Temple Crag - Venusian

Venusian Blind:

Another classic, shorter than Moon Goddess but more continuous, we'd say it's better than the East Buttress of Whitney, and a little longer too. First ascensionist Don Jensen described the route as ‘an excellent beginners climb in the range” We take the same approach as Moon Goddess then keep heading to the left to gain the next Arête from Moon Goddess. We link together two arêtes on ever steepening terrain. Short jam cracks over blocks typify this section of the climb with ample big ledges to rest and recover on. We continue on the very crest of the ridge for four pitches including one section where the ridge is “missing” for about four feet to one last tower. A short crack that looks intimidating turns out not to be so at all and suddenly it is all over and we step onto the summit plateau.

Descent:

For all routes we head down towards the South Fork of Big Pine Creek via faint use trails. We climb over a minor blunt ridge towards Mt. Alice and do a short half-rope length rappel into flat sandy Contact Pass. For the final section back to the base of the routes we may have snow, which actually makes life easier as it avoid a very loose rock glacier (A rock glacier is a core of ice covered by rock and rubble. But it is still a glacier so it moves, albeit very slowly.