Best Moderates in Yosemite

Making my first trip to the valley in a few days and am wondering what are the best climbs to get on. I know there's a ton of amazing climbs but im looking to make a list for short approaches and routes anywhere from 1 to 10 pitches around the 5.9 to 10d range. Any thoughts???

obvious choice is serenity sons. that one should be top of the list.

other good routes are central pillar of frenzy and east buttress on middle cathedral. and although it is easier than 5.9 and has a long approach, snake dike on half dome makes for a fun day and is not to be missed.

sweet, sounds like its best to get an early start on serenity sons to avoid crowds. Do you know if there is there any climbing within walking distance of the pines campground?

serenity sons is walkable from the campgrounds. there is also a bunch of climbing in that same area including royal arches, super slide, etc. all on this website.

also glacier point apron is walkable from the campground. check out mr. natural.

try to get your hands on the reid guidebook as a lot of that stuff is not in the supertopo guidebook.

if you don't have a car the bus system is great and can get you everywhere else very easy.

JoJo Crack is a beautiful .10b/c 80ft splitter from fingers to fists at the base of Washington Column between the start of South Face and The Prow. It's a hike in for sure compared to others but its completely worth it as it doesn't see half the traffic the short approach routes get.

Grant's Crack at Swan Slab is another pretty good albeit short 5.9 finger crack. If not that then Lena's Lieback is another good 5.9 just around the corner from Grants.

vincent L is right, Braille Book is a great climb even if it doesn't really meet your criteria of 5.9-5.10d, short approach (although I suppose there are longer approaches).

I think you're limiting yourself a bit to routes with shorter approaches. Get up early and you'll have plenty of daylights for some great routes like

E. Butt of MCR, 5.10c
Central Pillar (MCR), 5.9
If those are crowed, check out Stoner's Highway (MCR), 5.10c. Paradise Lost (.10a), next door, is also really good but has a heads up section on the second pitch which keeps lots of folks off.
NE Butt. of Higher Cathedral, IV, 5.9. Best grade IV in the Valley.
At Reed's, which has a short approach: Reed's Direct (5.9), Lunatic Fringe (.10c) and Stone Groove (.10b) are all awesome. While you're in the neighborhood, you can drop down to the other side of the highway and climb Five + Dime (.10d).
At the Cookie: Outer Limits, .10c, Wheat Thin (.10c), Bev's Tower (.10a), Catchy (.10d). Never done Waverly (.10d) but it's supposed to be burly goodness.
If you want some solitude, Little Wing Cliff has several good .10s worth the 30 min. hike.

Have fun.

Ho Chi Minh trail. Longer than 10 pitches, but a blast!

Central Pillar of Frenzy is a must do. So is NE buttress of higher cathedral.

Book of Job and Steck Salathe should be done.

Serenity/Sons but you already know that.

If looking for something off the beaten path, try Arrowhead arete. Not many people do it, but it is pretty damn cool!

I don't want to hi-jack this thread, but I am in a similar sitation. I am fairly new to trad climbing and haven't lead much harder than a 5.8. Most of my trad climbing has been in Red Rocks, NV. If you have any less than moderate (5.4-5.8 climbs) that protect well. I would love to hear these suggestions as well.

Don't get sucked into "the crowded classics" there are many climbs of the moderate grade that protect well. (Most protect well, and would probably say if otherwise..)

Soooo many climbs in the valley. Sooo many great ones. (That are not listed as 3star.)

But I think the suggestions here are great. You may just have to wait to hop on them, as they can be crowded.

If you are going to do the crowded ones, maybe have a backup route nearby in mind.
Why wait when there is thousands of great lines.

FatDad has a good list there also...

church bowl has a 10 second approach and i really like 'black is brown' (one of the hardest 8/9's/heard some people call it soft 10) and 'revival' 10a is good there too.

The Good Book 10D, 5? pitches above camp 4 somewhere. One of my favorites in the 10 range although there are always some rock fall warnings.. check recent reports. I second Stoner's Highway. One of my favorites and totally different face climbing character than almost every other climb mentioned. Steck-salathe 10b doesn't fall too far out of what you're after and is a one day.

Doggie Deviations is one of the most awesome single pitch climbs I have ever done. On camp 4 wall. Regarded as a "stout" and sustained 5.9 that utilizes a huge variety of techniques - it has it all. RIght next to it is a fantastic offwidth not to be missed if you have a 4 and two 5's. Please enjoy the short overhanging fist crack section.

Go buy the Supertopo free climbs guide. It covers exactly what you're after.

Here's some of the std 5.8 to 10b classics that come to mind, roughly on order of overall difficulty (which is way different than the simple yds rating, e.g. Braille Book at 5.8 is a harder overall experience than Jam Crack at 5.9:

Harry Daley
Keystone Corner
Bishops Terrace
Jam Crack Route
Nutcracker
Lena's Lieback
Braille Book
Commitment
Owl Bypass
New Deviations
Central Pillar Frenzy
Moby Dick Center
Royal Arches->Crest Jewel
Copper Penny
Reeds Direct (incl p3)
Stone Groove
E.Butt Middle
E.Butt El Cap
Serenity Crack->Sons of Yesterday (VERY soft crux at 10d, realistically about 10b and about two moves ong, easy to pull past with a single french free move for maybe the best 5.10 multipitch in the valley)
NE Butt Higher
Steck Salathe
Book of Job (rarely done, burly and wide, but awesome)

that could fill a trip right there. And you wouldn't be disappointed on any of them I wouldn't think.

Very Nice! Thanks everyone I have a great list made. I have allways heard that a 3star route at the valley is probably better than your 4 star routes at home so Ill be sure to remember that!

I made the same trip to Yosemite last summer with similar goals at the same grade. I climbed a lot of the super 'classic' routes (i.e. Royal Arches, Snake Dike, Bishops Terrace, etc.) and have one suggestion that seems to get overlooked sometimes, and sorry if someone already suggested it. Goodrich Pinnacle was one of my favorite climbs in the valley, if your into some super awesome slab, this is the route for you. On the flip side, if you don't like slab (and big runouts), this would be a nightmare.

mountainproject.com/v/goodr…

My two cents. Have a great time and be safe!

P.S.

I will be in the Valley (camp 4) from Oct 2- Oct 30, so maybe I'll see you around camp. Feel free so message me if you want to drink beer and talk climbing!

Good list from Will S in terms of how hard things might feel in relation to their rating. A couple things I would quibble with: I think Commitment is softer than the Jam Crack, and that if you are not well versed at jamming all different sizes then even Bishop's Terrace might feel as difficult as those two. Clearly, subjective difficulty ratings are just that, subjective. But apart from the above, I'd agree with Will's list overall. It's probably a far better way to approach those climbs than by rating alone.

Another couple of good climbs if your face chops are honed are Quicksilver and Freewheelin'. Excellent but run out face climbing if your head and feet are solid. If they're not, stay off these bad boys and check out some other much safer options over on MCR Apron (Cat Dancing, Tears of Joy, etc.).