Lovin' the Leap

Lover’s Leap – Lake Tahoe, Ca. 
Surrealistic Pillar Direct (10b, 1 pitch) into Surrealistic Pillar (5.7, 2 pitches, Trad) into Traveler Buttress (5.9, 4 pitches, Trad)

Lover’s Leap was not on the original itinerary; however, itineraries are a mere outline for road trips and should never be considered etched in stone. Queue tires screeching and cell phone web browsing for route beta!

The climbing at Lover’s Leap was spectacular, with Surrealistic Pillar Direct and the first three pitches of Traveler Buttress being our favorites. It became quite obvious why Traveler Buttress is regarded a “50 classics” climb. Each pitch was very unique, from the bouldering style start up a serrated style crack of P1 to the awkward offwidth crack (umm, wear your offwidth pants) leading to amazing hands on P2 to the extremely exposed arête on P3.

We could have easily spent another day climbing in the Leap, but our bodies were in need of a rest day.