Elephant Talk

Elephant Talk is located on the far left side of the top of the formation. It is approached by rappelling in from above. The Reid guide has a pretty good topo showing the distinctive looking boulder and trees at the top. The rap anchors are down over the side in a little gully next to a flake.

The rock over on the upper section of the East Face is very different than most of the Elephant Rock granite. It is more like the rock in Joshua Tree or Alabama hills with great friction and lots of patina and edges. There are some large rotten flakes on the lower and upper portions of the climb which detract from the quality, but the bulk of the route consists of "hero climbing" on good edges up a golden head-wall with spectacular exposure.

The climb has a bit of an indistinct start. If you are mini-traxion soloing the route, start climbing just below the lowest bolt. If you want to rap in and lead out, then I guess you can build an anchor down under the roof and to the left (the start of the Guru Cracks) and then climb up rotten flakes leading up and right to the first bolt. The crux is in the middle of the route with another crux at the end where you move over into some more large flakes. Finish up a gully back to the bolted anchor.

Bolts, and you need to build a gear anchor at the start if planning to lead.