Return
to CCC HomepageClimb: Snake Dike
Rating: 5.7
Climbing: 3 pitches of face climbing followed by 4 pitches of unique dike hugging
Length: 7-8 roped pitches
Protection: Bolts, run out but not serious.
Setting: Excellent
Approach: Long and strenuous.
Descent: Long and grueling.
Snake Dike is hardly an unknown classic. In fact, it received an honorable mention in Steck's 50 Classic Climbs in North America. Still, it is not done that frequently by members of the club. I understand why. This is a climb I once referred to as (borrowing from a greater literary light) "a minor climb in the middle of a major hike." The mentality is common. When you have the bug to climb harder and harder things, Snake Dike simply isn't the place to go. Maybe if it weren't placed way the hell up there on the side of Half Dome...
No. The setting is one of its greatest features. Set down in the Valley, it really would be a minor climb. But put up in the sky, it is something special. The views are good, but better can be found. What is stupendous is heading straight up the curving side of Half Dome to an elevation of 8800 ft where you really feel above it all.
I have climbed the route three times, most recently with Dave Schmalenberger in the middle of May,1996. There are two ways you can organize the climb. Some people backpack up to Little Yosemite the night before and camp out. Then it is a fairly reasonable hike around to the west and up to the base. This ensures an early start, but entails dragging both camping and climbing gear up the Nevada Falls trail. I prefer to get up early and hike directly to the base of the climb and return to the Valley in one shot. It is a 16 mile hike with 4800 ft gain/loss each way.
Either way you choose to do it, get an early start. If there is one drawback to the climb, it is that it has a fairly high "bozo factor." That is, unfortunately it tends to draw a fair number of bozos who don't know what they are doing, but want to bag Half Dome. Stories abound. My favorite is the story of the party of three climbers who had only one rope. The leader would lead, bring up the second, and then throw the end of the rope down to the third. This apparently worked OK, though slowly, until they got up a ways. Up higher, there was a good stiff breeze (very common on Snake Dike). Well, they'd throw the rope down and the wind would snatch it out sideways. So here is the third, by himself, anchored to a couple of bolts in the middle of nowhere, absolutely helpless to get the rope. I don't know how the story ended. The climbers that told me the story simply climbed past leaving them to their own fate. Since they were young and stupid, they were probably OK. Anyhow, you need an early start to try to be the first party on the route. (Unless you're slow, then it won't matter since you'll be coming down in the dark anyhow.)
Dave and I did not get a very early start. We started hiking, well, finally got going at 6 am, after having to go back to camp to get the rope I forgot -- no bozo comments, please. By 8 am we were on top of Nevada Falls for breakfast. I won't try to describe the approach from there except to say that we found a really nice way, well marked by cairns, that crosses the slabs on a good ledge system from the right above Lost Lake, directly to the base of the climb. It was a grunt and both Dave and I were sucking wind by the time we got there, but it really was quite sweet. (If you'd like details of the approach, give me a call.)
Unfortunately, there were two parties ahead of us, gearing up, when we got to the base of the climb. Still, we started climbing by 10 am, a reasonable hour. Uncharacteristically, both parties ahead were quite fast and were soon pulling away from us. We had a clear field.
The first couple of pitches are very different from the upper pitches. The first has a slab crux (5.7) to a crack. The second traverses right on face to circumvent a little roof. The third then traverses back left (5.7) to the base of the dike. You actually need some pro for the first pitch and occasionally after. Take a few medium to large nuts and cams from TCUs to #2 Friend.
Then you are on the Snake Dike. It is a wild formation: a vertical dike, approximately 12-18 inches wide and sticking almost the same out from the rock. Unlike other dikes, it is lumpy. -- lumpy in a way that really is reptilian. Dave said it was like climbing the spine of a dinosaur. It snakes its way right up the curved face of Half Dome. Incredible.
The dike runs up for about 4 pitches. Most pitches have only one bolt in the middle of each, but somehow they feel like they are placed just right. When the dike runs out, so do the bolts. You can do another pitch placing gear, but most people just start hiking. At that point you are above the steep part and still have about 1000 vertical feet of hiking to do. Eventually, you can have lunch on top with all the tourists. We were there by 1:30 pm. The hike down the cables is uneventful, even if the cables are "down," though I suggest work gloves. Then the trail will trash your legs for another 8 miles or so, until you are back in camp with a beer. A respectable time is 12 hours round-trip.
The usual warnings about weather on high peaks hold for Snake Dike. You sure don't want to be there in a thunderstorm. One added warning is to remember to take lots of food and water. You can really run down your reserves, even on the downhill. There is water on the trail, but only the spring on the Half Dome trail is reliably free of giardia.
So if you can take a day away from cranking the rads, stroll up Snake Dike. You'll be surprised how nice this "minor climb in a major hike" really is.
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