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The Vitals
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Fantastic
rock. Excellent easy to moderate trad routes. Excellent access.
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Can be crowded often.
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Locals Tips
General store across the street from
Strawberry Lodge is climb-centric (and good beer centric).
Dogs?
Yes, but most routes are multi-pitch
so bring supervision.
Links
Lovers Leap on Supertopo, Mountain
Project, Lover's Leap Guide Service, Rockclimbing.com,
Wikipedia
The Sections
Central
Wall
Lover's Chimney (5.7)
Bookmark (5.8)
Roofer Madness (5.10d)
Chopper Madness (5.11a)
Eagle Buttress Right (5.10a)
Main
Wall
R.I.P. (5.11d)
Tombstone Terror (5.10c)
Boothill (5.11a)
Traveler Buttress (5.9)
Silly Willy Crack (5.12c)
Corrugation Corner (5.7)
Blue Cab (5.9)
North Face Pitch 1 (5.9)
Stem Meister (5.10a)
Yankee Dog (5.11c)
West
Wall
Arctic Breeze (5.10a)
Nirvana (5.11c)
Hospital Corner (5.10a)
The Gamoke (5.10b)
Anesthesia (5.11c)
Main Line (5.11c)
Magnum Force (5.10b)
Lower
Buttress
Beer Can Direct (5.11a)
A Boy and His Arete (5.11a)
Strawbilly Tango (5.12b)
Pillar of Society (5.12a)
Surrealistic Pillar (5.7)
Surrealistic Pillar Direct (5.10b)
5.10b Variation (5.10b)
For Real Crack (5.8)
Sinbad-Herbert (5.10d)
The Groove (5.8)
The Farce (5.5)
Hemroids in Flight (5.10c)
Voodoo (5.12d)
Black Pyre (5.11a)
Black Opal (5.10c)
Bkack Magic (5.11c)
Blue Wind (5.10a)
Dear
John Buttress
Stony End (5.11c)
Drug Crazed (5.11c)
Stone Cold Crazy (5.12c)
Fight the Power (5.12b)
God of Thunder (5.11c)
Tag Team (5.10a)
Hushed Passage (5.10c)
Rehab (5.11a)
Sea Slug (5.11a)
Gods of Plunder (5.8)
Brother of John (5.8)
Skism (5.11c)
The Box
Optischnauzer (5.11a)
Endless Plight (5.11b)
Dog Party (5.12b)
Powerbox (5.12b)
Box Envy (5.11c)
Magic Box (5.11d)
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Overview
Lovers Leap offers Lake
Tahoe's best area for multi-pitch trad routes. The rock , which is
known for it's many horizontal dikes, is considered by climbing legends
such as Fred Beckey to be among the best granite in the world. I don't
have the experience to make a comparison like that, but I can say it is
the most excellent rock I have stepped or stemmed upon. The quality of
the granite and the spacing of the dikes allows climbs which elswhere
might be graded as a 5.10 get a 5.7 rating here due to the abundance of
good feet and incut holds. However the quality and abundance does come
with a not-so-silver lining, crowds. High season at
the Leap is May-June, and September-October, and you should expect
lines on the popular routes even on weekdays. Mid summer gets too hot
but you can hit it early or late, and hope for the best. There is too
much route information for
just one page so we'll break it down into the different sections.
East Wall - There are several classics here. Most notably Bear's Reach
(5.7), Haystack (5.8), and The Line (5.9).
Central Wall - Contains a few classics, but is closed for a large portion of the climbing season.
Main Wall
- Includes the classic 5.7, Corrugation Corner as well as the only
climb in the Tahoe area to make the list of 50 classic climbs of North
America (Travelers Buttress).
West Wall - Hospital Corner is the favorite here.
Lower Buttress - Surrealistic Pillar and others
Hogsback
- Excellent beginners' routes like Knapsack Crack and Deception
Lovers Leap from Hogsback -
click image for medium version. Click here for large
Lover's Leap Pictures
   
   
   
Directions
- From South Lake Tahoe/Meyers head west over Echo Summit. There are
two entrances, the easternmost really only makes sense if you're
starting and finishing with the east wall, and you have a high
clearance vehicle. Turn south off Hwy 50 in between the two switchbacks
heading down towards Horsetail Falls on the dirt road (Slippery Ford
Trail) and follow it until you hit a parking lot of sorts just short of
the bridge. Most will want to use the main parking at the
campgrounds. Turn off of 50 in the westernmost entrance to the
Strawberry Lodge and then follow the road to the left. Turn left after
the river and head to the campground. There is a daily fee for parking.
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