Report By:
Brian "Gonzo" Gonzales
Report of Riley Swift and Brian "Gonzo" Gonzales’ August 22-25, 2000 assent of The Regular North West Face route of Half Dome in Yosemite CA.
I am a decent free climber that started climbing on the rocks of Joshua Tree, Taqutiz and throughout San Diego County. Before climbing the Regular North West Face Route I did not have any big wall experience; therefore, this report is probably most appealing to the experienced free climber interested in climbing Half Dome.
My report is in 3 parts; Journal Excerpts, Beta, and Equipment.
Journal
Excerpts:
Under Construction
Beta:
Some of the points of beta are things I would have done differently, others are simply things to keep in mind.
We relied heavily on the beta provided by Scott Ghiz http://ghiz.org/halfdome.shtml. Even though Scott’s beta is based on his 1992 assent the beta is still very accurate and helpful.
The key to this route is to PACK LIGHT!!! There were a total of 5 parties on the route that week (including Riley and I) the 3 parties that did not have haul bags were moving really fast. Riley and I had one huge haul bag. Often climbing a pitch was easier than hauling it. Sometimes it seems like we carried a bunch of "stuff" up Half Dome rather than carrying "ourselves" up Half Dome. I wish we had hauled less stuff. A good rule of thumb is "will you DIE of you don't bring it with you"? If not...don't bring it.
If you are going to bivy the night before you start the climb, I highly suggest that you sleep at the base of the route and not on the shoulder. Sleeping at the base made it easy to wake up and start climbing, all of our gear was organized and laying out when we woke up. Had we slept on the shoulder, in the morning we would have packed up everything, hiked down to the route, then unpack and organize the gear, we would have lost about 1-2 hours of climbing time.
There are several small bulges, cracks, etc that the pig will get stuck in as you haul; so, the person jugging will generally have to stay with the pig as it is hauled. If you only have two ropes and if you plan on fixing any lines the night before I suggest that you fix only one pitch. If you fix two pitches than you will not have a jugger to stay with the bag and hauling will be very difficult.
The leader of pitch 6 should not stop at the fixed pins 5-10 feet short of the bivy ledge. Stopping there will cause you to set up a new haul line for just 5-10 feet of hauling (which is what we ended up doing, and it was not fun). You should go past the fixed pins (until you are parallel to the ledge) before you begin hauling.
The only pitch we got lost on was pitch 7. This is where you go: When you are standing on the 6th pitch bivy there will be one bolt right in front of you. Directly above and in front you, you will see several bulges, small roofs, dihedrals etc. Off to the right you will see a left facing wall (this is the wall you want to climb). The "block" in the topo is in the middle of this wall. You can see the block from the bivy; however, you will not be able to see the short bay trees until you have climbed up past the block. The leader will start pitch 7 by stepping left off of the bivy, go up about 10-20 ft then head back right and continue right (towards the block). When you get to the wall (with the block in front of you) you have two options: 1.Climb up the left side of the block (5.9+/A1) then traverse right to the bay trees, or 2.Climb to the right of the block directly to the bay trees. Riley climbed left then traversed right and a French party that passed us climbed right (I suggest that you climb on the right side of the block).
I lead and combined pitches 10 and 11 (Robbins Bolt Ladder)! After the pendulum you will see the obvious pitch 10 belay station, continue past the belay and go all the way over and up to the pitch 11 bivy (4 bolts on the right side of the ledge). There is plenty of rope to combine these two pitches and you will save time not having to set up another belay station at 10. If you do combine these pitches there is a down side…the pig. You will be very far off to the right of the last belay station, so you will have some difficulty lowering the bag out. Riley got frustrated and just released the bag, it swung all over the wall (not a good thing).
Practice using a tag line before you go up there. We did a lot of lowering out, we got better and better as we went along, we could have saved a lot of time had we practiced lowering a bag out before the trip.
The leader on pitch 15 should stop at the base of the 4th class ramp (pitch 16). You will have a lot of rope left when you get to the base of the ramp but do not start up it. I set up the belay in the middle of the ramp, hauling was almost impossible and Riley virtually carried the pig up pitch 15.
The pitch 22 bolt ladder is a little confusing.
Pitch 23: Go for the top, don’t go down the ramp. Haul from directly above the last belay. The follower should be belayed, don’t jug (because of the traverse).
Equipment:
Just some notes on equipment:
Surprisingly I was in my flyers (approach shoes) most of the time. Flyers climb very well and are extremely comfortable (especially when you’re jugging). We were jugging so much I often sang the Eagles song to myself "I do believe we can [Jug] all night."
We used every single piece of equipment that we brought.
We used the #5 cam all the time. It is especially useful in the upper parts of the route.
Definitely bring a hook with you (I used the hook on the fixed pins, and there are several fixed pins on the route). I’m so glad we purchased the hook in Curry Village the day we arrived in Yosemite.
The 3 full sets of nuts we had was probably too much. As long as you have plenty of TCU’s 2 sets of nuts is sufficient.
Don’t bring less than 50 caribiners. Luckily we never were short on ‘biners, but we could have used more lockers. Speaking of which, one of my lockers is now probably a fixed piece on Riley’s haul bag. Put a small strip of duct tape around the lock so it doesn’t get jammed shut.
As always suggested use the top of a 2-liter bottle to protect your haul knot.
Climbing Home: http://www.geocities.com/cugiguvan/climb