How does Snake Dike rate if I were taking a very timid, out of shape fromer climber up with me?

She's climbed several 5.7's recently with me and has some worries about doing the hike in and the climb. We were already planning on doing the hike up the cables route, but have just talked about Snake Dike instead. After the first couple pitches, is it really 5.7? And how long does the whole climb take if you move at a good/slightly slower pace?

How does Snake Dike compare with just doing the Cables, easier or harder?

Any help or advice that you might pass on to her would be greatly appericated.

Thanks for the help again.
Jason

My friend once climbed Snake Dike and almost died from fear on the route. And he was following. He could climb 5.9, but didn't have much big route or experience with exposure. There are some massive runouts and though easy, could easily scare a timid climber. Even though he was following the lack of protection, long sections between him and the belayer, and the exposure was a bit much. It also took them a long time and they ended up in the dark on the last pitches...which obviously made it all the worse. It can take a while if you hike/climb slow.

The hike in is much shorter of course, but the Cables route is done by most hikers with a reasonable level of fitness and no true fear of heights. Though I have seen people paralyzed on the way down...just totally stuck gripping the cables unable to move. For a climber though the cables is not difficult at all. Only in the rain does it get a little scary on the way down.

I haven't done Snake Dike personally, but with everything in the Valley I would expect 5.7 to feel a bit harder than the most other crags. I wouldn't underestimate it.

I'm going to say the Cables is way easier....except for a bit longer hike.

Both of the 5.7 cruxes on Snake Dike are sort of traversey, which can be mitigated by the leader not placing any gear for a while (or you could drag doubles up there. That might be freaky for a timid guy. But the cruxes come in the first two or three pitches, and after that there is no exposure or anything, and the climbing is very easy. I took a friend up SD for his first (and still only) outdoor climbing experience several years ago. It was pretty fun (it was late Oct., so it snowed, hailed, the cables were down, etc). If you are very slow AND the follower is very slow, I'd still say it would be hard to spend more than 45 minutes per pitch, and then perhaps another hour on the endless slabs above the roped climbing. So around 6-7 hours of climbing? Maybe more if you stop at every belay and do short pitches. Make sure you are okay with 80-foot runouts.

I've never gone UP the cables (been down them plenty of times). They seem significantly more trivial than a 7 pitch slab route. I'd also recommend being on the outside of the cables, to avoid gripped tourists.

Do a long multi-pitch climb with your timid partner long before taking them on snake dike if you want your partner to enjoy the climb. the upper pitch's are severely run out and the seemingly endless 3rd class slabs to the top would be misery for an unroped and timid climber.

Snake Dike is less scary than the cables.

If she gets across the approach slabs ok, the climb will be no problem.

Time? The first two pitches will go at your normal pace. The middle pitches will go faster than your normal, because there is no gear to stop and place. The last pitch may take your normal time. Then there's the hike to the summit. And the hike back down is longer than you think.

Timid is probably OK. Out of shape I would be more worried about. The approach to Snake Dike is surprisingly long, the descent is long too. If you start taking it easy you may not make it down before dark. A nice way to do the route casually is to camp in Little Yosemite Valley the night before. This turns it into a backpack, but you can take your time.

I know this is off the subject, but what is that X-ray of there, George? Did you go and mess something up?

Looks like George has a little DJD of the hip, candidate for a replacement?

I'm scheduled for a hip resurfacing one week from today. Right now I couldn't even make the approach to Snake Dike. No accident, just wore my hip out I guess.

If your friend is truly out of shape and timid, you could always bivy at the base of the climb and get a very early start. That would be a good way to avoid the crowds, and your friend would be better rested than if you started up the climb right after hiking in. Be prepared to let people pass you if you choose this option. Retrieving the bivy gear on your way down should be easy enough if you travel light. If you're really concerned about your friend's endurance you could retrieve the gear yourself while your friend hiked down at a slower pace. You might want to find out what NPS regs are about this sort of thing.

I dimly recall one, maybe two 5.7 moves on Snake Dike, both very early in the route. The runouts are long, but the angle is so low that this isn't really an issue. If your friend is good at using her feet she should have a perfectly good time. The technical difficulties disappear pretty rapidly, and the climb becomes an enjoyable scramble/hike after a short while.