Tuolumne/Yosemite Valley 2025: Deimos (5.9, 3p), Blues Riff (5.11b, 2-3p), Crescent Arch (5.9+, 5p), Cookie Cliff & El Cap Base & Public Sanitation Wall Cragging, Yosemite Falls + Yosemite Point Hike, …

xx Days in Tuolumne/Yosemite

Routes:

Tuolumne:
- Deimos (5.9, 3p), Phobos/Deimos Cliff
- Blues Riff (5.11b, 2-3p), Phobos/Deimos Cliff
- Crescent Arch (5.9++, 5p), Daff Dome

Yosemite:
- Cragging at Cookie Cliff: Outer Limits (5.10c, 2p), Crack-a-Go-Go (5.11c, 1p), Beverly's Tower (5.10a, 1p)
- Yosemite Falls + Yosemite Point Hike (6.6 +1.8 miles, 3200 + 500 ft gain/loss)
- Cragging at El Cap base: Sacherer Cracker (5.10a, 1p), Mark of Art (5.11a, 1p), La Cosita Left (5.7, 1p)
- Center of the Universe (5.11-, 7p), Fifi Buttress
- Cragging at Public Sanitation Wall: Unknown But Splitter (5.11c, 1p), Big Easy (5.11d, 1p), Afterburner (5.11c, 1p)
- Snake Dike (5.7 R, 8p + 1000’ scrambling), Half Dome

A x-day x-route late spring climbing trip to Tuolumne/Yosemite.

Region: California
Elev: 9,000-10,000 ft
Rock type: Granite
Type: 
Date(s): May 29-June xx, 2025 (Thu-??)
Partner(s): Rob Dillon, Tucker Mihalik, Casey Flowe

Related trip reports:

Route Overlays

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

TRIP REPORT IN PROGRESS

I was hoping to have landed a job by this point, but government funding changes of 2025 had led to a prolonged job search for me, so I was taking advantage of the time between applying for jobs to be on the road climbing. The current trip had begun with a week of sport climbing the conglomerate in Maple Canyon, Utah; followed by some desert towers in Moab (North Face (5.11, 3p) of Castleton Tower and Black Sabbath (5.11, 4p) on Sister Superior) and Colorado National Monument (Tom Stubbs Memorial Route (5.11, 4p) on Terra Tower); a day at Unaweep; a day hiking down to the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon; a couple of slot canyon adventures in the San Rafael Swell; and a Memorial Day weekend climbing steep limestone and clipping bolts in Rifle Canyon. During this time, I had reached out a contact in Moab named Rob Dillon (who I had climbed with once back in 2020) noting I was nearby and interested in desert climbing; he was otherwise occupied, but mentioned that he was planning to head to Tuolumne/Yosemite in late May/early June to visit friends and that I could join. The idea of climbing California granite began to grow on me, especially as desert temperatures crept into the high 80's. Next thing I knew I was driving to California to join the trip.

Tioga Pass had opened on Memorial Day (May 26), so we decided to go to Yosemite (Tuolumne and the Valley). It was still quite early in the season, so the "peak-hours reservations" system was not yet implemented for the season. We started in Tuolumne. But being early in the season also meant that there was still some snow in Tuolumne, making any north-side approaches or descents quite unappealing. And with the melting snow came the mosquitos. We climbed for two days there and then moved to the Valley, where Rob had friends he could stay with in El Portal. Rob and I cragged at places like Cookie Cliff, El Cap base, and Pubic Sanitation Wall. It was quite hot in the Valley, but the shade was tolerable. I began to get the itch to get on some multipitch and have some bigger days up high, so Rob gave me the go-ahead to try to find partners. I ended up climbing a handful of multipitch routes with various partners I mostly found on mountainproject, including Center of the Universe (5.11-, 7p), Snake Dike (5.7 R, 8p), ____. 

The following page gives photos from the climbs and my May/June 2025 trip to Tuolumne and the Valley.

Climbs We Did

CLICK ON ROUTE TO DROP DOWN CONTENT

Tuolumne

The previous year I had climbed Phobos (5.9, 3p) and loved it. I had wanted to climb its counterpart and the other namesake climb of this cliff, Deimos (5.9, 3p) but we had not fit it into the day. Plus, when climbing Phobos, I had noticed an amazing crack just right of it - Blues Riff (5.11b, 3p). I determined to come back and make a day of climbing both Demios and Blues Riff someday. A year later, I did.

Deimos is an excellent steep climb with a lot of hands/fists/OW crack. It has a bit of a reputation as being hard, burly, and with less than perfect protection. But Rob and I found none of these to be true. The climb is truly a bit atypical for Tuolumne, being more reminiscent of Valley crack climbs with lots of wideness and flares. But after the first 30 feet, the rock is excellent, there is pro wherever you want it, and the offwidth is pretty tame and easily stemmed or face-climbed around. The only negative is the walk-off.

I led the first pitch while Rob linked the second and third. We had an 80m rope (since our plan was to climb Blues Riff next where the 80 is handy), so Rob rappelled all the way back down the the base of the cliff with the gear, after which I dropped the rope to him and then did the walk-off while Rob shuttled the gear to the base of Blues Riff. The walk-off was a bit wet and I still couldn't figure out a way to avoid a bit of a 'schwack at the end of it to get back to the base of the cliff.

Next up: Blues Riff (5.11b, 2-3p).

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Descent

Walk off
Walk off to west. Lower partner and drop rope and only one walks off?

The previous year I had climbed Phobos (5.9, 3p) and loved it. I had also noticed an amazing crack just right of it - Blues Riff (5.11b, 3p). I determined to come back and climb it someday. Tuolumne is not a destination for flawless crack climbs, but there are a few notable exceptions, Blues Riff being one of them. This pitch would be classic no matter where it would be. The crux is a brief section of steep fingercrack followed by several feet of awesome 5.10 handcrack on a giant flake.

From the top of the crux (second) pitch you can rappel the route with a single 80m rope or double ropes. The third pitch looks fun, but it is 5.9 and there is no anchor at the top of the route. Not wanting to do the walk-off for a second time that day, we opted to do just that. I led both pitches. I felt that the first pitch was quite sandbagged for 5.10c, but perhaps this is due to the rockfall that has made the first pitch a bit more friable and perhaps harder; the crux move is bolt-protected, but the bolt is off to the right when you are pulling a committing powerful move on friable rock, so it feels a bit spooky. Not liking the potential for a swinging fall, I aided through the crux and later toproped it (and still found it quite hard). The second pitch, though, was awesome and totally protectable. I got the onsight - the crux was quite short with locker finger-jams, and the rest was secure hand jamming. So fun! Rob took two toprope laps and I took another lap as well.

It was a great day of climbing, with some humping heavy packs uphill and some pulling hard, but pretty low stress on the climbing front with some excellent pitches of climbing. Pitch-by-pitch photos are below.

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
For photos of the approach, see the photos from Deimos (5.9, 3p) above.

The previous year I had climbed West Crack (5.9, 4p) on Daff Dome. It was fun, but I was intrigued by the giant right-facing corner to the right: Crescent Arch (5.9+, 5p), a classic Tuolumne route with a reputation for being a bit of a sandbag for a 5.9, with super polished slabby corner climbing. A year later I returned and climbed this route. I thought the route was superb, and also quite a step up from West Crack

Without much thought on pitch breakdown, I started up the route, ending up with the odd pitches. Pitches 2, 3, and 4 are the meat of the route, so this left Rob with the longest two of the 5.9 pitches and me with the shorter 5.9 pitch between. I kind of want to come back and do the route again, and lead the pitches I did not lead.

Below are pitch-by-pitch photos from the climb.

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Descent

Rappel + Scramble
Follow cairns to the east side of the dome. Big ledge with a tree. Chains on top of a huge block. 2 raps with a 60m to the ground, 1 rap with a 70m.

The mosquito population had seemed to explode in Tuolumne in the few days we had been there, plus Rob's friends were in the Valley, so we headed to the sultry Valley for the weekend. On the drive from Tuolumne Meadows to the Valley, I stopped at the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias. I did a ~2 mile hike down to the "Dead Giant" Tunnel Tree. The “Dead Giant” tunnel tree measures 120 feet in circumference. It was a 200-foot tall snag when the tunnel was cut in 1878. The owners of the Big Oak Flat Road (completed in 1875) thought being able to ride through the big tree would be good for tourism. So, they routed the road near the tree. Reference

Photos

Video

Left of West Crack. Blown Away is absolutely classic. Greg Barnes once told me that he named this climb "Blown Away" because of the high winds the FA team encountered on the arete of the final pitch, and also because that was their reaction to the fact that such a fine route could be found unclimbed in Tuolumne in 2002. 

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd

Pitch 1

5.9

Pitch 2

5.8

Pitch 3

5.9

Pitch 4

5.?

Pitch 5

5.?

Descent

Rappel + Scramble
Follow cairns to the east side of the dome. Big ledge with a tree. Chains on top of a huge block. 2 raps with a 60m to the ground, 1 rap with a 70m.

On the Lamb is a very unique and classic traverse across the upper face of Lamb Dome. Perhaps the only climb in Tuolumne where 95% of the holds are jugs. What makes it difficult is that occasionally the feet disappear. The feature appears to be an enormous horizontal dike that has split apart to form an incut crack.

I had climbed On the Lamb in 2015 on a week-long climbing trip to Tuolumne.

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd

Pitch 1

5.4

Pitch 2

5.8

Pitch 3

5.9

Pitch 4

5.8

Descent

Scramble
Scramble off backside. 

Yosemite Valley

The mosquito population had seemed to explode in Tuolumne in the few days we had been there, plus Rob's friends Nick and John were in the Valley, so we headed to the sultry Valley for a bit.

May 31: On Saturday afternoon, we went cragging at The Cookie. The Cookie is a classic Yosemite crack area. It contains some of the world's best crack climbs. It was 90 degrees and the Cookie does not go into the shade until mid-afternoon, so we headed up around 3:30pm and climbed for a few hours. We had dunked ourselves in the Merced River before the hike up. I led the first two pitches of Outer Limits (5.10c, 3p) as a 40m megapitch (I almost greased off at the top from sweat, but managed to hang on and get the onsight). We had an 80m rope, so from that anchor we toproped Crack-a-Go-Go (5.11c PG13, 1p) (the start is the crux so we made sure to get out all rope stretch for the climber). Rob tred-pointed both pitches. I did a couple of laps of both. Both were excellent.

June 2: We returned a couple of days later for another afternoon session, after cragging that morning at El Cap base. The plan was to link Beverly's Tower (5.10a) and Wheat Thin (5.10c, 1p). Rob would lead the former and I would lead the latter. Rob kept up his end of the deal, leading the super fun Beverly's Tower (5.10a) and I started up Wheat Thin (5.10c) but got squeamish about the punchy flake lieback moves between spaced bolts and bailed. Darn it. It looked like a fun route! By the time we rapped down it was getting late so we decided to call it a day.

June 6: I had a job interview (via Zoom) in the morning, so this made for a good day to return to the Cookie for another late afternoon/evening of cragging.

Photos

Crack-a-Go-Go

5.11c PG13, 1p (toprope)

Rob had been fighting a cold and wasn't feeling too great, plus it was pretty hot for climbing, so I snatched the opportunity to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls, something I had always wanted to do in the spring when the falls are raging. Not only is the Yosemite Falls Trail one of Yosemite's oldest historic trails (built 1873 to 1877), but the Yosemite Falls is one of North America’s tallest waterfalls, rising 2,425 feet above the Valley floor. The trail also offers spectacular views of Yosemite Valley, Half Dome, and Sentinel Rock. The view from the overlook above the falls was fantastic. (Description of the hike on the nps website.)

After viewing Yosemite Falls, I decided to extend my hike east to Yosemite Point (adds about 2 miles and 500 ft gain/loss to the hike). Yosemite Point offers direct views of Half Dome and provides panoramic views of many other peaks. 

The round trip hike including Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Point took me about 4 hours and 15 minutes, including a couple of overlook stops. Temperatures were hitting 90 degrees in the Valley, so the hike down was quite hot, so I was glad I had started the hike somewhat early (7:30 am).

Below are some photos and video from this spectacular hike.

Video

Photos

The base of El Capitan is home to numerous cragging classic climbs to cut your teeth on while gazing up at the enormous cliff above. [I had cragged at the base of El Capitan twice before. In 2017: La Cosita Right (5.9, 1p), La Cosita Left (5.7, 1p), Sacherer Cracker (5.10a, 1p), Moby Dick (5.10a, 1p). In 2018: First 2 pitches of The Nose (twice!), Pine Line (5.7, 1p), La Cosita Left (5.7, 1p), La Cosita Right (5.9, 1p), Little John Left (5.8, 1p).]

The daytime temperatures in the Valley were in the high 80's, so we wanted to climb before the sun hit the wall around 11:30am. The plan had been to meet around 7am, but Rob got suckered into breakfast with his friends, so I went on a run and we met at 8:30am. We climbed for a few hours. The goal was to climb Mark of Art (5.11a, 1p), a 150-foot lead to the right of Sacherer Cracker culminating in an incredibly sustained 1-2" corner. We decided to "warm up" on Sacherer Cracker (5.10a, 1p). I brought a #6 for Sacherer Cracker (5.10a, 1p), recalling how I had been uncomfortable in the upper offwidth in 2017. My lead went well until I hit the offwidth, and while the #6 safely protected it, it still necessitated climbing a few offwidth moves above the cam; I wimped out and Rob had to finish the lead (a #7 would have been nice to have to keep myself on toprope) and even on toprope I found the offwidth difficult. After this, we climbed Mark of Art (I led it and then we both toproped it once). By this time the wall was baking in the sun, so we quickly climbed La Cosita Left (5.7, 1p) -- left-facing so still in the shade -- and then hiked out. I drove to the Yosemite Village store to get some ice cream and yogurt.

In the late afternoon we headed to Cookie Cliff for evening session of climbing.

Route Overlay

Photos

Approach

2nd

I had climbed Voyager (5.11c, 7p) on Fifi Buttress in October 2024 with Nate Beckwith and thought it was an excellent route. I wanted to someday climb Center of the Universe (5.11-, 7p), another comparable 5.11 on the far left side of Fifi Buttress, a touch easier than Voyager but equally high in quality. 

In June 2025, I was in Yosemite Valley cragging with my friend Rob Dillon for a bit, and while the cragging was a blast, I was getting the itch for multipitch, and getting a bit higher off the ground (and a bit further from the bugs and heat). Rob gave me the go-ahead to find a partner for a multipitch route or two. Tucker Mihalik had recently made a partner post on mountainproject; he was working in Yosemite and looking for partners on his days off. I replied to his post and within minutes we had plans to meet the next morning at 9am in the Bridalveil Fall parking lot and climb Center of the Universe (5.11-, 7p). 

Tucker and I had a blast. We thought that every single pitch of the route was super fun and protectable. We climbed in fix-and-follow style, and block lead, with Tucker leading the first four pitches of route up to the large midway ledge, and me leading the last three pitches of the route. This worked out quite well, and we were at the top in no time, wishing the route were longer (in fact, the route does go on to the top of the buttress, but the rest of the pitches are not as travelled and are mostly moderate with no more 5.11). 

On the hike out, we discussed plans for climbing again in a few days. When you're in a spectacular area and you find a good partner on the same page, you take advantage of it.

The following page gives overlay, time stats, and pitch-by-pitch photos for the climb. Enjoy!

Trip Report

I have a separate page for this trip report. Click here to go to my trip report for Center of the Universe (5.11-, 7p) on Fifi Buttress.

Rob and I chose Public Sanitation Wall as a good cragging zone in the shade and above the bugs and heat of the Valley floor. This is a nice sport climbing area that is home to one pitch lines on featured, slightly overhanging granite. I had cragged at Public Sanitation Wall for a day the previous year, in October 2024, when we had climbed Afterburner (5.11c, 1p), Sanitary Engineer (5.10c, 1p), Unknown But Super Fun (5.11c, 1p). On this day, we climbed three pitches: Unknown but Splitter (5.11c, 1p), Big Easy (5.11d, 1p), and Afterburner (5.11c, 1p). I led all three, but used a stick-clip on a couple of bolts on each route on my lead. We then toproped each once or twice. After about 6 pitches each of steep sport climbing, the sun had arrived but we were ready to be done anyway.

Photos

Snake Dike is one of the most classic Yosemite adventure climbs. This route climbs a wild dike feature on the southwest face of Half Dome. The climbing is notoriously runnout, but moderate. 

I had always wanted to climb this route, for the pure novelty. But even though moderate, the runnout on polished slabs intimidated me. But then I met Casey in Yosemite (I had replied to his mountainproject partner post) and he was psyched on the idea of Snake Dike. In fact, he had climbed it three times before. He was willing to do it a fourth time. Sweet.

It is a half-marathon type day with five thousand feet of elevation gain, so we decided to start hiking at 6am. When we arrived at the base of the route, there was another party starting up the first pitch. They were a party of three: a six-year-old girl, her dad, and his buddy. We waited a bit and then started climbing, but kept getting on their tail. They let us pass on Pitch 3 (they had accidentally traversed right to the wrong anchor at the top of the pitch, which worked out well for the pass). Casey led the first three pitches, after which I realized I had nothing to be intimidated about (while runnout--essentially, one bolt/anchor/cam every 100 feet-- the climbing felt secure and mostly 5.4 R with the 5.7 sections just off a bolt), and I started leading. Plus it was just pure fun juggy dike climbing, even more fun on the sharp end. We made quick time and were on the summit after a few hours. After a nice lunch break on the summit and chatting with the curious summit crowds ("You climbed up here?!"), we descended the Cables (this took awhile as there were several traffic jams) and hiked out. What a fun day!

Thanks Casey for joining me in this adventure!

Trip Report

I have a separate page for this trip report. Click here to go to my trip report for Snake Dike (5.7 R, 7p) on Half Dome.

xxx

Trip Report

I have a separate page for this trip report. Click here to go to my trip report for Book of Job (5.10b, 6p) on Higher Cathedral Rock.

xxx

Trip Report

I have a separate page for this trip report. Click here to go to my trip report for Astroman (5.11c, 10p) on Washington Column.

I had climbed Steck Salathe (5.10b, 16p) in 2007, when I was efficiently rope-gunned to the top. We made great time. I'd always wanted to return and swing leads and create a better trip report.

Trip Report

I have a separate page for this trip report. Click here to go to my trip report for Astroman (5.11c, 10p) on Washington Column.

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