Mountain Project: Climbing Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park was set aside in 1890 for it's natural beauty. Yosemite Valley, or "The Valley" to many climbers is the heart of the park and the location of many of the most incredible natural wonders in the area. Yosemite Valley is the heart, soul, and a lot of the history of rock climbing in the United States.

Getting There

Yosemite can be reached from the west, south or east via highways 120 (west), 140, 41 or 120 via Tioga Pass. The Tioga Pass drive through Tuolumne Meadows from the east side is normally closed from sometime in the fall through mid to late May due to snowfall.

Weather

The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Yosemite National Park:

Midnight Lightning V8 Boulder Yosemite Valley : Camp 4 Bouldering

Southeast Buttress 5.6 Trad, Alpine, 5 pitches, 700 feet, Grade II Tuolumne Meadows : Cathedral Peak

Snake Dike 5.7 R Trad, 8 pitches, 2000 feet, Grade III Yosemite Valley : Half Dome

Bishops Terrace 5.8 Trad, 1 pitch, 150 feet Yosemite Valley : Church Bowl

Nutcracker 5.8 Trad, 5 pitches, 500 feet Yosemite Valley : Manure Pile Buttress (aka R...

Central Pillar of Frenzy 5.9 Trad, 5 pitches Yosemite Valley : Middle Cathedral Rock

Regular Route 5.9 Trad, 12 pitches, 1000 feet, Grade III Tuolumne Meadows : Fairview Dome

The Nose 5.9 C2 Trad, Aid, Grade VI Yosemite Valley : El Capitan

Salathe Wall 5.9 C2 R Trad, Aid, 35 pitches, 3500 feet, Grade VI Yosemite Valley : El Capitan

Reed's Pinnacle-Direct Route 5.10a Trad Yosemite Valley : Reed's Pinnacle Area

Steck-Salathe 5.10- Trad, 15 pitches Yosemite Valley : Sentinel Rock

Royal Arches 5.10a/b Trad, 15 pitches Yosemite Valley : Royal Arches

Sons of Yesterday 5.10a/b Trad, 6 pitches Yosemite Valley : Royal Arches

East Buttress 5.10b Trad, 9 pitches, 1200 feet Yosemite Valley : El Capitan

East Buttress 5.10c Trad, 11 pitches, 1100 feet, Grade IV Yosemite Valley : Middle Cathedral Rock

Serenity Crack 5.10d PG13 Trad, 3 pitches Yosemite Valley : Royal Arches

Astroman 5.11c Trad, 10 pitches, 1000 feet, Grade IV Yosemite Valley : Washington Column

The North Face 5.11c Trad, 8 pitches Yosemite Valley : The Rostrum

Separate Reality 5.12a Trad, 1 pitch, 50 feet Yosemite Valley : Wildcat Falls & Above the C...

Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome 5.12a/b Trad, 23 pitches, 2200 feet, Grade VI Yosemite Valley : Half Dome

Featured Route For Yosemite National Park

Brian leading the grungy approach pitch to Super Chicken. The Super hands pitch is above him.

Super Chicken 5.9 CA : Yosemite National Park : ... : Medlicott Dome East End

P1- grovely approach pitch up some dirty ledges and knobs up to a 8 foot 4" OW that you can kind of finagle through on face holds. Not fun. But, it puts you on a good belay ledge. 40'P2- Fabulous!! Start up a finger crack in the shallow corner. Good gear and knobs appear for feet when it looks like things will get challenging. The fingercrack hits the main crack after 30 feet, and it is hands glory for about 100 feet! Really nice crack, goe...[more] Browse More Classics in CA

Photos of Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite. 1981. Photo by Blitzo.	Yosemite storm. Photo by Blitzo.	Little Nellie Falls. Photo by Blitzo.
Winter morning. Photo by Blitzo.	Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls. Photo bt Blitzo.	Upper Yosemite Falls, Winter, 1975. Photo by Blitz...
Merced River-Happy Isles. Photo by Blitzo.	Star King. Photo by Blitzo.	Monarch butterfly on thistle. Photo by Blitzo.
Yosemite Valley 1975. Photo by Blitzo.	Sugar Pine. Photo by Blitzo.	El Capitan. Photo by Blitzo.
	Dogwood-Yosemite Valley. Photo by Blitzo.	Forest-Lower Merced Canyon. Photo by Blitzo.
Up-turned grinding stone. This boulder was dislodg...	Mt. Watkins and Tenaya Canyon from Half Dome. Phot...	Half Dome and Merced River-Winter. Photo by Blitzo...
El Cap through a dead, fallen tree arch. The NPS h...	Yosemite Valley from 33,000 feet. Flying into San...	really cool camp 4 problem called Thriller.
Yosemite in May, 1992 Photo by Deaun Schovajsa	Not in the Platte! This mystery dome is about twe...	El Cap-West Buttress profile. Photo by Blitzo.
Fingertips 5.10b Daff Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosm...	The Nose from the road	The Nose and Pine Line
Taken June 16, 2008 at 13.5	Tenaya Canyon	Fairview dome
"Chongo" Big Wall climber and theoretical astroph...	Winter In Yosemite	Nevada Falls
Nevada Falls and Liberty Cap	Liberty Cap, Nevada Falls	Fern Springs
2 shots stitched together, September 2009.	Panoramic from the Tunnel View vista, September 20...	3 stitched shots from Glacier Point, September 200...
A squirrel with a view. We were laughing about th...	Larger panoramic of the Valley from Glacier Point,...	My first visit to the valley and it snowed for 5 d...
A trip to the valley wouldn't be the same without ...	Self portrait.Welcome to Yosemite.I am glad to be ...	Dogwood-Autumn. Photo by Blitzo.
Climbing in the 80s. Left to right: Yabo, Peter Ma...