Fun Climbs Around The World

Lake Tenaya sits beneath Stately Pleasure Dome; Conness in back

This spring, we hoped to climb Tenaya Peak and the West Ridge of Conness. Two years ago, I arrived in Tuolumne on June 15 and we climbed Tenaya Peak on the 16th and the west ridge of Conness the following day.

I hadn’t counted on the very wet spring in the Sierra, coupled with cold temperatures that kept snow on the ground much later than normal. Snow covered the ground, in places, to a depth of three feet along the approach to Tenaya Peak. Not only did snow block the approach trail, but a large snow patch above a part of the climb contributed to a steady stream of water running down the rock we’d hoped to climb. Climbing Tenaya Peak this May was not a realistic option.

A quick look at Mt. Conness showed us a similar problem: a large snowfield covered the approach to the climb. Not wanting to hike in with ice axes, we decided to climb sunnier and dryer domes instead. WE climbed several routes on Stately Pleasure dome, which faces south; and also climbed the West Crack on the steep West Face of Daff Dome, which is steep enough that no snow lies on the rock.

View of Cloud’s Rest from Olmsted Point

Cathedral Peak, May 2009
Cathedral Peak remains a favorite climb of California as well as visiting climbers. Its easy rating – 5.6 – makes Cathedral a frequent goal for climbers trying their first technical peak in the Sierra Nevada. Supertopos includes Cathedral Peak in its book, Tuolumne Free Climbs, and refers to Cathedral as one of the most aesthetic routes in Tuolumne (as well as one of the most crowded).

I’ve climbed Cathedral numerous times, starting in the 70s. In 2001, I took my 10-year old son up Cathedral, and I’ve taken numerous friends up the climb over the years. I usually try to start the 3-mile hike around 8 a.m., and begin climbing between 9 and 10. After living in Colorado, I’ve endured enough soakings during hailstorms that I now try to get to the top of a peak close to midday, and get back down by 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

However, Cathedral’s location in sunny California, where it rarely rains in July, causes people to underestimate the potential seriousness of this route.  Two climbers were caught in a Sierra storm in November 2007 and were unable to get off the climb before becoming soaked. When rain turned to sleet, the situation became dire. The climbers decided to retreat due to deteriorating conditions. As it got dark, and started to snow, the climbers became hypothermic. One of them writes a heart-rending account of their attempt to get off the peak and back to their warm, dry clothes, and of his partner’s hypothermia and death.

In July 2009, two women were trying to make a fast ascent of the Cathedral, and started late – between 3 and 4 PM. They were climbing at the same time, with a running belay, heading toward the chimney halfway up – at the end of pitch 3. Since another team was in the chimney, the leader decided to climb beside the chimney. When out of sight of her climbing partner, she fell to a ledge and lost consciousness. Fortunately, climbers above rappelled down and assisted her, and a flight for life helicopter flew her to the hospital. She survived, with many lacerations and fractures in her spine.

While Cathedral Peak is a reasonable goal, I would recommend getting an early start to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. If taking a beginner up the route, it’s best if one person knows the route and, especially, knows the descent. The climber who died lost his life on the way out, after becoming hypothermic on the descent and remaining separated from his warm clothes for too long. The descent is easy, and can be fast, if in daylight and if you know the way.

The route meanders up random slabs and cracks to an obvious chimney a little above halfway up.  I’ve gone various ways to the chimney to pass people lower down, but have climbed the chimney (as far as I remember). The last time I took a friend up the climb, I saw storm clouds coming and decided to pass the climbers in front of us in the chimney. I was able to climb the entire chimney pitch without placing any gear, and thus avoid tangling my rope with their rope. The chimney is very secure, and quite short. One can belay directly below the chimney, and also right after it, or continue up on easy terrain.
The final summit block is optional – one can either climb it, to enjoy the view, or bypass it on the left to reach the descent on the back side.  The last time I climbed Cathedral, we did not climb the summit block since there were already a number of people on top and I was worried about clouds I could see coming in. Instead, we hastened to the back side and got down quickly.

Snow-covered Cathedral Peak and Unicorn, Tuolumne, late May 2009

This photo from the slopes of Lempert Dome shows  how snowy  the high Sierra peaks were this spring and summer.

Ice-covered Ellery Lake, at 9,538 feet

When we climbed in Tuolumne one spring, we camped near Ellery Lake at the Ellery Camp ground. The campgrounds in the park were all still closed, due to too much snow on the ground, water running deep in the roads, and other access problems.

However, if one crosses Tioga Pass and heads down the hill toward Lee Vining, several beautiful little forest service campgrounds provide a sunnier and dryer shelter. They’re quite little, with only 17 sites in one case, and not cheap at $19 per night.

Ellery Camp remains my favorite, as it’s lower than the other and thus dryer with fewer mosquitos. From Ellery Camp, it’s about 20 miles to the climbing areas in Tuolumne, resulting in a 40-mile daily round trip to climb. However, even camping at Tuolumne campground results in a lot of driving, since it’s close to ten miles from there to Tenaya Lake and nearby domes like Pywiack and Stately Pleasure dome.

Lake Tenaya at the base of Stately Pleasure Dome; Conness in back

We’re back from Mt. Arapiles, Australia, and climbing in one of the most beautiful places in the states – Tuolumne Meadows.

This spring is one of the wettest I’ve seen in the Sierra. Two years ago, we climbed Tenaya Peak on June 15 and the next day we climbed the west ridge of Mt. Conness. Now, it doesn’t look as though it’s possible to do the approach to Conness (from Saddlebag Lake; the one where you climb up over the ridge and descend the other side).

I’d hoped to climb Conness again, as it’s incredibly beautiful and I wanted to climb the route with my son, who’s never been in to Conness.

Not only was Conness and Tenaya inaccessible, but climbing anything north facing involved some snow slogging. Not wanting to hike through knee-deep snow, we settled for climbing on Stately Pleasure Dome, Daff Dome, and Pywiack, where we found many good routes.

Tenaya Lake reflection

Tenaya Peak

Nevada Falls with Liberty Cap

I finally made it to Yosemite and hiked the trail to Nevada Falls and them on towards Half Dome.  The trail starts at Happy Isles, skirts  Vernal Falls, and after four miles reaches Nevada Falls. I crossed the falls via the shaking footbridge, with torrents rushing down below me.

From here, the trail meanders towards, and through, Little Yosemite Valley to end on the summit of Half Dome. I followed the trail as far as the shoulder of Half Dome - about 7.5 miles, and judging by the creaky knees during the descent, farther than I should have gone on my second hike of the season.

But the falls were irresistible, and I wanted to peek over Half Dome’s shoulder to admire the Valley below.  Also, I hope to climb a few routes this summer with very long approach and descent hikes, so I figured a little training would benefit me in the long run.

Plus I brought back these beautiful photos to share!

Bev Johnson on top of El Cap after we climbed the Triple Direct

HOW many ropes are up there? It looks like about six - I thought we only took three!

But wait - Dan tried to lower some food and water to us at our last bivvy - six pitches from the top; and in the middle of nowhere without a hammock.

But someone asked me about which ropes to take climbing. My answer: it depends.

Usually, I take one lead line to Europe. I took a 60m line the first few trips, but then we encountered too many 32m to 35m climbs, so I bought a 70m lead line which works well for European sport climbs and as an added benefit, also works well at Indian Creek, Utah, which has a number of 120-foot crack lines. With a 70m rope, you can toprope these climbs with one line.

I’m reluctantly taking two ropes to Australia; mostly because of the extra baggage charges I’ll have to pay. Climbers told me that several good climbs in the Arapiles require two ropes to descend – two 50m rappels. So we’re taking one 60m lead line and a 6mm tag line, to save weight. I also use the 60 m lead plus 60m tag line combination on climbs with a long approach – we’ll take this in to climbs in the Sierra.

I take it in to desert towers with a long approach, but sometimes I prefer two 8.8 mm double ropes, in case one of the ropes gets damaged on a sharp edge. The towers sometimes have such high winds, which can wrap a rope around distant flakes, that I like to take the beefiest ropes possible.
I also like the double rope combination in the mountains if I think there’s danger of the rope getting damaged. It’s a trade-off between more weight and added security, or less weight and less backup.

All together I own the following ropes:
70 m lead line
60 m lead line
8.8 mm 55 m double ropes (older)
60 m, 6 mm tag line

I replace one or the other of the above ropes annually, so that none are too ancient …  and it takes a few years to acquire them all.

And the last issue

Shortly before Christmas, an unknown group bought Alpinist Magazine for $71,000. Originally on the block for as low as $30,000, I’m glad they got this much and hope to see a magazine published again, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

However, while everyone still thinks the poor economy may get worse, it may be difficult to find investors to support a new publication.

There’s also the question of business model —Alpinist published a high-quality magazine with few ads, hoping to support it with subscriptions.

Dougald Macdonald, editor of the American Alpine Journal, provides an shrewd analysis of why Alpinist didn’t survive.

Though considered the best climbing magazine in the world, readers were unwilling to pay for that quality.
“It never attracted nearly enough readers to turn a profit,” said Macdonald. “Climbing and Rock & Ice . . .  deliver . . . what readers and advertisers want to see”

“Alpinist executed the limited-advertising, high-subscription-price, “reader supported” business model, it simply didn’t work in the tiny climbing market,” Macdonald concluded.

I’m particularly anxious to see Alpinist or a related magazine resume publication. I wrote a story for issue 25, originally titled “Bev’s and my Grand Adventure”, that appeared as yet another incarnation of “Walls Without Balls.”

The editor asked me to write about Layton Kor, Alison Sheets, and my first ascent on the Rainbow Wall in Red Rocks. I’d started this story when the editor told me that Alpinist would fold..

Perhaps I can write it for the new magazine.

Daff Dome - Blown Away / West Crack

Amanda came to visit me in Summit County today, and, as always, we talked about climbing – what we’d last climbed, where we’d been. It reminded me of our wonderful summer, and longingly made me think of Tuolomne.

The Sierra Nevada is one of the most beautiful places I’ve climbed, blessed with long dry summers that have little rain, but doesn’t get hot because of the altitude – 8,000 to 14,000 feet.

One of my favorite climbs is West Crack on Daff Dome. I think this was my second lead in Tuolomne, way back when I was still in my teens. I took Tristan up the climb when he was 11 years old.

The approach is reasonable – maybe 20 – 30 minutes, depending on how fast one walks. After a short hard move on the first pitch – face climbing with a slippery-looking crystal as the main foothold, the rest of the route follows pleasant cracks with numerous knobs on both sides.

Pitch two on West Crack

At the start of the second pitch, an awkward looking roof presents the main obstacle. The trick here is to look around and use the crack. Climb it right side in, which allows you to reach a great bucket on the left wall.
After that it’s easy going, using huge knobs on both sides of the crack as footholds or handholds, with an occasional piece of gear  in the crack for security.
The angle eases off as one climbs higher up the crack, with each pitch a little easier than the one before.

With perfect rock, great jams, sunny warm weather, and incomparable views, this remains one of my (and everyone else’s) favorites climbs.