Temple Crag
Big Pine Creek, the Palisades · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- serious
- Elevation
- 12999
- Best season
- July–September for dry rock; long summer days
What is here
- Terrain
- alpine-rock
- Amenities
- Big Pine Creek North Fork approach · Second Lake basecamp · Guide services climb the arêtes · Some of the Sierra's best moderate alpine rock
- Best for
- World-class moderate alpine ridge climbing
- Features
- Iconic ridges over Big Pine Lakes · Venusian Blind & Moon Goddess arêtes · Long, clean moderate alpine rock · A rope climber's Palisades prize
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Long committing multi-pitch routes — retreat is serious · Route-finding on complex ridge terrain · Afternoon thunderstorms high on the arêtes · Descent involves loose gullies — care required
- Beginner friendly
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- Yes
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- roped-rock · altitude · scrambling
- Style
- rock-route
- Altitude
- 3
- Route notes
- A soaring, sculpted wall of long alpine ridges above the Big Pine Lakes — home to the celebrated Venusian Blind (5.7) and Moon Goddess (5.8) arêtes, thousand-foot classics that are among the finest moderate alpine-rock climbs in the Sierra
- Beta note
- ~12,999 ft; Venusian Blind Arête 5.7 / Moon Goddess Arête 5.8; long multi-pitch alpine routes
- Intl tip
- A cathedral of alpine granite above the turquoise Big Pine Lakes. Its long arêtes — the Venusian Blind (5.7) and Moon Goddess (5.8) — are thousand-foot ridge classics, among the best moderate alpine rock in the Sierra. Full-value committing days: many pitches, tricky ridge route-finding, a serious loose descent, and afternoon-storm exposure. Not for beginners, but supremely rewarding for climbers ready to move efficiently on long moderate terrain. Guide services run the arêtes.
- Directions note
- Park at Glacier Lodge / Big Pine Creek trailhead — approach via the North Fork
The guide
Temple Crag rises like a cathedral above the turquoise Big Pine Lakes, and its long, elegant arêtes are the stuff of alpine-cli…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Temple Crag — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.1103, -118.4869