age of rock Cretaceous
Mountain type granite rock

The Lost Arrow Spire is a detached pillar in Yosemite Valley, California, located immediately adjacent to Upper Yosemite Falls. The structure includes the Lost Arrow Spire Chimney route which is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.[2] The last two pitches of Lost Arrow Spire Chimney are called the Lost Arrow Spire Tip and completes the detached portion of the spire. The Tip route is often reached by rappelling into an area known as The Notch. Once the route is completed climbers will often return to the main wall via a dramatic and famous Tyrolean traverse.

The spire was originally summited by lassoing the summit from the main wall and then Ax Nelson prusiked the lassoed line to the peak and was followed by Jack Arnold. While Steve Roper called this "one of the greatest rope stunts ever pulled off in climbing history" many climbers did not recognize this "rope trick" as a true ascent. An undisputed ascent was completed later that season by John Salathé and Ax Nelson via the Lost Arrow Spire Chimney.[3][4]

Lost Arrow Spire later became one of the early hotspots for Highlining, the version of slacklining on high places. The first successful walk over a slackline to the spire happened on July 13, 1985.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Lost Arrow Spire". SummitPost.org. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8.
  3. ↑ McNamara, Chris, and Sloan, Erik. Yosemite Big Walls. Mill Valley, CA: SuperTopo, 2005. ISBN 0-9672391-9-2
  4. ↑ Challacombe, J. R. (June 1954). "The Fabulous Sierra Nevada". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. CV no. Six. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. pp. 826–830.
  5. ↑ "First Slackline Crossing of the Lost Arrow Spire". YouTube. 24 May 2009.
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