| | Photos: | Photo descriptions: |
Approach | Park at "Zodiac pullout". Hike ~45 min to base. | 1. 2. 3.
| 1. Approaching the East Buttress via the talus field below the towering walls of El Cap. The East Buttress is on the right skyline. 2. Morning sun on The Nose, seen from the base of the East Buttress. 3. Cathedral Spires (Lower and Higher), Higher Cathedral Rock, Middle Cathedral Rock, and Lower Cathedral Rock as seen from the base of the East Buttress. |
Pitch 1 | 5.9 | 4. 5. 6. 7. | 4. The start of Pitch 1. We set an intermediate belay at the tree about 30 feet up to give a visual for the upper chimney and reduce rope drag on the final cruxy moves before the belay. 5. Nathan in the chimney of Pitch 1. We just dangled our packs from our harnesses which worked well. There were enough features and cracks that the climbing in the chimney felt pretty secure. 6. Inside the chimney. It is pretty well-protected. The crux of the pitch is not the chimney, but rather the last few moves before the belay. 7. The wild wide stem at the top of the pitch, just before the belay. We found this to be the crux of the pitch. |
Pitch 2 (can link Pitches 2&3) | 5.10b
| 8. 9. 10. | 8. Nathan starting off Pitch 2. This is the 10b crux of the route. There is a good micronut placement on the left before making the move (when we climbed it, a micronut was conveniently fixed at this placement). You can tension off the micronut to provide a bit of assistance on the crux if needed. 9. The flaring groove after the crux. 10. As I climbed the pitch, Nathan was stomping around at the belay yelling "Ants!" Turns out the tree at the belay spot was covered in them. |
Pitch 3 (can link Pitches 2&3) | 5.6
| 11. | 11. Looking up Pitch 3, a short and easy pitch. This can be linked with Pitch 2. It might create a bit of drag to link it, but if there are ants in the tree it is worth it. |
Pitch 4 | 5.6
| 12. 13. | 12. This pitch traverses a runout 5.6 face to the arete and climbs the arete. It is a pretty awesome pitch. The exposure combined with poor pro makes it quite exciting. (photo by Nathan) 13. Looking down while leading Pitch 4. |
Pitch 5 | 3rd | 14. 15. | 14. Looking up at the 3rd class scramble that comprises Pitch 5. This goes to the base of the steep gully above. 15. We noticed a fire in the valley near the Yosemite Lodge and Half Dome Village. We kept on climbing, but were worried a bit that it would grow...(I later found out this was an intentional fire. From the nps.gov website: "Yosemite National Park fire managers are planning a 62 acre Ahwahnee Meadow prescribed burn the week of September 12, 2016.") |
Pitch 6 | 5.8
| 16. | 16. Looking up Pitch 6, which ascends the steep gully. The rock is pretty polished. |
Pitch 7 | 5.8
| 17. 18. | 17. Nathan had not set much pro on Pitch 6, so he still had most of the gear and decided to lead Pitch 7 as well. 18. This pitch regains the arete at the top of the pitch. We checked the fire status and were pleasantly surprised to see that it had been contained and that the smoke was almost out of the valley. Notice the clouds above created by the fire. |
Pitch 8 | 5.9 | 19. 20. | 19. Steph leading Pitch 8. This pitch starts off on the exposed arete, then follows an arching crack left. I climbed this like a hand traverse, with my feet smeared on the wall below. This pitch was pretty sustained and challenging. Yosemite 5.9. (photo by Nathan) 20. Nathan nearing the top of Pitch 8. Really awesome pitch. |
Pitch 9 | 5.9
| 21. | 21. Climbing on Pitch 9. We chose to traverse left to a 5.9 face option rather than go into the 5.9 offwidth directly above. |
Pitch 10 | 5.5
| 22. 23. 24. | 22. Easy and fun climbing up polished knobs on Pitch 10. 23. The traverse right at the end of Pitch 10. This is the start of Pitch 11 on some topos. Climbing it at the end of Pitch 10 allows you to have better communication with the leader and less rope drag on Pitch 11 but gives you a somewhat-small belay perch; climbing it at the start of Pitch 11 gives you a nice belay ledge but more rope drag and less communication with the leader. 24. Looking back at the traverse. This is pretty wild climbing, and not al that hard but quite exposed. |
Pitch 11 | 5.8
| 25. 26. | 25. Nathan starting off Pitch 11, which features steep knobs. Half Dome in distance behind. 26. The steep slightly-runout knobby 5.8 face on Pitch 11. The topo calls this a mental crux. |
Pitch 12 (we linked Pitches 12&13) | 5.7
| 27. | 27. More fun climbing up knobs. The East Buttress route seems to have just as much face climbing as crack climbing, which keeps the climbing interesting. |
Pitch 13 (we linked Pitches 12&13) | 5.6
| 28. 29. | 28. The final easy climbing to the top. I linked this with the previous pitch. 29. An old piton/blade near the top of the route. |
Top | yay! | 30. 31. | 30. Half Dome as seen from near the top of the climb. 31. About the time we reached the top, we noticed a helicopter hovering near the steep walls of El Cap below. Probably a rescue in action.... |
Descent | East Ledges Descent. | 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. | 32. The start of the East Ledges Decent. This was pretty easy to find just by following a path right and then down from the top of the East Buttress route. 33. Wild Dikes on the descent. 34. Descending the slabs after passing the Wild Dikes. 35. The location of the beginning of the rappel route (4 rappels, with a 5th optional). 36. The first rappel. All four (five) rappels were conveniently fixed with a rope. The ropes were in decent shape. 37. Back down on easy terrain (this is at the base of a 5th rappel, which is sort of optional since you could downclimb, but we took advantage of the fixed line and rapped it). 38. Hiking out the trail (just after we intersected the trail for Manure Pile Buttress). 39. The smoking remains of the fire that we had seen start in the Valley earlier that day. This was a prescribed burn. From the nps.gov website: "Yosemite National Park fire managers are planning a 62 acre Ahwahnee Meadow prescribed burn the week of September 12, 2016." 40. Evening light on Half Dome, as seen from the road driving to Half Dome Village. |