Half Dome / Yosemite Questions Inquiry

Has anyone done the regular northwest face of half dome or is super familiar with Yosemite?! i’d love to get an insider’s perspective.

I did it a couple weeks ago. What would you like to know?

scott gordonwrote:

Has anyone done the regular northwest face of half dome or is super familiar with Yosemite?! i’d love to get an insider’s perspective.

Ask your questions....

Marc801 Cwrote:

Ask your questions....

.5. What grade are you climbing at and how difficult did you perceive it to be?

1. How long did it take?

2. How hot do you think it’ll be over July 4th?

3. Will July 4th be too crowded? 

TaylorPwrote:

I did it a couple weeks ago. What would you like to know?

.5. What grade are you climbing at and how difficult did you perceive it to be?

1. How long did it take?

2. How hot do you think it’ll be over July 4th?

3. Will July 4th be too crowded? 

1. You don't have to free climb anything over 5.9 on this route, but you'll be faster if you normally lead 5.10, and if you have done some aid climbing before.

2. Took 2 days on the climb the first time, 1 day the second time (14 hours on the climb).  Plus one prior attempt where I got a bad blister on the approach and my partner only led the first pitch.  Note that I had already climbed El Cap a couple of times before my first time on this route.

3. July 4th will not be too hot.  I did it around then my first time.

4. Might be crowded.  You never know.

The crux will be getting into Yosemite over that weekend. 4 July and Labor Day weekend are the worst two weekends in the park.

scott gordonwrote:

.5. What grade are you climbing at and how difficult did you perceive it to be?

1. How long did it take?

2. How hot do you think it’ll be over July 4th?

3. Will July 4th be too crowded? 

1)I only freed up to 5.9 with lots of French free on the 5.10. I'm a confident 5.10 climber in the Valley but it was faster to just pull on gear.

2) we did 19 hours in a day. For us the crux was the rope toss and 2nd to last pitch route finding. Took way too long to figure those out.

3) not too hot, shaded until 2pmish

4) probably

TaylorPwrote:

1)I only freed up to 5.9 with lots of French free on the 5.10. I'm a confident 5.10 climber in the Valley but it was faster to just pull on gear.

2) we did 19 hours in a day. For us the crux was the rope toss and 2nd to last pitch route finding. Took way too long to figure those out.

3) not too hot, shaded until 2pmish

4) probably

How would you suggest prepping for the route finding? 

On the second to last pitch, if you go the original way, there are some tricky aid moves in a left diagonal crack,

then a couple of bolts, and then you place a couple of good cams or nuts and descend down and left to the belay (skip the (22) belay).

Some people instead go up the Skinner finish which is slightly to the right and has several bolts (it is 5.12b if freed).

I just made this topo showing the options.

ALSO how does the rope toss work? 

I tried to do it in a day but ended up doing it in two  . I can aid climb as fast as I can free climb so I don’t think it really matters what level you free climb at as long as you’re fast. We freed everything up to 5.10 and pulled on gear whenever it was faster. The rope toss was the slowest pitch. Climb up as high as you can before doing the toss. I did a tension traverse around the corner and used a hook to stay in place while I did the rope toss. Make sure your partner practices doing lower outs.

Nothing is that hard on the climb it is just long  and we got lost a couple of times which slowed us down. One thing to consider is your timeline for doing the climb. We flew into SF and did the climb in a long weekend. This added to the fatigue of the overall climb. Try to give yourself more time to either hike water up to the base in advanced or spend more time resting at the base before you start. We got to the zig zags around 7 or 8 pm and were pretty fried so we decided to fix a pitch and call it a day instead of climbing through the night.

My partner also did the climb around July. The temperature wasn’t that bad and made the unplanned bivy more enjoyable. We were really dehydrated by the time we got back to the ground. Part of that was because we didn’t bring up enough water to the base of the climb.

If you and your partner are phyched and competent you will be fine. 

Crest Jewel on North Dome is a great alternative if Half Dome is mobbed as usual & the spring is dry .