Royal Arches Cascade area, from The Ahwahnee. Phot...
Description
Royal Arches is a tremendous arched wall found on the north side of the Valley, just west of Washington Column. The wall is formed of white granite with cool black streaks running down it and it looms impressively over the Valley's Ahwahnee Hotel. Easily the most popular route on this wall is the moderate Royal Arches Route (5.10b or 5.7 A0), amazingly first climbed in 1936 by Ken Adam, Morgan Harris, and W. Kenneth Davis. This is a really cool experience for many first time Valley visitors, as the route takes you from floor to rim and is easily climbed in a day by most parties.
Getting There
As with Washington Column, it used to be you could park at the Ahwahnee and hoof over to the Column on the bike path, but I've heard recently that you can't park there anymore (permit req'd?). Maybe someone can post up the current beta...
Firefingers is one of the great 5.11 face routes in Yosemite. The first pitch is typical Steve Grossman -- very run out. This pitch is often wet, excusing most of us from facing the mental challenge. (I'll admit that I've never led it.) The second pitch is very continuous. It begins from the Maxine's Wall belay, and it is well-protected but very demanding. Move up in left from the Maxine's belay (crux) to an indistinct groove. Work the gro...[more]
The Royal Arches Terrace Area is a superb cold weather location that offers some very good face routes. Shaky Flakes and Greasy but Groovy are 1970s test pieces that should be the tick lists of anybody who fancies himself a granite face climber. The Rambler is a more recent creation, but it shares in the ballsie spirit of the older routes.
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