In my years of exploring the Great Western Divide and Monarch Divide in the Sierra Nevada, I kept spotting a remote spire poking up above the low profile of the Tablelands to the south. I don’t know when I first saw the tower, only that about 16 years ago I added it to my “to investigate” list.

I could find nothing about the formation online, nor in any books, nor from the veteran climbers I asked. So, this past September, Vitaliy Musiyenko and I headed out from the Wolverton trailhead in Sequoia National Park for an up-close look at the tower, which is set at the head of Box Canyon.

After about 15 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain, the two of us were pleasantly surprised to see what looked like a rock made for climbing—very steep and heavily featured—perched between two beautiful lake basins. We were unpleasantly surprised to find no fish to catch. As I often do, I brought ramen with hopes of adding fish for protein, but we had to be content with ramen alone.

We started the next morning, September 12, at first light. The rock in the surrounding area can be anything from perfect orange granite to grainy choss, and this formation turned out to be better than expected, with 800 feet of fun and secure climbing (up to 5.10a) on steep cracks, with almost no loose rock. We followed a prominent corner directly up the west face to a vertical orange headwall, reaching the summit, at approximately 11,300 feet, in a light hailstorm. The only bolts we placed were on the rappel route down the south ridge: three rap stations (two ropes needed) and some scrambling in between.

Rising from the south ridge is a steeper, thinner, and more delicate spire that we nicknamed the Box Cutter and hoped to try the same day, but the stormy weather chased us off.

In keeping with the idea of Tablelands, we called our tower the Candlestick.

           —Daniel Jeffcoach