Yosemite in April!

I'll be headed to Yosemite in the first week of April with some climbing buddies on our way to Red Rocks. If we can get some decent weather we'd love to get some reccomendations for multi-pitch trad routes in the 5.7-5.10 range that may be free of snow at that time. What would be involved in making the trip out to half dome to climb snake dike so early in the season? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brandon

Shagadelic 5.8 great intro.

is shagadelic going to be snowy that time of year?

The south-facing routes will be your best bet for dry and sunny multipitch routes. The Open Books area has a few good 3-4 pitch climbs (Commitment, Munginella,et al). Routes on Manure Pile Buttress should also be good (After Six, Nutcracker), unless it has recently rained, in which case there could be some water streaming down the cracks. Get the Supertopo book for Valley free climbs.

I've never done it, but Shagadelic is in Tuolumne Meadows, which may not be accessible in April. Depending on whether the road is open.

Tuolumne won't be open, the earliest opening ever was the very end of April. At this rate (nearly no snow) they might beat that this year, but not by the first week no matter what. Even when Tuolumne opens (usually the end of May), Shagadelic is a water streak that is often wet very early season (along with many other routes including most of Dozier Dome).

Snake Dike (or more precisely the descent and some of the approach) would normally be snowy, but if this super-dry winter keeps up it might be fine in early April.

Check this page out - good recommendations and lots of other info too:
supertopo.com/climbingareas…

Just came back from the Valley today (2/26/12) and there's literally no snow at all at the valley floor. (okay, Central Pillar still has a bit of snow in front of it, but considering how long that thing normally has a pile in front of it, it's whatevs.)

Watch the weather reports to see what comes in, and adjust accordingly but right now everything is open. Even Royal Arches which normally has a stream flowing through the center of it all spring no matter the weather because of the snow melt above it is dry.

This is the weirdest winter ever.

Suggestions,
Stonequest - Parkline
Everything on Manure Pile
Rorp/Flautus on Reeds
Open Books to Selaginella
Serenity Crack to Sons of Yesterday
Superslide
Royal Arches (even if it snows a bit and there's water flowing on it, it's part of the fun to climb through a river and place gear into cracks beneath the surface of the water. - go barefoot or bring another pair of shoes.)
The only thing to consider for Snake Dike would be the snow level on the approach once you cut across towards the backside from the main trail. Not sure how to gauge what that would be like and whether post holing would be worth it for the climb.

All of Greg and Kevin's info. is spot on. If you are okay with a bit of easy 'R' climbing, then I second Kevin's recommendation for putting Stonequest on your list.

thanks for the advice guys. This will be my first visit to Yosemite and I'm looking forward to having a look around even if the weather doesn't cooperate fully for climbing.

If you're up for something on the burlier side of 5.10, then Silent Line or The Good Book would be great options. Serenity/Sons is a fun and mellower 5.10, but you have to fight the crowds for that one.

Anyone been up to half dome this year? Conditions?

Snowing...with more on the way.

forecast.weather.gov/MapCli…

(that point forecast is about as close as you can get to Half Dome - it's a bit higher, looks like Clouds Rest or so).

thanks greg,

I'll keep an eye on that forcast. I'm really interested in making the trip out there do climb snake dike the second week of April. I haven't been able to figure out, though, if the approach would be an interesting walk on some snow, or if it would be an 8 mile postholing sufferfest.