Native Son

Climbers on pitch 10 of Native Son, a route on the SE Face of El Cap, first climbed by the late Walt Shipley and Troy Johnson in 1987. Notice the difference in rock types (by color) and their intrusive relations (i.e. darkest is youngest). This portion of the face is composed mostly of light-colored El Capitan Granite (104 Ma). The medium-gray rock is tonalite and the dark-gray rock is North America Diorite (103 Ma). Ma = million years ago; a crystallization age. You can click here to see a description of specific rock types. Click here to see a geologic map of Yosemite Valley.