Gold Rush

This is an extension to Laughing at the Void, or it could also be used as an alternate finish to Thin Line or Fool's Gold. The climb begins off Rainbow Ledge, ~700ft up on the SE arête of the Gold Wall (the formation, not the route).

The first couple pitches are definitely worth doing. After that it becomes your typical Yosemite top-out thrash with a lot of trees, gullies, and ledges punctuated with boulder-problem cruxes. The aid on the first two pitches would maybe go clean with a couple really tricky C2+ hand placed beaks. A lot of it would also go free in the 5.11 or 5.12 range I think.

Pitch 1: From Rainbow Ledge, start off a boulder to the left of the trees and get on a fixed head. Aid up the crack until it gets wide, then move left to a flake. Get on a little ledge and then aid the awkward groove in the corner. Step right to a bolted anchor at the end. I only nailed once on this pitch.

Pitch 2: Aid the crack to the right of the giant detached flake (this flake looks horrifying, but it's so massive you can't really influence it, I tried trundling it and it wouldn't budge). Above this is some thinner aid that angles up and right to some bolts. Belay at a tree. You could probably link this pitch and the former with a 60m, but just barely.

Pitch 3: Scramble through trees, up a short gully, through more trees, then step left and mantel over a short wall. Scramble up and right to belay at a large broad ledge.

Pitch 4: Climb up a big gully, then escape left when possible. Scramble up to another ledge with trees to join the top of Silent Line and Gold Wall.

Pitch 5: Same as the last pitch of Silent Line. Climb a short handcrack flake with a bit of wide liebacking at the top to reach a ledge. Go over to the right to get in a bomb bay chimney (need a #5 to protect) and continue up the chimney/gully to the top.

This is only sort of the "top" however. If you want to go higher, stay roped up and do another pitch up to the right until you can scramble left. But even this isn't any sort of summit, since you still have several hundred feet of 3rd class ledges and bushwhacking leading up to yet more cliffs!

If you are planning on rapping Gold Wall/SL then you can begin your descent off the infamous "mini pine" at the top of pitch 4 (top of Silent Line pitch 8). If you need to get back to Rainbow Ledge, retrace the route. Some raps might not have any anchors, but you can throw your rope around a tree. You only need one 60m to get back to Rainbow Ledge, but pitch 2 will be a close one so watch the ends. From Rainbow, four double-rope raps (w/ two 60m's) will get you to the ground.

Pro to 4.5" w/ plenty of micro cams, offset cams, small brass nuts, and a few beaks.