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Mule Train
5.7,
Trad, 300 ft (91 m), 2 pitches, Grade II,
Avg: 3.2 from 5
votes
FA: Jim Cunningham and Tom Foll, July 1987
California
> Southern-Wester…
> Hwy 41: Fresno…
> Fresno Dome (Wa…
> Fresno Dome
> e. "South" Face
Description
This is an enjoyable climb up the beautiful golden face on the South side of the dome. Start about in the middle of the face, at a section of speckled rock (looks like this
). The crux is getting past the first couple bolts, and I thought it was pretty stout for the 5.7 it's given in the Spencer guide.After the start, lots of 5.0 climbing up the knobs leads to a bolted belay at a nice little dish/ledge.
The second pitch climbs up and right. Some sections of golden polish provide more challenge. Another 2 bolt anchor is below the giant bulbous overhang. I spotted another bolt on the slab above this anchor, so it looks like a route to the top of the dome has been added, although we didn't do it.
There are also a handful of other nice looking face climbs to the right of Mule Train. They are newer and not in the Spencer guidebook.
Rappel the route with 2 ropes to descend. We managed to rap with one 70m by working our way right to a ledge, and then raping to the ground from a bolted anchor on the ledge.
Protection
Bolts protect all the hard climbing, but you can reduce the runouts on 5.0 terrain by slinging chickenheads.
[Hide Photo] Extremely cool patina and chicken-heads reduce most of the climbing to easy (but relatively steep) 5th class.
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