The Needles & Dome Rock

Ivy and I put the 28th & 29th on the books while we were finishing up matthes crest early in July. As the time grew closer our exchange of communications went down like this:

• Aaron: "So we craggin in Tuolumne Meadows?"
• Ivy: "How about something alpine?...Fishhook on Russell?"
• Aaron: "We need 3 days, I only got 2. How about East Face Whitney?"
• Ivy: "Naw, too long long of approach for too little climbing, how about Sun Ribbon Arete on Temple Crag?"
• Aaron: "That's a huge route. Again, we would need 3 days. How about Venusian Blind on Temple?"
• Ivy: "Sounds good!"
• Aaron: "101% chance of rain and thunderstorms for High Sierras, looks like VB on Temple is out of the question."
• Ivy: "Pretty much all of the Sierras are shut down. What about craggin at Whitney Portal?"
• Aaron: "Ehh, too far of a drive to just go craggin. How about The Needles. 25% of rain both days. I think that's the best we're going to get it.
• Ivy: "See you there. By the way, do you have a guidebook?"

Photo Credit: The Internet

The most comprehensive guidebooks going for the Southern Sierras are the 3 pictured above. However, they all 3 have been long out of print consequently becoming pricier and pricier. I own the "Sequoia/Kings Canyon" (left book) which now is valued USED online $100. To buy a USED copy of the Needles book is $150. That left us to the wealth of the Internet and what route info we could scourge up. Sources included: Mountain Project, Supertopo forums, and Summitpost write ups.

A little background on The Needles. These giant spires and domes rise out of nowhere on the western side of the enormous Kern Canyon.

Photo Credit: The Internet

Their location in the far southern Sierras means snow is usually melts out by late spring, opening climbing access earlier than the high alpine. However summer time heat can be oppressive even for their 8,000' elevation. The Needles USED to have a fire lookout until it burn downed a few years back (Kitchen Fire is what I heard).

Photo Credit: The Internet

Photo Credit: The Internet

The Plan:

• Day #1, Drive 3 hours to the Dome Rock (vicinity of the Needles) and climb.
• Day #2, climb the mega classic "White Punks on Dope" on the Voodoo Dome, drive home.

Monday July 28th:
I stopped by my parents place in Springville for breakfast on my drive up to The Needles. The drive is 3 hours which makes it a little faster than going up to Tuolumne Meadows because of zero traffic. Highway 190 out of Springville is an extremely winding road but sees very little traffic. We rallied at Dome Rock which isn't part of The Needles per say. It's located a few miles south of the Needles proper.

First up, the classic super easy route "Tree Route 5.6 - 4 pitches". I lead the entire route in 2 long 70 meter pitches. FUN ROUTE!

Looking down from the first pitch of Tree Route. Ivy is seen here attempted to clean a fixed tri-cam.... AND SHE GETS IT!.

The view of the Kern Canyon are impressive. Rain showers can been seen moving in on us.

We finished up Tree Route quickly and felt warmed up for the main event of the day. "Anti-Jello Crack 5.10a - 4 pitches" featured a strenuous 5.9+ tight finger crack as well as a steep thin left facing dihedral rated 5.10a. However it began the rain when we were racking up. We found cover and sat out the short rain shower. Once the rock seemed dried, Ivy set off on lead.

The strenuous .9+ crack started as finger size but tapered to tips then nothing to a face traverse to the anchors. Good lead! I followed it cleanly but not without punishment.

The 2nd pitch was interesting indeed. Ivy had to back off of the lead and bypass the 5.10a techie lieback of the dihedral. Since I had the benefit of the top rope, I went for it getting it cleanly.

The remaining pitches were the slabby finishing pitches of Tree Route which we had already done. Fun day at my first time to Dome Rock! This place really reminded me of my home crag of Tollhouse - must be the slab!
The plan for the following day was to climb on the Voodoo Dome (Lowest of the Needles). However the approach to the dome was quickest from the lower Kern Canyon. This meant a 45 minute drive from Dome Rock. We spent the night at Lower Peppermint Campground. Being at 5,300'... it was a warm night for camping.

Tuesday July 29th:
Today was going to be dedicated solely to climbing White Punks on Dope 5.8+. The approach/climb (grade III)/Descent was going to take most of the day.
"Considered by many to be the best moderate route in Southern California" - Mountain Project

The weather had cleared from the previous days rain to SMOKEY!

The approach started a few miles past the campground and we actually found the start pretty quickly. In fact we weren't alone. A team from Montreal Canada were racking up at their car for the same climb. By 8:15 AM we were off hiking on the steep, buggy, and hot trail.

As we climbed the steep 1,300' the views opened up but more and more smoke arrived from a nearby fire.

90 hot minutes later we arrived at the base of the climb. The Canadian team beat us and were just launching off on pitch 1.

We settled in and waited for the team to climb and leave the belay for pitch 1. Once Ivy finished leading the first pitch I started up ... 11:00 AM. The first pitch involved a beautiful 5.7+ hand crack.

Views of the Needles were amazing. The Warlock Needle is the one closest on the right.

The second pitch involved the technical crux of the entire route. Even though the entire route is rated 5.8, most people agree the "roof move" is at least 5.9, I concur. The photo below is of the Canadian leader cruising the roof.

The Needles stick out in magazine/photos spreads with the yellow varnish. I concur!

Pitch 3 involved a "walk" through a chasm followed by a 30' 5.7 chimney.

Views of the Warlock get better and better.

OK, the money pitch so to speak. Pitch 4 is the endurance crux. 

"One of the most memorable pitches you'll ever do." - Some dude.

This pitch goes on and on. Steep 5.7 liebacking that finishes with a gaping offwidth. Another solid lead for Ivy.

Not much for the feet. Tight fingers to lieback the corner.

With the technical and endurance crux's behind us, we were left with just the psychological crux. Pitch 5 involved 5.8+ slab with far spaced bolts. This route carried a a "PG13" rating since the a fall on this pitch was gonna suck. Not considered "run out" but most Internet comments were in regards to the spacing of the bolts on this pitch.

Ivy went on lead but once reaching the first bolt back down from lead. I could tell the 40' spacing between the next bolt was too much. I don't consider myself more skilled in one technique over another but Ivy knew that I could climb slab with a cool head. I came up to her at the first bolt and took over lead. After leading the rest of the pitch I felt the slab could easily by rated at 5.9 slab (Tuolumne standards).

Pitch 6 was short and involved a 5.6 flake and slab to the summit.

A little after 5 PM we topped out. Great but smokey views of the Needles and the Kern Canyon were had.

After a short 5 minute scramble to the summit we found the fixed rappel webbing. One 30 meter rappel got us on the ground on the north side of the dome.

The hike back around the dome was sketchy to say the least. Pine needles covered the rock and loose dirt. We both fell many time scraping the crap out of ourselves. Speaking of crap, I'd never seen so much bear crap in my life. Piles upon piles of it were everywhere. In fact, the previous day while driving to the campground I had a black bear run out in front of me but never saw one while hiking.

At 7:30 we arrived back at our car. A long day but well worth it on this classic moderate climb! Best moderate route in Socal?... Sure, why not. The climbing was extremely diverse. Hand/finger cracks, offwidth/chimney, liebacking, steaming, and slab. It covered most of the techniques and it was full value for the grade. I personally would grade it 5.9.

Stats:

• 11:15 car to car
• 60 meter rope
• Doubles from small to #3, one #4
• Lots of water.

Mount Conness - The West Ridge IV 5.6

Unlike most Sierra peaks, which gently rise on the western slopes and drop-off to the east, Mt. Conness's (12,590') southwest face dominates the Tuolumne skyline. A tourist's first view of Tuolumne and Yosemite back county as seen from Olmsted Point one can see the impressive SW face of Mount Conness in the distant.

The route that ascends the SW face is the Harding Route 5.10C which a mega classic alpine wall route. NOT TODAY. However, the West Ridge is another classic route and well within my climbing.

"The West Ridge of Mt. Conness is perhaps the best moderate alpine climb in Tuolumne." - SuperTopo

"Highly enjoyable route" - R.J. Secor

Peter Croft gives it an "Awesome" rating in this book. Enough said!

Conness in a day is a massive undertaking! The approach begins from Saddlebag Lake on eastern side of Tioga Pass. From there its a 4.5 mile cross country hike up and OVER the summit of Conness only to lose all elevation gained to the bottom of the west ridge. Parties then climb the 1,500' of rock back to the top and retrace their steps back down to Saddlebag Lake. I'll pass on that. What's the second option? A more "mellow" backpacking trip to Young Lakes for an overnight trip. This approach though longer in mileage has the advantages of approaching the route from the west thus not having to take the eastern "up and over" approach.

I found a partner via Mountain Project named Matt and we began to discuss the plan. Matt's previous experience was mountaineering (Rainier, Shasta, etc) however some time had past. In fact, close to 20 years had pass since he had been out in the alpine. But we chatted and he seems knowledgeable and more importantly - PSYCHED! We agreed on the Young Lakes approach to the route and decided to make this a two day trip.

The Plan:

• Day #1 rally up at trail head and hike in the 6.3 miles to Young Lakes.
• Day #2 Cross country the 2 miles over the base of the West Ridge, climb it, descend back the lake, pack up and hike out.

I believe most parties take 3 days using the 3rd day to hike out from the lakes, however since I only had 2 days off from work we were just going to have to make it work. I knew that day #2 was going to be a HUGE day four us. We were looking at 2 miles of cross country, 1,500' (half the size of El Captain) of rock climbing, 2.5 miles of cross country back to the lake followed by over 6 mile hike out with heavy packs, then a 3 hour drive home. Hrmm.... 

Tuesday July 8th:

Matt and I rallied at Lambert Dome trail head, did a gear check and we're off hiking by 1:00pm. Hot and humid with afternoon thunderstorms nearby but otherwise it was a pleasant hike.

As the trail climbed higher and higher out of Tuolumne meadows great views south towards Cathedral Peak were had.

A little after 5:00pm we arrived at the lowest and largest of the Young Lakes. Impressive but as usual the July mosquitoes were in full force.

Camp was made, dinner was eaten, and we sat back watching the evening alpine glow on the surrounding cliffs. We had previously discussed what time to get started the following day. I had suggested that we "leave camp @ 5am". However that evening a party of two hobbled back in to their camp next to us after just completing the West Ridge. They told us they began their voyage at 3am. Matt and I looked at each other and settled on 4am.

The west ridge and southwest face of Mt. Conness stared at us across the valley. Interestingly enough, the ridge did not seem any closer even after the 6 mile hike. Something told me, we had an epic in store for us tomorrow...

Wednesday July 9th:
After a short and restless night our alarm goes off at 3:30am. Coffee, oatmeal, crap. We were off bushwhacking via headlamp a little after 4:00am, our voyage had began. Even in the dark sky the striking line of the West Ridge could be seen so we just kept aiming in that direction.

 By 7:00am we were roped up and ready to launch up the ridge. Where to start? All guidebooks indicate that are many options to choice from. Without out a "definitive start", I just picked the cleanest looking path and went for it.

(Our pitch 1 - Looking up & down ...pretty sure we were on the Supertopo route)

The climbing was low 5th and I cruised up until I was out of rope. I lead all pitches since Matt had not been on rock in over 20 years. Though I heard a lot of huffing, puffing, grunting, snorting, spitting, and farting from Matt, he motored up to each belay. A few pitches went by on mid 5th class terrain up flakes and corner systems.

After 4 pitches, the terrain began to ease back and I noticed that we were topping out on the ridge "proper". Following this edge for another 1,000' takes one to the summit of Conness. I suggested that we solo this 4th class with the occasional move of 5th. However, Matt seems a little shaken by the exposure. We agreed then to simul climb with me on lead. With 30 meters of rope out I would sling blocks and flanks here and there to give him protection while he followed. With such blockly terrain the rope drag was pretty bad from my end but none the less we were both having a great time.

Higher and higher we climbed the ridge. The view across all of the Tuolumne drainage was amazing. In the picture below is Young Lakes (where we camped) and the Cathedral range. In fact you can spot the North Tower of Matthes Crest which I climbed the previous week.

 A splendid day with amazing rock and great views!

 The ridge went on...

 and on...

We would take breaks from time to time and defiantly were not making a speed record attempt. The weather seems to be clear and nice which kept the pace fun and relaxed.

I watch to my left the North Ridge get closer and closer which meant we were getting close to the top. In the picture above you can see two climbers on top of the tower. The last few hounded feet of our ridge mellowed back to 3rd class and we un roped to solo from there. I arrived at the summit first shortly before 2:30pm. 7 and a half hour after our start... no speed record today.

In the pano picture below one can see a lot of Yosemite National Park. From Half Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, to the back country.

We stayed up top just long enough to snap a few pics and sign the summit register. We still had about 300 feet of 3rd to 4th class descent to get off the summit proper and down to a sandy plateau where the decent back to Young Lakes would start. The Conness Glacier has seen better days...sad.

About 15 minutes of down climbing we arrived on the sandy plateau.

Just a few snow drifts remained and the decent route was long and tedious talus and scree slopes but great views of the the route we HAD JUST CLIMBED were too be had. SO MUCH GLORY!!!

Bushwhacking, talus, scree, mosquitoes, sun, tired, sore. Ugh... just another 2 miles of cross country.

At 6:30pm (14 and half hours after we left camp) we arrived back at our tent. Exhausted, we took a break. I brewed up some ramen noodles and ate my favorite back country snack, Oreos. A little after 7pm we departed Young Lakes back to Tuolumne Meadows via the 6.3 mile trail. I'd been in these situations before many times before. At the end of a very long day when there is nothing left but to do a long slog out, I just mentally check out. The headlamp came on somewhere around 9pm.

I would wait periodically for Matt to make sure he was OK. As we got within the last mile I decided I'd had enough of being on my feet and took off to my car to wait. I arrived back a little after 10pm making for an 18 hour day on my feet. My record stood when Russ and I had 17 hours on Mt. Williamson many years back. I waited for Matt to arrive, but as time went on I never saw his headlamp come down the trail. Over an HOUR passed with no Matt. There was no way his pace came to a crawl within the last mile?! Something had to be wrong. After 11pm I figured that 1 of 3 things had happened. Either he had fallen and hurt himself, his headlamp crapped out, or perhaps...just perhaps had taken the wrong trail intersection (there were a couple with in the last mile) and was walking towards another trail head. The first two options would require me to put my shoes back on and hike UPHILL to go find him. Hell no, I'd leave him to the bears before I'd do that. The last option meant driving a few miles on the road to the next trail head up the way. Within 5 minutes of driving I could see a lone headlamp on the road. Yup, it was Matt. Apparently, in his exhaustion he had taken the wrong trail even though they are extremely well marked. I drove him back to his car and around 11:30pm we said our goodbyes and drove off.
Now normally I just grunt through the 3 hour drive to get home. There is NOTHING like a hot shower and sleeping in your bed after a mountain trip. This time I was hallucinating deer crossing the road while driving 50MPH at night. Perhaps they were real, but to error on the side of caution I pulled over and crashed out in my car. When I awoke it was 7am and I was at a tourist pullout with a lot of people looking at the views and me.
I got home, showered, and crushed it at The Waffle Shop. Another amazing trip to the Sierras!

Stats:

• 33 Hours car to car
• 17 miles roundtrip
• 1,500' Rock climbing
• 60M 9.8 rope
• #.5 - #3 cam, set of stoppers
• Lots of slings

Matthes Crest Traverse - III 5.7

After an amazing May on the rock in Yosemite I decided to keep the momentum rolling into this summer. I reviewed my High Sierra tick list and one climb glaringly stuck out...Matthes Crest.
A little background on where and what Matthes Crest is. No tourist has laid eyes on Crest as it can not be seen from the Tioga Pass road. In fact the only time I'd seen it before was during the summer of '12 when Russ and I were hiking the John Muir Trail. On our second day we crested Sunrise Meadow and began the climb up the trail to Cathedral Pass. I spied an incredible knife edge ridge in the distance. Without even consulting a map I knew it was the one and only Matthes Crest.

"The traverse of Matthes Crest is probably the best climb of its type in the Sierra." - The Good, The Great, and the Awesome - Peter Croft
"Matthes Crest is a true knife-edge ridge and unlike most ridges, it is not a low point between peaks, but a completely independent formation." - SuperTopo High Sierra Climbing
"This is a classic climb." - R.J. Secor.

Out of nowhere I get an email from my normal climbing partner Ivy informing me she had bailed on her summer job in Alaska and was back in California hungry to climb. And like that, it was game on.
Matthes sits a solid 6 miles away from the Cathedral Lakes trail head in Tuolumne Meadows, 3 of that in on trail and last 3 cross country. However, due to the routes length and mostly class 3 - 4 ridge line, most parties choose pack the rope back up and solo the ridge until more technical terrain is reached. Most reports I've read indicated that Matthes car to car was a LONG day and that was assuming that most of the route was soloed. Ivy indicated to me she was interested in a bivy the night before to take the edge of the approach and to beat any other parties to the route. I agreed, and it was decided to go as light as possible skipping a tent and other luxury camping items.

Tuesday July 1st 2014:
We rallied at the Cathedral Lakes trail head 5:00 PM. A quick check of gear and we were off on the Budd Lake/Cathedral Peak climbers trail. As expected, the mosquitoes were intense and got only worse as the sun set. We cruised by Budd Lake and tankard water for our bivy around 8 PM. I chatted briefly with a backpacker who reminded me of a bee charmer with all the mosquitoes swarming around.

The cross country hike above Budd Lake was easy and we enjoyed the sunset on the upper Tuolumne drainage and Cathedral Peak. Around 9 PM we ran out of daylight and we're done hiking for the day. I'd never bivied without a bivy sack before but the temps were so mild I just threw my pad and sleeping bag down and enjoyed the stars over my head, plus a few mosquitoes.

Wednesday July 2nd 2014:
The following morning I awoke at 6 AM and did my normal back country routine which happens to be my normal at home routine: Brew Coffee. We ditched our backpacking bags and just geared up for the climb. Our morning approach took us only an hour to reach the base of the southern end of Matthes.

A little more about the Matthes Crest traverse. MOST parties travel the crest south to north and then bail of the North Tower (high point). The climbing on the second (Northern) section of the ridge is slightly more difficult and much more wilder. While the first half generally climbs up, the second half half trends downward and involves tricky sections of exposed down-climbing which is much slower.

Ivy had her heart set on the complete traverse and we chatted before hand what was in store on the second half. My research showed that though the climbing was good, it was better north to south, in other words, in an upward direction. We talked about the downward traverse and how time consuming the climbing can be. It was decided that upon reaching the North Tower we would evaluate the time/weather/ourselves to complete traverse.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

We reached the base of the route about 8:15 AM and within a few more minutes I launched up on lead. I had already proclaimed that I would lead all pitches of the ridge to the North Tower and Ivy agreed to lead everything after that if we decided to continue. The southern end of Matthes consists of 3 pitches to gain the top of the ridge line. Most topo's were in agreeance there were many options -  all in the low 5th class region.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

Once on top of the ridge, we pack our ropes and began to solo mostly 3rd to 4th class terrain. However the exposure was pretty intense. In fact the most 3rd class exposure I'd seen had been on Mt. Russell's East Ridge, this however was a true knife edge dropping over several hundred feet on both sides.

After about 30 minutes of EXCELLENT movement across phenomenal white granite we came to our first impasse on the ridge called "The Fin". We roped up but instead of belaying we decided on simul-climbing together with just two pieces of protection between us and about 50' of rope. The Fin could be bypassed via a 5.6 ramp system on the west side.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

Once on top of the Fin we packed the ropes up again and switched back to solo climbing along the 3rd class ridge working our way over to the South Tower. However every couple hundred feet or so we would encounter small impasses that would require some creative work to get around.

We finally approached the South Tower and after consulting the topo, "Do Not Rappel, hard not to get ropes stuck." So our option was to bypass the south tower via a 5.2 down climb on the eastern side of the ridge to the notch between the two towers. This proved to be not a problem and there soon after we were at the notch taking a break.

One last roped pitch to the summit of the North Tower. This pitch was rated 5.7 with a slanting hand crack according to the topo. I had read multiple accounts online of the "difficulty of this supposed 5.7 crack."

I ended up resting on gear to get through it. I found it to be short but extremely technical and very burly! However once I mustered past it, I was off through the chimney then the summit of the North Tower!

I belayed Ivy up to the summit. Photos were taken and we began to discuss plans to continue the complete traverse. It was a little after 1 PM and the weather was solid (warm but with a nice breeze). We swapped roles and she took the sharp end of the rope while I belayed. As I watched her disappear in a downward direction I knew that following I would assume a lot more risk than in a typical following situation. We completed two pitches of downward climbing with ratings somewhere around .7 to .8 down climbs. Our pace slowed and my enthusiasm for the climb died. After several spicy down climbs I decided I'd had enough of this. I don't think I was the first person to have that idea. Right at our location to bail was a giant rat's nest of webbing from other climbers throwing in the towel. We tied both ropes together to get full 60 meter rappels and after two rappels we were on the ground.

Our walk back to where we bivy the night before to grab our backpack was slow. It was pretty obvious we had bonked from a big climb and all day sun. I grabbed a quick snack of salami and crackers with a change of socks. After that we packed up and made the 6 mile trek back into mosquito land to the car. We arrived at our cars at 8:00 PM making for a long but extremely rewarding day!

I've had a few days to rethink the complete traverse and what I might do different next time if I go back. I do want to see "The Wave" which is a section of cool looking rock on the northern half. However, if I would do the traverse again I would go from North to South and then bail at the notch. I think the ridge is best experienced in both directions from an upward viewpoint.

Stats:

27 hour car to car.

12 miles round trip.

2,300 feet of gain.

8.0 half ropes.

.5-3" cams + small stoppers.

Lots of slings.