Yearly raptor closures typically begin March 1 and remain in effect until August 1, or until further notice.
East of Glacier Point Apron. Closure includes all routes above 200 feet from the base of the cliff east of Glacier Point Apron including "A Mother's Lament" to the Illilouette Gorge. Half Dome, South Face - Overlooking Little Yosemite Valley. Closure includes all routes from "Autobahn" east to and including "South Face Route."
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
The following areas are closed to all visitor use to protect peregrine falcon aeries from March 1 until August 1 of each year or until the young falcons of the current year have fledged: Fifi Buttress Immediately west of Leaning Tower. Closure includes all routes on Fifi Buttress.
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
BETA PHOTO: Showing Glacier Point Apron in relation to Happy I...
Description
At the east end of Yosemite Valley rising up above Happy Isles lies a massive slab of beautiful granite that slopes up towards Glacier Point. This wall has some of the best slab climbing in the valley, and also some of the worst rock fall potential.
In 1999 Peter Terbush was killed by a massive rock fall while his two partners escaped with lacerations.
With that warning in mind Glacier Point offers moderate classic routes with a very short approach, and shouldn't be missed.
Getting There
From the Happy Isles trailhead parking lot walk up the path towards Little Yosemite. After about five minutes you will see the Nature Center to the right of the trail. Shortly after the Nature Center follow a fairly good path to the right towards the slabs. This will take you up through the forest and rockfall to the base of the wall. The approach from the trail turn off takes about ten minutes.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Glacier Point Apron:
On the east side of the apron a great finger crack ascends in a rightward sloping direction. Easy protection on a moderate angle make this a classic beginners route.Pitch 1 - (5.5) Go directly up the easy slabs along a left facing dihedral until it is overlapped by a right facing one. Continue up into the crack.Pitch 2 - (5.6) Follow the crack as it slowly slopes to the right. At one point perfect double finger cracks open up.Pitch 3 - (5.6) Continue up the crack until it fades out then either g...[more]Browse More Classics in CA
By M.Morley Administrator From: Sacramento, CA May 1, 2007
At approximately 6:52pm on Wednesday, July 10, 1996, a large block of granite, with an estimated mass of 184,000 tons, detached from the cliff between Washburn Point and Glacier Point. My friend Darin MacGillivray and I watched this happen as we were descending the Vernal/Nevada Falls trail after having climbed Snake Dike earlier in the day. The only fatality was a young man standing approximately 100 yards away from us on the bridge at the Happy Isles trailhead.
3/12/11 rockfall on the grack and marginal. I was rapping down between second and third rappel anchors from the top of Marginal and the Grack, rock fell on the ledge at the top of these climbs, luckily the ledge redirected the rock away from my party, but if someone was on the Grack or at the top they would have been injured or dead. This a supposedly 'safer' part of the Apron, but still dangerous. Scary.
Got off route on Marginal today, and am curious if anyone has any information about the climbing right of Marginal. Here's what we did.
About 20-30 feet right of the last bolt on the second pitch of Marginal is a bolted anchor. From this anchor, there is a bolt up and to the right. From that bolt, you can head straight up a very shallow (two inches), right facing dihedral for about 25 feet. Above the dihedral are two more bolts, and then trending up and to the right takes you two a belay ledge with a bush and bolted anchor. From this anchor, there is a bolt up and to the left below another shallow right facing dihedral. There are two fixed heads in the dihedral, and then a bolt above it. Up and to the left of this bolt is a very thin seam surrounded by very slick, water-polished rock. About 35 feet above the bolt, in the seam, is another fixed head. About 15 feet above this fixed head is another bolt, before heading up and left to a ledge system that trends left, and gains the easier dihedral system that takes you up and to the anchors atop of The Grack - Center, approaching these anchors form the right.
We are calling our 3rd pitch 5.9, maybe 5.9+, and our 4th pitch at least 5.10. Both pitches were runout, and the 4th pitch was VERY runout while also being on crux terrain. It was all friction/slab climbing.
We looked at The Grack - Right, but that line was further right than what we did. It's possible the Good Friday Ledge was the ledge we stopped at at the top of our 3rd pitch. Not positive.
If anyone has a clue as to what any of this climbing might have been, please let me know! We're very curious as to what we got ourselves into today. Thanks!
RSS Feed
99 more...
Slideshow
