Northwest Face Direct

The first ascent of the Direct Northwest Face of Half Dome, deserves more than a brief text box. Apologies to Robbins and McCracken for my choosing to put Todd and Co. in Mtn. Project's first ascent text box above. Additionally, the text box for ratings won't allow both a free and an aid rating.  It should be 5.14 or 5.10, A3+ (if hammer-less, A2+ with).   Perhaps, after two pitches fell off the indirect and peripheral Regular Northwest Face, the Direct should be the trade route now.

Robbins and McCracken rated the Direct 5.9, A5.  Funny indeed that Robbins rated the fearsome Tis-sa-ack only 5.9, A4.  The A5 rating left the Direct deserted for decades.  However, instead of A5 desperation, pitch 11 is kinda fun with tied off knife blades hammered in solid.  Compared to the Regular Northwest Face, aiding the Direct is more sustained but not harder.  Both routes share the summit crux A3 blankness pitch (or the free traverse).

After climbing the amazing Crescent Crack, the first five bolts in the blank section were placed by Galen Rowell and Ed Cooper. They left ropes fixed but didn't return soon enough.  June, 1963, Royal Robbins and Dick McCracken finished drilling the spectacular blank section and climbed the Direct in one push (Steve Roper, 1971, Sierra Club Totebook).  As part of the newly invented "Yosemite Technique", which Robbins and McCracken perfected, fixing was considered cheating.  

On the other hand, Todd Skinner, wrote that if even one point of aid is used an ascent doesn't count!  Summer of 1993, Todd stayed with his fixed ropes for 61 days making the point that fixing and tenacity gets the job done.   ("Half Dome Free Climbed" by Todd Skinner, AAC Publication, 1994) 

 Thirteen years after Skinner, Tommy Caldwell freed the route in a day with help from Beth Rodden, discovering a harder move at the crux.   ("A Rock Climber Finds A Softer Strength", by Beth Rodden, New York Times, 2024)   (Tommy Caldwell's dad was also an incredibly fast Yosemite wall climber)

ROUTE:  Search for "Half Dome and Moon" by Ansel Adams to get a good view of the Direct's corners, $29 @ Amazon. The right facing dihedrals that are climbed directly to the Zigzags and summit visor are well lit by a winter sun. Todd Skinner reported five pitches of 5.13, five more of 5.12, seven of 5.11, and 7 less than 5.11.  

The hardest climbing boldly crosses a blank face between the initial 300 foot Crescent Crack and the main dihedrals.  Consensus 5.14 now.  Pitch 11, the old aid crux, connects the lower dihedral to a huge flat ledge, the Grand Terrace.  An old style pendulum swing to an aid corner starts the Direct's upper dihedral.  Five more pitches of strenuous laybacking, flake switching, and chimney climbing lead to the Zigzags of the Regular route.  Seven more pitches up the zigzags to Thank God Ledge and the final blank face crux.

Posting a topo without free climbing the route would violate someone's intellectual property so shop around for the best beta.  1994, Paul Brunner published a very detailed report at:  https://www.terragalleria.com/mountain/info/yosemite/half-dome-direct.html

Finding the start of the Direct is obvious.  Many climbers used the direct approach from mirror.  Todd and Co. used Mules to carry 500 pounds of gear up the Half Dome Trail.  

Doubles of all the cams and wires up to #4. A large tube is advised too. A few knife blades, a couple of small angles, maybe a hammer for free climbing pitch 11 (hand placed might work for aid ascents), hooks, tie-offs, and about 500 feet of rope to fix and work the crux vertical slab from a bivouac at the base.