18-19 July 26 - Trip Report: Experiencing an Epic on Temple Crag's Dark Star Climb

First and foremost, it's important when writing trip reports to remember
they will be on the internet forever. They are important. Future parties
rely on your beta. This matters.

Sweet – let's rip out this Dark Star trip report while I wait for my
burrito at El Pollo Loco. I have 11 minutes. Which is a soft 40 by Bishop El Pollo
Loco standards.

My Shark Tank idea: Bishop El Pollo Loco after-hours drop box. We have
one in the back of our shop's parking lot for after-hour rental returns.
It works really well.

Cool. Here's my legal advice (beta) for the Dark Star. Seriously – I graduated law school from UC Davis in 2023. I'm a Juris Doctor. LOL. What were they thinking?!

Temple Crag

Bring: Helmets and electrolytes
Don't Bring: Children (at least not yours) and 1st Tinder dates

Remember to check your rope knots. And whatever else you're supposed to
check.

Or, if you're running low on sleep, caffeine, and electrolytes, and may
or may not have almost just-been decapitated by an NBA-sized
basketball... Don't check anything and hope you did it all right the
first time. My dog is taken care of, but waiting on us. We better hurry!

Dyno, patiently waiting for dad to return from an epic

Considering we'd never climbed together, we figured Dark Star – a grade
V, 5.10c on notoriously loose rock (it wasn't THAT loose) would be a good
start. Oh, and let's drive up there after getting off work at 7pm, start
the hike early the next morning, and do the whole thing car to car. That
way could both hallucinate hiking down. Fun, considering we're both
sober. Harrison saw hieroglyphs ("I'm pretty sure those are rock scars,
dude") and I saw a refrigerator-sized solar panel and a tent. Both were
rocks. Trippy.

At least we know our gear works. Kind of. We have a rack of ultralight cams I manufactured when I worked at Black Diamond 10 years ago, and just realized a few of them don't work anymore. I should have retraced the lobes after pulling them from my storage bin. I've been climbing on normal C4's like a normal human being as of late. At least we have deez brass nuts. The good ones, made by DMM. We carry them in the shop.

Brass nuts for the win

It's hard to explain or conceptualize just how long this climb is. It looks MASSIVE from the approach (and from the base), but what you can see is only about a third of the route. The ridge traverse after the middle buttress – which is all hidden - feels especially long. THAT section was pretty loose. Especially off route, and there's a good chance you will be, at least at some point. The route has an overall old school vibe. 5.8 might feel more like 5.10, and the topo is laughable after the first buttress. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Keep it light and have fun. We sure did! Bring a speaker. Be confident
soloing loose and exposed 5th class quickly while tired. Global
standards loose – not "Sierra loose." Be confident in your route-finding abilities. Otherwise, you're gonna have a BAD time.

We'd love to sandbag you ("you could probably leave cams at home and just
take a single rack of nuts"), but our co-workers and bosses are on Inyo SAR.
They do a lot of rescues (and recoveries) up there. Please don't make
them find you.

We drove up to the trailhead near Glacier Lodge after getting off work
at 7pm on July 17th, 2026. We got up there around 8pm and enjoyed the
"home-made" chicken tenders I'd cooked us. We forgot bug spray, but
at least I remembered ketchup.

Cars rolled in occasionally throughout the night until we were up at
2am. Each car chose a spot in perfect position to blind us with their
brights, and each one proceeded to idle with their lights on for around 30
minutes to an hour. We didn't get much – or any – sleep. Oh well.
We started the 7.5 mile approach up the North Fork of Big Pine Creek trail
around 3am. We enjoyed hiking in the dark and made it up to second lake
around 5am. We filtered water and enjoyed the sunrise while mosquitos waged war.

Ominous skies surrounded us at the base of the route. We checked the weather on our inReach. 30% chance of rain? What happened to the splitter forecast? The forecast is harshing our mellow.

We waited it out for an hour or so to ensure the skies didn't get (more) ominous and decided that possible rain in the afternoon would probably be light, if anything. Casual. Let's go.

We opted to solo up easy 4th and 5th class rock to the base of the real
climbing instead of traversing in. The traverse was covered in snow,
anyway. Gross.

Not the weather that was forecasted initially

Harrison took the first pitch and linked it with the second on our 60m
rope. Go dog go. Old school 10c felt about right. Tenuous corner
climbing on pretty good rock with thin, finicky pro. Bring micro-cams
and brass nuts. Sustained stemming and teeny footholds will get you
through the crux. Don't blow that onsight.

Pitches 1 & 2

The third pitch traverses left from the belay and out of sight until you can stem out across some blankness to gain a cool crack flake thing. Place a piece and continue up, eventually finding a left facing corner/finger crack that climbs through a bulge on amazing rock. Maybe the best on the route.

The next few pitches are fun. How's that for beta? Honestly I don't really remember them. Just aim for the chimney. Then go inside of it, then go outside of it. It's fun.

The dark gash at the top is the chimney

After being birthed by the chimney, climb a good hand crack. Then start the adventure. Un-rope (or simul-climb) and ride the ridge that ultimately leads to the middle buttress. Do a rap or down climb towards its end, say a prayer, and wander up the middle buttress. Pass through a roof that goes at 5.10 - if you're on route.

Then get ready to climb, climb, and keep climbing/ridging until you don't want to climb or ridge anymore.

On the ridge to the middle buttress

Do look down, the view is amazing

Look for hidden rap stations (or don't, and down climb) and carry on. And on. And on. In any case, bring some webbing to back up rappels or sling blocks of your own.

By the time we got within 200 feet of the top we were blinded by darkness and couldn't see a logical way forward. We'd also been ever so slightly delayed by rain in the afternoon - which we were fine with, since it gave us a chance to eat Walking Tamales. We also sell those in the shop.

We rapped into a nook and hung out until the sun came up and we could see the route to the top. I ate skittles and melted snow in our Katadyn BeFree by putting it on my thigh, stomach, and chest. Harrison got a few zZz's. Boss life!

Once we were up, over, and off, we each found ourselves on Contact Pass, about to descend the snow slope back to Second Lake. I kicked steps down and across until it was mellow enough to let it rip into the sand that led us to second lake and all the water we could dream of drinking.

Hiking out - exhausted but happy

The hike down was uneventful. Our last task for the day was dinner. Chinese food at Wonderland (aka Woderland) in Bishop. Fancy.

We recommend Dark Star. It first peaked my interest climbing Venusian Blind as a teenager 15 years ago, and it did not disappoint. I don't know if I could say the same with a straight face for the Minaret Traverse, which I did a full 5 days ago. I'd tried it once before 11 years ago and bailed due to gnarliness. Yikes - talk about loose! The Dark Star is a good way to gauge your comfort level to see if you're ready for even more adventure. It's limitless out here.

Be kind, be safe, be humble, and be appreciative. This is the best range on Earth. At least for us. Enjoy it and take care of it.

-Aaron & Harrison

Dyno was so happy after dad's return

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