Tuolumne Multi-Pitch w kids - thoughts on descents

I want to do our first multi-pitch family climb (kids are 5 and 9) during our trip to Tuolumne next month.

I'm confident that we can get up a few pitches of 5.6 or 5.7. I'm wanting to think carefully about the descents, however, primarily w the little one.

I'm thinking that Northwest Book on Lembert or something on Stately Pleasure Dome would be good for the climbing, but I haven't been on these formations in over 10 years so I don't have a clear memory of the descents. I'm primarily concerned with exposure on slabs. I can short rope the kids if necessary, but would want to make sure to avoid situations where we might go for a slide, or where the exposure might be too tense.

Any thoughts appreciated, including other suggestions - just want to think this stuff through and set us up for an adventure w/o epic :)

Thanks - Mike

Lembert dome decent is pretty sketchy if you take the face to the skiers left of the water streaks. There is a trail around the backside, that I've never done, but it adds considerable time to getting down.

If you can find the trail off the back side of Stately Pleasure it's not hard to get down. But if you can't find it most people end up on the scary slab decent.

For a group of four the belay stations on Stately Pleasure might be a little small if I remember correctly. NWB should have roomier belay ledges.

I did the Lembert Dome descent last year and was surprised at how easy and non-exposed it was. I've seen that face from the road numerous times and thought it looked quite steep. But there are a series of zig-zagging ramps that make it quite reasonable. You would still want to short-rope your child but there is no real downclimbing, just mild slabs and ramps (provided your routefinding is OK; looking for the easiest way down the front)

Errett Out on Dozier Dome, 5.6/7 knobs forever, walk off around right. Or, if you are familiar with the Medlicott approach trail (aka the Cathedral lakes fishing trail), it's easy to hike up there and walk off left (if you're not familiar with the trail, it's easy to miss where it goes down below the Bachar/Yerian).

Wow, you're brave. Pretty ambitious given the age of the little one, I think. I just got back there from climbing with my 12 yr. old, and she was plenty happy with shorter stuff. I also have a 5 yr. old and I can't think of any particular descent where I would not have to either shadow him really closely or just ferry him down a funky or exposed part.

Having said that, we climbed single pitches at Dozier and had fun. You can climb the pitches up to Blitzo's Terrance and rap from there. Erret Out looks great, but it'll probably have people on it. Also did Golfer's Route and Greg's newer .10a over on the Block (name?). While the approach to Dozier is pretty straightforward, I think it'd feel long to a 5 yr. old, that's provided you find it right away. I think the descent is gorgeous but, again, would feel long to a 5 yr. old. I've done Stately Pleasure a few times over the years and remember two descents: one with exposed 4th class high up and the other a somewhat unpleasant bushwhack.

Personally, I think you'd have more fun and less cluster if you stuck to one pitch stuff, particularly with shorter approaches, or just something with a shorter approach and descent, like Zee Tree. YMMV. Have fun. Regardless of what you do, you and your family will love the Meadows.

The descent of the backside of Lambert is really mellow - follow the supertopo description. There are a couple 4th class steps that the little one may need a spot on, but that's about it. Its mostly just walking down easy 2nd class slabs.

The Stately Pleasure Dome walk off is quite exposed, especially compared with the class 2 walk off the backside of Lembert (i.e. the hikers trail to the summit).

Just my two cents...

Thanks all for the responses! Very helpful, although I think I'd still want more beta or even a recon mission beforehand to be totally comfortable here.

Please keep the opinions coming...

Greg Barnes wrote:Errett Out on Dozier Dome, 5.6/7 knobs forever, walk off around right. Or, if you are familiar with the Medlicott approach trail (aka the Cathedral lakes fishing trail), it's easy to hike up there and walk off left (if you're not familiar with the trail, it's easy to miss where it goes down below the Bachar/Yerian).

Great idea. How is the rappel on this?

Fat Dad wrote:Wow, you're brave. Pretty ambitious given the age of the little one, I think. I just got back there from climbing with my 12 yr. old, and she was plenty happy with shorter stuff. I also have a 5 yr. old and I can't think of any particular descent where I would not have to either shadow him really closely or just ferry him down a funky or exposed part. Having said that, we climbed single pitches at Dozier and had fun. You can climb the pitches up to Blitzo's Terrance and rap from there. Erret Out looks great, but it'll probably have people on it. Also did Golfer's Route and Greg's newer .10a over on the Block (name?). While the approach to Dozier is pretty straightforward, I think it'd feel long to a 5 yr. old, that's provided you find it right away. I think the descent is gorgeous but, again, would feel long to a 5 yr. old. I've done Stately Pleasure a few times over the years and remember two descents: one with exposed 4th class high up and the other a somewhat unpleasant bushwhack. Personally, I think you'd have more fun and less cluster if you stuck to one pitch stuff, particularly with shorter approaches, or just something with a shorter approach and descent, like Zee Tree. YMMV. Have fun. Regardless of what you do, you and your family will love the Meadows.

I think it's going to be doable. Could take awhile, to be sure, but we'll bring lots of snacks.

The approach and descent I think are the bottlenecks.

Zee tree is a great idea as well! We've done Golfers Route and a some stuff in the valley and elsewhere - it's time to go a wee bit bigger...

We do love Tuolumne!

To report back - we ended up climbing Northwest Books as a family foursome the other day. It was awesome.

It took quite some time. We ended up climbing it in four pitches (including the approach ramp off the deck). Four hours to the top, including snacks, starting off the ground at noon. The decent felt really long, but not epic as the stoke was high for all of us.

The crux for the kids was getting my five year old past the first pitch difficulties and his nervousness. The psychological crux for the parents was the exposed feeling third class after the final belay - we short roped the kids but it felt nervy at times for my wife. The kids were unfazed and scampered up without issues. The descent after reaching the summit was long, but fine. We went all the way east emerging at the wilderness permit center, and most of it was casual for everyone although it did take quite some time. Totally worth it!

As an aside, I got a DMM Pivot just before this trip, and was very happy with how it performed. So much smoother and easier feeding slack than my ATC guide or reverso. Such a subtle improvement on the basic design, but, at least in very limited experience with it so far, addresses very nicely one of my key issues with guide mode!

The funniest thing was that the party ahead of us (seemingly on their first trad climb ever and just figuring things out) was nervous that we hadn't returned to the base by the time they had, and called us in to the rangers, who met us as we hit the Wilderness center. So sweet of them.

Thanks again for the beta!

Nice work dude!

MacksWhineturd wrote:Nice work dude!

Thanks - this one felt like my proudest accomplishment in two decades of climbing.

Nice job! Can't wait for my kids to be old enough!

Awesome Mike! I hope I had some influence here :)

Very cool. Glad you managed to find something that worked and was fun. Your 5 yr. old appears a bit hardier than mine. Mine's a good sport, but it would have been a lot for him. I managed a couple of trips to the Meadows this summer with the two older kids (10 and 12) for the first time in years. We had a blast. A little climbing (with is pretty much like soloing with the 12 yr. belaying) and a couple nights in the backcountry at Glen Aulin. Can't wait to include the youngest once he's up for it. Glad it all worked out for you.

mike again wrote:To report back - we ended up climbing Northwest Books as a family foursome the other day. It was awesome.

So cool