On the Lamb is a very unique and classic traverse across the upper face of Lamb Dome. Perhaps the only climb in Tuolumne where 95% of the holds are jugs. What makes it difficult is that occasionally the feet disappear.
The feature appears to be an enormous horizontal dike that has split apart to form an incut crack.
P1: Ascend a 5.0 low angle crack system to a nice ledge at the start of the traverse.
P2: Climb off to the right at 5.4 with minimal gear to the beginning of the crack itself. Stretch the rope out and belay at the best stance you can find.
P3: Traverse right. Save small cams for the crux. Belay after turning the corner into a right-facing dihedral, or stretch the rope further to a better stance.
P4: Continue traversing right and eventually end up on easy terrain leading to the descent. Alternatively, climb the excellent Jailbreak Finish, or reverse the entire traverse for more fun.
Finding the route is somewhat difficult (moreso than most other climbs in the Meadows). It's good to do this climb with someone who's been there before, or allow extra time to locate the start.
Great climb, lots of exposure. Same situation for leader and follower, both subject to pendulum falls. Don't do this one unless both are experienced leaders. My old buddy Bruce Brossman did the FA. They used pins and the crack use to have some fixed gear. All clean now. Very exciting climb!!
Adam, my guess is that the pictures make it look like someone is leading left when they are actually following. Due to the nature of the climb (dead-horizontal traversing) leading and following are almost the same, hence why a second might look like they're leading instead of following. Also, some people do climb this right to left.
The start of this route is somewhat hard to find, per experience. The Super Topo beta was good once you locate the appropriate ledge (not so good for finding it, IMO) although the "cave" on the first pitch is more of a hole. Here's a few tips. When beneath the left side of On The Lamb, take a good look at the features leading to the climb, including the starting ledge. It's easy to go too high and be on the wrong ledge (which is what we did the first time). A dead tree was a good marker for us, as well as the correct ledge's relationship to an easy 4th class approach crack and other ledges. I think if you find the right starting ledge, it will go pretty smooth. It was helpful for us to know that we were hiking a ways left before going up a 4th class handcrack in a shallow, left-facing dihedral. On the first pitch, look for what Super Topo describes as a "cave" (really a hole beneath a flake feature) and you can also look for the crack that is traversed on On The Lamb. It's a crack in a dike that horizontally crosses the crack that starts the second pitch. Hopefully that's helpful.
Super great route, a lot of fun. Also fun to link this with Oz/Hobbit Book.
By susan peplow From: what day is this? Jul 28, 2008 rating: 5.9
Agreed that most likely the photos are depicting the second coming across to the belay. I've got photos that I took that look exactly the same.
My partner had done this route 20 years ago so it was my lead - left to right. After getting down and talking to some long time Tuolumne seasonals, we found out that hiking up the back side up the slabs to the tree is probably the best way to go. Apparently, in doing so you climb right to left and then at the end angle up and top off allowing you to easily ascend the back side. You can leave your packs at the trail and don't have to double back at the end of the day.
The route is a must-do! Absolutely fantastic eating gear the whole way! Next time, it's right to left for me.
In the photo you refer to George, my wife is at the crux, where the wall is steepest on the traverse. Overall the traverse is quite steep but it maintains an easy grade because of the ridiculous amount of huge holds. It's a hoot. In that photo, the big holds disappear for the feet and you're on smaller edges but your hands are still on big holds in the crack.
Lamb Dome
RSS Feed
