By Hook or By Crook is an awesome, technical, and thought-provoking three-pitch climb up Harlequin Dome -- a candidate for one of the best 5.11's in Tuolumne.
P1: Begin at a shallow, right-leaning, right-facing dihedral at the center of the wall, near a large pine. Recent rockfall has made this pitch more difficult and more dangerous -- a stick clip for the first bolt is highly recommended. Ascend this corner via smears and powerful liebacks until a stance at the original anchor below a roof. Step right and hand-traverse on pockets before mantling up to a ledge at a bolted anchor. 5.11b.
P2: Climb up and left off the belay, clipping a few bolts, then traverse left to an arete-like feature formed by a shallow right-facing corner. Climb this after clipping an oddly-placed bolt (consider backcleaning or a long runner) up to a poor stance under a roof. Hand-traverse back right a few feet and pull through the roof on extremely powerful liebacks. Good, small gear here. Continue up to another bolted belay. 5.11b, crux. It is possible to descend from here with two raps on a single 60m rope, but the third pitch should not be missed. Bring a second rope in this case or be prepared to walk off.
P3: Climb a long, tricky, right-facing corner to the top. 5.10c.
Protection
Standard rack through #2 Camalot. Extra small cams and small wires useful. Stick clip.
...didn't think the start was too bad, seemed to protect very well with .75 cams. Maybe rockfall made the clip more powerful (:?) Definitely a "get it on jones" sequence; do not stall.
Bring your roof/lb game for the second pitch. Small rack but mostly draws and slings is the name of the game.
Don't stop at the original anchor (see JJ's comments). It's wild but safe to go to the next stance which is much better for the second pitch.
The beginning can be protected safely, as 426 says. I used a #2 metolious. Also, you can link pitches 1 & 2 with a 70m rope for a great long pitch. Make sure to use long runners. From the second pitch anchors you can lower to the first anchors.
By Nick Stayner From: Tuolumne Meadows Sep 8, 2008
You can easily rap to the ground from the top pitch 2 with a single 70m rope. As of 9/7/08, there's a fixed #5 stopper at the roof, so go do the route! It's like a sport climb with that thing there.
no fixed stopper there now, but there's a bolt nearby and the gear is easy enough to place. Also, we got down from the second pitch anchor in one rappel with a single sixty meter rope... barely. The third pitch looks good... wish I would have gone to the top.
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