half dome in a day?

so im taking a trip at Yosemite for my first time this summer and meeting up with an old friend who has alot of experience in the park. I wanted to ask you guys or anyone who has done half dome just how difficult it is to do the NW face (regular route) in a day. I know im strong enough to do all of the individual pitches and could split it with my partner but again i dont have any experience climbing in YOS so are there other thing that come along with big wall climbing, is this the type of thing that i should have miles more experience on bigwalls for?

i know i'll get some criticism but please be serious im really just asking a question.

jaysen wrote:I know im strong enough to do all of the individual pitches and could split it with my partner

Thats cool you're psyched dude, but I'm just curious about this statement. I glanced at your tick list and I see a bunch of 5.7-5.9 trad climbs and a smattering of 11 sport climbs. The NW face is rated 12a. While most aid those pitches, what experience do you have leading aid?

I suppose you could jug all the hard pitches, but that would leave you exhausted also, and that wouldn't really be splitting the pitches.

As a disclaimer, I've never even been to Yosemite. I've got a spoonful of aid experience. However I have been on some of the "big walls" here in CO. I know how hard those have been even when I was leading 10 trad and 12 sport.

If I were you I would go for it, but try to get a lot of long pitches in every day you go climbing. Try and climb 10 pitches a day near your limit, then the next weekend go for 15, etc.

You can totally do it, you're just going to need to get in very good shape.

Yo J, I did halfdome in a day and it was my first big wall also. The longest I climbed before that was 13 pitches. That being said, I did have a couple practice aid pitches under my belt (messing around in So. Cal), but like you said, the climbing is pretty easy and straight forward, as is the aid. The most mind fucking part for me was to follow the bolt ladder and doing the lower out(that was the only thing I didnt have experience doing before).

I thought it was a great intro to big walls. We did it in 21hrs and had one gatoraid bottle of water. We had mad cramps near the top-bring more water then we did :)

thanks luke, and you're right i just got the info on when im going to yos and will be doing alot of enduro crack climbing to train. also i dont really tend to tic everything because alot of climbing in the adks isnt listed. i think my biggest challenge will be hauling ass and increasing my climbing speed over all.

Hauling ass helps, but what really speeds things up is NOT "him-ha-ing" at the belay stations.

Folks without much wall/long free route experience can haul themselves up the NWF in 20 hrs no problem. If you have your scene a bit more dialed 15 hrs is a reasonable time. Some tips, with a 70m cord:
-Link 1 and 2, 3 and 4
-Simulclimbing from pitch 5 thru the Robbins Traverse speeds things up a lot.
-At pitch 11 tunnel THROUGH the chimney and exit out the wormhole. This leads to a splitter 5.10 finger crack and then you don't have to aid at all to get to the bottom of the chimneys.
-All three chimney pitches LINK with a 70m rope. Doesn't look that way in Supertopo, but we did it.
-Fanny packs. The chimneys SUCK with a pack.

It is my favorite route in the park.

JLP wrote:You're 16 and looking at VI's - nice, I'm so jealous.

X2

I did this climb as my first big wall route a few years ago. It was a miserable accomplishment. Miserable being our fault. We planned on a two day ascent of the route; day 1 going to Big Sandy Ledge, day 2 to the top. While we were all fairly descent climbers (one aid master, two 5.11 sport and trad leaders), we got screwed from the start. It was very busy, we didn't get our shot on the wall until about 9:00 am after camping out overnight. We had one party struggle to half way up the first pitch and bail the route. We also got chased away for a short time by the resident bear up at the bivy site.

Once we got on the wall were stuck behind a pair moving horribly slow. We ended up stopping at pitch 6 for the ok 2-man, shitty 3-man bivy. After a night of sleeping sitting up we shot up the wall and hit the slow party again as they bivied above us somewhere the night before. The end of the second day was spent helping the slow party through pitches in the dark so we could get to Big Sandy. On day three we abandoned the slow party and topped out. As we were a party of three we had two bags with us for food,water, and sleeping bags. One of us would lead a few pitches and the next two would jug behind. As I am a whiney bitch, this jugging was so bad I gladly would have been plucked off the mountain by helicopter at any point day 1 or 2.

I guess my very long winded advice is to climb light and don't bring three people unless you are badasses. Also no matter how good you are if it is a huge traffic jam on the route you can get benighted regardless.

I definitely think we could have done this in a very long day as a twosome without all the bullshit of bags and 6 some gallons of water. But hey I was no big waller, I was just there to hit the chimneys and runouts. Once I topped out (I lead the last pitch) it was all worth it.

GOOD LUCK!! There is nothing like seeing all the pictures of Half Dome afterwards and talking about how you went straight up that thing! Coming up and around the Visor at sunset is pretty damn humbling experience. It is probably the only time I can actually look down on the hardmen going up the nose (as it is quite a bit lower)

I'm curious, would it be worth while to come in the evening before, climb 4 or 5 pitches and fix ropes, sleep at the bottom, then jug before sun up the next day, then finish?

Hoping to do something like this some day. Kick ass at 16.

There were lots of parties that did just that. You could hear the gear clincking at 3:00 in the morning as the first parties went up.

Actually on day three as we left Big Sandy, a 50-60 something french man and his wife shot up to the belay. It was only like 10:30 am. I asked if they bivied on the wall as they had no gear on them. He said no, we started this morning. Unbelievable, 16 is one thing but 60 is another! He and his wife's hands were not taped at all and looked like serious hardman hands.

He then climbed the 11d pitch around my aiding buddy without any gear so he would not disturb us. he just asked my buddy to crunch into the wall and climbed right over the top of him.

DON't bivvy on it ! The ledges are fine but they will be packed and hauling a bag sucks.
If you plan for it around 5.9 A1 then you must get fast at placing and grabbing gear.
Training climbs to get your quickness down-

Royal Arches/ Crest Jewel 25+ pitches to get you going
Anything on Middle
EastButt El Cap

Have fun

Rick Blair wrote:I'm curious, would it be worth while to come in the evening before, climb 4 or 5 pitches and fix ropes, sleep at the bottom, then jug before sun up the next day, then finish?

You don't really save that much time jugging that many pitches. Plus you'd have to haul all that rope up there. No fun.

I did this route when I was 16. It was a great adventure and my first big climb anywhere. Although we did it as a party of three and hauled, if or when I ever do it again, it'll be as a party of two without hauling.

Since it looks like you're from the Gunks, I'd show up a couple of weeks early and get used to longer crack climbs (which seem to be a rarity there) and longer routes. One of the guys I climbed with was a Gunkie, and he initially had some adjustment problems climbing pure crack.

Climb as much 5.9-10b/c as you can. Do longer routes and work on climbing efficiently and having smooth change overs. Though you'll likely be pulling on fixed pins, etc., to move faster, you really need to be solid at that grade to do it in a day. Good routes to do beforehand would be Central Pillar, E. Butt of MCR, Serenity/Sons link up, NE. Butt of HCR (best Grade IV in the Valley). Oh, and bring more than a liter of water.

Good luck. Be safe. Have fun.

all of you guys are awesome and thanks so much for the beta, i think we would be going light and really try to make in a day(staring early in darkness), also any pointers/tips for descent options? and the guy im climbing with knows this already but i like hearing it from alot of people but what kindof rack are you bringing up this thing?

jaysen wrote:all of you guys are awesome and thanks so much for the beta, i think we would be going light and really try to make in a day(staring early in darkness), also any pointers/tips for descent options? and the guy im climbing with knows this already but i like hearing it from alot of people but what kindof rack are you bringing up this thing?

To descend, you go down the cables, and turn north(left), and walk down in front of the face. Grab anything you left at the base, and descend the death slabs you came up on the approach.

The rack for Half Dome is AWESOME. There's so much fixed stuff that you only need singles for camalots 1,2,3, and nothing bigger than a 3. Bring lots of quickdraws (like 15-18) and clip fixed stuff as you go by. Doubles below #1 camalot.

I recommend that above rack to anyone trying to do it in a day. I was surprised by how little you need. However, if you expect to aid lots of it and take 3 days, maybe a bigger rack is better for you.

Fat Dad is spot on with his advice.

Also, I didn't use any nuts, nor did my partner.

if you were going light what would you consitter bringing? i was thinking something along the lines of 2 or 3 liters or water, box of cliff bars and an extra layer. im sure im missing something?

In terms of food and water, your preferences will probably be established just by doing some of the longer climbs. Assuming the second will be jugging with a pack, definitely a liter person, bars, gels, and a warm layer and beanie. Space blanket is cheap insurance too. Not much more than that since, by the time you put your approach shoes in, it'll start feeling kind of heavy. Bring just enough to get by, not to be comfortable.

And just climb the whole thing in your climbing shoes. Bring a pair of lightweight flip flops for the descent. They weigh nothing, and then you dont have clunky shoes hanging off your harness or in your pack. The walk-off is cake.

jaysen wrote:what would you consitter bringing?

Possibly a dictionary. Sorry to be so annoying, but that one was pretty bad.

jaysen wrote:im sure im missing something?

Just don't forget the headlamp!

Also, you don't have to jug... you don't need etriers or daisies if you don't want to bring them. If you really need to stand on something, use a sling. Lighter and faster!

Also, a "box" of cliff bars is an awful lot of cliff bars. Remember the more food you eat, the more water your body needs to process it, and the more dehydrated you'll get. 2-3 cliff bars a person sounds about right.

Tons of good responses, I generally agree with the sentiment that you should go for it. It will certainly be a learning experience, but it could also be a sufferfest. In order to make it more enjoyable, you should consider that the RNWF, and Yos/Bigwall climbing in general, can involve some techniques that you might not yet have mastered.

sustained vertical handcracks. There are heaps of techincally easy, but physical and sustained cracks on HD, and aiding them would be tedious and boring. Consider maybe a few days of cragging in the Valley, seeking out enduro crack pitches. If 5.10 hand and finger cracks feel cruiser, than you'll probably love the route. If they feel stressful and tiring, you might be in for a long day.

chimneys. The RNWF is stacked with chimneys. That's part of why such a steep bigwall can be climbed so easily, but chimneys are only easy if you're comfortable with the technique. You're not going to get tons of pro, there's not going to be plentiful handholds, and you're gonna need to move quickly.

aid. If you're planning on aiding, you should be prepared with gear and experience. I agree with Colin that the aid is easy enough that you probably don't need daisys, aiders, etc, but you do need to know how to aid. I've climbed with more than one talented free climber who's idea of aiding was: clip into piece with qd, place another piece 1-2' higher, clip rope into higher piece and yell "take!", yard up and repeat process. Go get on a 12a thin crack, and see if you can aid it efficiently. If you're strong, maybe you can french-free the whole thing. If you're gonna be standing in slings, that's fine, but learn the process ahead of time, not as the sun is setting and you're starting up the zigzags.

jugging. Don't know if you're planning on jugging. There are many easy, wandering, and low angle pitches that are much easier to climb than to jug. So folks have mentioned this, and I agree that fixing the first few pitches is a waste of time, since you should be able to lead them about as quickly as you could jug, and if you fixed, then you'd need two sets of jugs, more ropes, etc.
You'll probably end up jugging, though, on some of the steeper pitches up high, so being comfortable cleaning traversing pitches, unweighting gear, etc will go a long way towards speeding up your ascent.

Not matter how you do the route, I'm sure you'll have fun. It just might be "type two fun" with raw hands, sore feet, dry throat, and a shiver bivy on big sandy. Or if you're prepared, it could be a cruiser day up prime granite with pretty decent view.

Good luck.

15-18 draws? ?
Double set of cams 3/4" - 3"
12 WIRES
12 BINERS

screw the double slings and that stuff. leave aiders and jugs at home. If you want double anything, make it chalk.

6 bagels preloaded with whatever and 6 liters of water for 2

Go Go Go

SO much better to do this route in a day.

It would not suck to do Snake Dike- the best easy rout eEVER and stash some stuff for the descent.

Just to piss people off more-

Flip flops ? it's8 miles back down