Mountain Project Logo
Sort Route Route Details
Suggest Change:
Description Location Protection
Other Suggestion
Add To Page
Photo Photo (copy)
All Locations > California > Yosemite Nation… > Tuolumne Meadows > Stately Pleasure Dome

West Country

5.7 YDS 5a French 15 Ewbanks V+ UIAA 13 ZA MVS 4b British


 Avg: 3 from 276 votes

Routes in Stately Pleasure Dome

Arch Rival T 5.11c 6c+ 24 VIII- 24 E4 6a
Barely Anything T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b PG13
Black Angel T 5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c
Boltway T 5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
Cross Reference T 5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c R
Daddy's Little Girl T 5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b
Death Crack T 5.11+ 7a 24 VIII 24 E4 6a
Dixie Peach T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a PG13
Eunuch T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b R
Footnote T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b R
Get Slick T 5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b R
Great White Book T 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b R
Hermaphrodite Flake T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
Mosquito T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b X
Quiet Desperation T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a PG13
Shadow Nose T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
South Crack T 5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c R
Step It Up and Go T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b PG13
Sweet Nothings T 5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b R
Table of Contents T 5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b R
Turning Japanese T 5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b
Way We Were, The T 5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a PG13
West Country T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
White Flake T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b R
Order Wrong? Sort Routes
Type: Trad, Alpine, 400 ft, 4 pitches
FA: Bob Summers and John Fisher, July 1969
Page Views: 18,558 total · 126/month
Shared By: Nick Wilder on Jun 24, 2006
Admins: M. Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer suchoski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes

You & This Route


276 Opinions

Your To-Do List:

Add To-Do · View List

Your Star Rating:


     Clear Rating

Your Difficulty Rating:


-none- Change

Your Ticks:

Add New Tick
    -none-
Access Issue: Yosemite National Park climbing closures and conditions Details

Description

P1. From the nice ledge at the start, go straight up (same as Hermaphrodite Flake), heading left just where the flake starts. Belay just a little higher.

P2. This is the crux pitch and the most fun. 5.6-5.7 sustained lieback/finger crack climbing for almost 100 feet to a two bolt anchor. Good pro most of the way. Great.

P3. Slightly runout face climbing past a few bolts to a two bolt anchor.

P4. More fun liebacking. The angle is much lower here, but placing pro is slightly awkward. Set up a belay after the crack runs out and the angle drops to 3rd class.

Location

See photo for Stately Pleasure Dome

Protection

standard full rack.

Add New Photo
Photo Photo (copy)
Photos

Belays on West Country (the numbers correspond to the pitch above the belay). The top of pitch 4 (belay #5) is above the horizon.
Belays on West Country (the numbers correspond…
 1
Looking up at the P2 corner
Looking up at the P2 corner
 2
Routes facing the lake
Routes facing the lake
 3
Pitch 3
Pitch 3
 2
Tamara on p2...seemed a little sustained/stiff for 5.7!
Tamara on p2...seemed a little sustained/stiff…
 1
John at the P3 anchor. P4 is the fun lie backing toward the right of the picture
John at the P3 anchor. P4 is the fun lie backin…
 1
Running it out on Pitch 3 of West Country
Running it out on Pitch 3 of West Country
 1
Normal decent route
Normal decent route
 0
Alean climbing up the layback above Tenaya Lake
Alean climbing up the layback above Tenaya Lake
 0
Slab master Maleea showing how its done on P2
Slab master Maleea showing how its done on P2
 0
From top of Pitch 4.
From top of Pitch 4.
 0
First two pitches of West Country. With a belayer willing to scramble approx. 10ft up and a 70m rope these pitches can be linked.
First two pitches of West Country. With a belay…
 0

12 Comments

Sort by: Oldest
Newest Oldest Best Beta
Reedster
SLC, UT
Reedster   SLC, UT
I just did this route. It is an excellent first Tuolumne lead for an intermediate climber with limited multi-pitch lead experience. Truly what earns this climb three stars is the sustained nature of the lieback. It may sound silly to say about a 5.7. lieback... but it doesn't let up. I might subtract 1/2 of a star from the 3 simply because the crux pitch is not a full rope length. Don't miss this one unless the lineup looks like a zoo. Jul 3, 2007
Karl K
Phoenix, AZ
  5.7 PG13
Karl K   Phoenix, AZ
  5.7 PG13
A good line, but I found it to be much less fun than say "South Crack" or "The Boltway". More awkward.
Second pitch corner is sustained and can be hard to see your pro as you place it.
Third pitch is a bit runout - my smallest cam did not fit in the tiny crack near the end.
Fourth pitch is pretty straighforward. Aug 7, 2009
Chris M
Seattle, WA
  5.7
Chris M   Seattle, WA
  5.7
Slipery on the lieback Oct 17, 2009
Keenan Waeschle
Bozeman, MT
  5.7 PG13
Keenan Waeschle   Bozeman, MT
  5.7 PG13
super fun, excellent "intro to Tuolumne" route, you can belay right out of your car if you want to! lieback is fun, slotting nuts in blindly every 10 feet, and pitch 3 has fun 20+ foot runouts on easy granite slab, don't miss it. Feb 8, 2010
Carquinez
 
Carquinez  
 
Great route. The lieback can be a surpise if you are expecting easy 5.7. Because the lieback is so worn and slick from traffic, I believe the rating has been upped to 5.8.

JV May 25, 2010
snowhazed
Oakland, Ca
 
snowhazed   Oakland, Ca
 
The friction is still pretty awesome in that corner, you could slab climb next to it if you wanted- the only time it's 5.8 is the middle of a blazing hot day when you're sweating through your shoe rubber. Jun 29, 2010
trying hard
Sierra East Side
  5.7 PG13
trying hard   Sierra East Side
  5.7 PG13
One of the best spots to climb in the meadows. Right above Tenaya lake and you get a great view of half dome at the top. Girlfriend loved it, good one to take the lady on to get warmed up to T Meadows climbing. Aug 6, 2010
Dave Alden
Sacramento, CA
  5.7 PG13
Dave Alden   Sacramento, CA
  5.7 PG13
P1 and 2 are the money pitches. Gets kinda slabby after that, but still fun. Feb 28, 2011
Kyle Wills
Chicago, IL
 
Kyle Wills   Chicago, IL
 
Great route, wife was NOT a fan of the descent. And she climbs in JTree all the time so isnt exactly new to "sketch-town" (her words) descents.

We had a blast climbing, and in no rush in the morning and still arrived on scene first. Aug 1, 2011
Colin Brochard
Austin
  5.7+
Colin Brochard   Austin
  5.7+
Had an epic adventure on this one. Did tne dirty layback to the sketchy runout friction for the first pitch by accident. Since my gf and i started really late and had a hard time finding the first pitch of the route, we were benighted at the top and had a very long nerve racking descent. Back at the car at11pm. Welcome to tuolumne. Jul 8, 2013
Mr. Hummus
SLC, Utah
  5.8
Mr. Hummus   SLC, Utah
  5.8
After clipping in to my anchor at the top of pitch two I look over at the guy on hermaphrodite flake, and he says, "isn't that pitch sandbagged?!" I agreed. It was my first climb in Tuolumne, and I thought the layback crack to feel quite polished and awkward to place gear. Just about everyone else I talked to about the route said they thought pitch two was sandbagged.
So heads up for those just getting in to 5.7. It's a great route, but that crack on pitch two feels more like 5.8.
Some might consider pitch 3 a bit sparse on protection. I got to the bolted anchors and looked down and realized I had clipped 3 bolts and placed one cam on the 130 ft pitch. I laughed as I thought about the guidebook saying it's "well bolted by Tuolumne standards". Easy climbing but might feel runout.
Recommend to confident 5.7 climbers! Jul 22, 2013
Richard O'Neal
Lancaster, Ca
  5.8
Richard O'Neal   Lancaster, Ca
  5.8
In lieu of the normal decent, we tried the allegedly easier "walk off" around the west side. There were rock stackings for trail markers. However, it seemed just as sketchy as the normal decent and took much longer. Jun 27, 2016

More About West Country

Printer-Friendly