On Saturday May 31 this year, Nathan and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning (after going to bed at midnight) and made the 45 minute drive from Hardin Flat to Yosemite Valley. Parking at the Ahwahnee hotel, we geared up, taking a light trad rack and each with a small backpack full of windbreakers, 4 king-size snickers bars, fruit rollups, string cheese and water. One 60m rope meant lightness but no retreating. We did the quick approach and started climbing just as it started getting light at 5:30am. The first pitch starts with a slick angled chimney and was my first chimney experience. Not bad, just a full body experience!

Nathan leading up the 5.6 chimney on pitch 1

We were simulclimbing nearly everything, so after the first pitch things just kept going. It’s easy climbing with short sections of 5.6 or 5.7 moves. At one point, in another groovy chimney section the nozzle of my camelbak slid off and water started gushing out of it and all over the wall and me. I put the tube in my mouth, but the water kept coming! Nathan was fully extended at the other end of the rope, so we both had to downclimb about 10 feet so I could retrieve the nozzle. Luckily it hadn’t dropped any farther. The simul -climbing made things a little more interesting there.

After about 6 pitches worth, we hit a stellar 5.6 crack that went for 30-45 feet. Definitely one of the highlights of Royal Arches. The other memorable part was, of course, the pendulum to skip the 10b traverse move.

Looking past the pendulum. You swing and mantle the flake in the middle bottom.

We made it up to the top of Royal arches at 8am, after only 2.5 hours! Both of us were surprised that we got through it so fast - belays are sloooowww. The early start was key, as we didn’t see anyone else on the route, but we heard later that there were at least 6-10 parties on it.

Looking down from the top of Royal Arches.

However, we weren’t through the adventure. We still had to do Crest Jewel, a 5-star 10a slab climb up to the top of North Dome. That, and the approach to the start of Crest Jewel from Royal Arches. My only advice is don’t turn left towards the dome too early. We ended up crawling through the thickest manzanita, only to realize that we had gone too high.

Manzanita Hell!

Finally, we got to the start of the climb and it was 11. There was a party climbing up the 10d direct start, so we waited for them to cruise by (impressive) and Nathan started leading out. I should mention that I haven’t done much slab climbing. Starting on Crest Jewel, even on top rope was a continuous adventure. The runouts were often long and traversing on 5.8 terrain. At one point, Nathan realized he had clipped into an old bolt (marked in the ST guide) and was 30 feet off route. He kept it together and instead of down climbing to get back on route, he did a heady traverse up and left to the anchors, not able to clip any more bolts. Wowsa.

Nathan running it out

We did Crest Jewel in 9 pitches and got to the top at 4:30. Then it was only a short hike down to the North Dome Gully trail. We found the start of the trail easily and didn’t have any problems staying on the trail, but it was very exposed, especially at the 4th class traverse with a cliff below you. It’s a good idea to do this trail with a light pack and get to know it before you jump on Washington Column and come down with a haul bag and heavy rack.

At 7pm we made it to the valley floor and nearly bumped into a baby bear cub and mama bear. They weren’t more than 100 feet away from us and luckily they just lumbered off into the woods. Making a b-line for Degnan’s Pizza Loft, we ate well and talked about the climb. This day was full of firsts for me - first pendulum, first simul-climbing, first chimney - awesome.

The next day we took it easier. I led pitch 1 of Jamcrack (5.7); Nathan led pitch 2 (5.9). Then I led Churchbowl Lieback (5.8) and Nathan led Highway Star (5.10a). Thoroughly spent, we headed back to the city after one of my favorite climbing weekends ever.