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Dave Miller
climber
June Lake, California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 5, 2015 - 01:58pm PT
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Just got a call from a buddy who is currently at the top of pitch 11 (pitch above the Robbins traverse) of the regular route on Half Dome and he says the ledge there is missing! Anyone heard of recent rock fall on HD? He's done the route before so I kinda trust what he's saying, as outlandish as it sounds.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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A little late for April Fools. Anything to this?
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Dave Miller
climber
June Lake, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 5, 2015 - 04:38pm PT
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Apparently they bailed cause they couldn't reach the anchor which is still there but with no ledge below it. He said there was a big dirt outline where the ledge was supposed to be. He also mentioned the area around the base of HD looked kinda gnarly but he just thought it was from the recent rain storms. Will be interested to find out what's going on up there, that's one of my favorite routes in the world.
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DonC
climber
CA
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wow, I remember that as a pretty big/long ledge with lots of good size rocks on it
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Spooky bump
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Just glad it didn't fall off when we were there!
Must not have been anyone there, or this would be posted already?
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Dave Miller
climber
June Lake, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 5, 2015 - 06:04pm PT
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Sadly it looks to be true. Here is a photo taken looking up from the Robbins traverse. There's a lot that is missing!
And here's a photo of the debris field at the base
Photos were taken by my buddy Drew
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Damn exfoliation.
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WBraun
climber
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YOWZA !!!!!
Rock Armageddon !!!!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Wow, looks like a new bolt ladder might be needed to reach the corner system?
Besides the p11 bivvy ledge, it looks like the flakes used for the "tunnel through" variation are gone, too.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Regarding comments above, yes it was a good sized and rather long ledge system. I'm glad it didn't fall off while we were BIVIED on it some 25 or 30 years ago (topping out the next day). That would be a seriously rude awakening. Somebody ought to post this over on Beta, by all rights, the party who discovered it.
Edit to add: a new ladder or some free or aid climbing that's a lot harder than anything else.
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Travis Haussener
Trad climber
Salt Lake City
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Looks like a first ascent variation is in order
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Whoa - big news!
John
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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I will donate some bolt on holds if someone wants to re-establish the free variation:-)
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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wonder if the rat's had anything to do with it? those mutha's kept us up all night when we slept there:(~~~
definitely has something to do with climate change tho. So it's prolly man's fault;)
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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^^^one post up
what about Serenity or The Nose?
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Should I mention that the free variation bypasses the Robbins Traverse?
First Psyche Flake, then the Undercling Pitch, now the end of the Robbins Traverse. Pretty soon, all of the distinctive sections when I first started climbing will be mere memories. Oh well, someone will be able to say they made the Last Ascent of the Robbins Traverse.
John
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
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The route is compromised, NPS should step in and create a via-ferrata out of it.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, dave and all... glad no one had to through that experience, :O
say, does anyone have before and after pics...
as, i am not knowing how it looked before, but would be interested to learn...
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RP3
Big Wall climber
Twain Harte
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WOW! The route has significantly changed! I bet it will be a while before anyone frees it again...
2 weeks ago:
Now:
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Dr. Stock, paging Dr. Stock. Comments please!
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Captain...or Skully
climber
Boise, ID
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The price of being on a living Earth. Change is the order of the day. I'd say get used to it. Nothing is forever.
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jsb
Trad climber
Bay area
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Here's some side-by-side before and after photos.
Zoomed out
Zoomed in
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Captain...or Skully
climber
Boise, ID
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Quite a bit o fresh stone there, eh?
Half Dome is the adventure stone after all.....
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Mother of God.
So all of this material, gone?
Last summer we repeated it, and of the whole route, there was one move that seemed more serious and more difficult than the first time.
It was that jingus step across to gain the sloping rail and the .11 (usually wet) crack left of the squeeze, just off of this ledge. Is it possible that that move was harder because there had been some separation? Hmm.
Scary, wild. Truly f*#king wild, the more you think about it! Someone must have seen or heard this event. Who's got the story? gstock?
Edit: I wanted to climb that keyhole variation. Damn.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Probably due to some tourons trundling rocks off the top:-)
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rwedgee
Ice climber
CA
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Must have cut loose amongst all the recent thunderstorms at night or there would be a witness....check the base.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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WWRRD? Sell bracelets to fund a long bolt ladder to the pendulum connector.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Well now I have to go back to North Dome and take new photos! A 'before and after' from the same perspective.
For those who want to pan around that area close up, check this out and turn off the layers (upper right) if they are distracting.
http://038dbbc.netsolhost.com/maps-gis/half-dome-map/
Here is an annotated bit:
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Bad Climber
climber
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Uh, I bivied on that ledge! Yikes, yikes, and double yikes. As my buddy Pete, bro of Klaus, says: Impermanence is a MOFO.
Play safe, kids.
BAd
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Holy cow!!! Triple yikes!
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overwatch
climber
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Thats how bedouins have sex
F*#king intense
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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I blame Le_Bruce, pictured here in the very act.
His thrutching and thrashing and poor form probably weakened the flake.
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rmagner15
Trad climber
Cathedral city, ca
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Destroy all.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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I blame Le_Bruce, pictured here in the very act.
Burn him before he pulls off boot flake!
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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The park cervix should have chained the flake to the wall like the rocker block on Moonlight. Looks like there are plenty more flakes that need to be chained and pronto.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Can the date be narrowed down by ST folks who climbed the route in the last month? How could this possibly have happened without people noticing?
EDIT: I guess bad weather would have ensured no climbers on the route and night + storm could have made it not very obvious.
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ClimbingRanger
Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
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Hey folks,
The Yosemite climbing management along with the park geologist are actively investigating the recent rockfall event on pitch 11 (it's disappearance) of the Regular Northwest Face on Half Dome. We will be evaluating it this afternoon from the ground and will be up at the base and on the route tomorrow to get a closer look.
We know that getting over to the anchors at the end of the Robbins Traverse is unlikely due to the routes current state. We recommend holding off on climbing the route until we have more information. As we gather more details we will keep the community updated here and on the Yosemite Climbing Information website.
http://www.climbingyosemite.com
If you have information about the event or questions, you can reach our office at 209-372-0360 or contact us from the website.
Thanks and be safe,
Brandon Latham
Climbing Ranger
Yosemite National Park
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Thanks for the update Brandon. Keep us posted.
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JohnnyG
climber
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haha! I slept jammed into the bottom of that chimney once. Miserable night. Good riddance flake!
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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That makes the third major feature I've climbed past that is gone.
Wiesner route at Seneca, the Gendarme, now this.
Fourth, if you count the rotten log.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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ATTENTION
the route Tis-sa-sack has a lot of missing features :(
I climbed the route in 2001 and believe some features are missing!
can we get the park service to fix up that route while were on the subject!!!
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Mongo88
Trad climber
Clinton,CT
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The Gendarme, the Rotten Log and The Old Man of the Mountain, too
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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I haven't climbed the NWF since 1976 or something. When I did it I led a pitch called the Robbins Chimney? Is this correct and is it still there? It was a pain in the ass 5.9 squeeze as I remember.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Honestly- some jobs in Yos are a giant waste of resources
I'm guessing you have not had much experience with our guberment.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Glad I did this route a few years ago with my son, since I wouldn't go back.
I did an early ascent of the Direct NWF, back in 1972, with John Bouchard, and we experienced an enormous rockfall, below us, around 11 PM. We were perched on a ledge, below the visor, and we thought the whole cliff was coming down.
Each time I've been up there, there has been stuff coming off, and I consider the place kind of spooky.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Each time I've been up there, there has been stuff coming off, and I consider the place kind of spooky.
Me, too, Steve. Galen Rowell told me in 1971 (before my first journey there) that he thought it was one of the most active faces in the Park.
John
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MattF
Trad climber
Bend, Or
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I just did the route last spring, and I was thinking of trying to go back and get a free ascent at some point. I was curious exactly what was missing now, so I tried as best as I could to match up the pictures with the Supertopo from the Big Walls 3rd edition I have. Here's my best guess on how much of the route is actually gone based on the topo:
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Imagine being in the midst of the tunnel through when the rock starts a subsonic sighing...
So le_bruce, are you still going to rope-gun me up this thing some day? Bivy at the base? And no more using your superhuman strength to make those blocks loose!
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Seriously, a little Sugru and epoxy and the face will be good as knew.
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wayne burleson
climber
Amherst, MA
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Climbed it on June 4, 2015 and all seemed well...
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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I have. Here's my best guess on how much of the route is actually gone based on the topo:
Yeah, you can still see that corner, but the tension traverse to the start of the 5.7 chimney goes nowhere now! That chimney empties into air.
All of this is gone - you can see how the flake probably burst out about here based on the horizontal crack splitting the apex of the spreading. Nasty P-delta effects going on here. The outward sloping bits above would have fallen right off. You can see some of the remnants above still hanging in the latest photos, though ...
It looks like the entire outer flake on the right fell off, fracturing from the face somewhere just above the tension traverse:
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Strom
Boulder climber
Tiburon, CA
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Here is a video I shot before the rockfall took place. I think the piece that came off can be found around 6:09 to 6:50 in the video. I am glad no one got hurt below on the death slabs or on the route!
https://youtu.be/xxIFoegtMx4
I also found a photo of the ledge that is now missing. Apparently everything next to the main wall with the bolts on it is gone.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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I can't resist thinking about this since I saw those horizontal cracks and the huge displacement at the line partway up P12. I wonder what the NPS geologists think about this as the action that ripped that flake off?
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Texplorer
Trad climber
Sacramento
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Leave it to government route-setters to only change a route once every decade and only one pitch at that.
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ruppell
climber
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I'll bet gravity is the action that ripped the flake off the wall.
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skitch
Gym climber
Bend Or
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God dammit! I was planning on doing it this year. Guess I'm going to have to bring a few dozen bolts, good thing I'm really tall!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Mark, damnit, please get the hell out with that calamity science because I'm not open to any line of thinking that renders the future of those three chimney pitches as anything but ultra stable/permanent. Easily some of the best pitches I've ever climbed - you too?
If that whole flake mass that forms those chimneys is going to peel sooner rather than later (read in our life times), someone please get up there and salvage that section of holy splitter off the 12th belay. Aesthetic overdose in me when I see that thing, can't let it get pulverized in the talus, it'd be like losing the Mona Lisa. Perfect splitter leading to perfect airy chimney leading to blue blue sky, all in that setting, ahhh
Nearly shedding a tear thinking about it.
Micronut: if that thing does fall I give you and your new truck a 24 hr window to drive up the Death Slabs, where you'll huck the remnants into the bed and deliver to Oakland for my mantlepiece, deal?
Nutjob: No but we can still go do the ski jump to spireview
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WBraun
climber
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Caltrans is coming to pave a new road up the Regular Route for all the n00bs who are crying ......
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CCT
Trad climber
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Anyone know how long it takes lichen to colonize fresh granite? Look at this photo - lichen above the exfoliation zone, no lichen below. So, the split can't be older than a hundred years or so, right?
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Yeah, le_bruce, that's a nice looking splitter there, but I'm not that sorry the 5.9 squeeze is gone. I recall it as not being very fun with a lot of rack. Why I didn't have just a couple pieces and no aiders, just stupid I guess, but it wasn't a very fun pitch up top. And I usually like chimneys and wide just fine.
It's too bad the bivy is gone. It was good, with nice separate spots for two, and not stinky when we did it because you only end up there if you start super late or walked up that morning. Rocks falling from high up fall right over you, a little ways out in space (this happened, or maybe a body).
The Wombat is certainly right, the next chimney pitch or two are next, and not that far in the future, I'd wager. Some future year, a famous ledge higher. It'll be known as Thank-God-I-Wasn't-On-It Ledge.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Easily some of the best pitches I've ever climbed - you too?
Yep! Makes me sad I might not ever get a chance to do them again.
I'm not that sorry the 5.9 squeeze is gone
It looks like its still there. It just lost the 5.7 beginning and a floor to cap the bottom :-)
In a more vertical and rocky sense, the flake collapse seems like it could be similar to a glide avalanche, with the flakes on the N Face almost positioned like these slabs, ready to go as soon as meltwater debonds them enough from the slabs.
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F10
Trad climber
Bishop
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Time to chain Boot Flake to the wall before it goes.........
Maybe not, I've heard it has been missing on several April 1st, but is still there !!
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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I like that I always read info here firsthand and then see it the next day on the climbing magazine sites.
Go supertopo!
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Don't take anything for granite . . . impermanence is the rule.
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ElGreco
Mountain climber
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Wait, wait. le_bruce implicated again?? The dude was the one who filmed the massive May 2011 rockfall!
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1516671/Half-Dome-Death-slabs-rock-fall-5-27-11-video
I sense some kind of self-destructive fetish here whereby he climbs the juicy splitters to exhaustion and then stuffs them with dynamite.
I was on this thing on Jun21. The recent chit chat on the beta page about rockfall made me uneasy. Sleeping at the base and being on the Slabs was not exactly carefree - let's put it that way. On the day of the climb, we saw two blocks come down in sequence. We were traversing up and right towards the Robbins bolt ladder at the time. Not sure if they were from the visor or lower down.
People mention rockfall in relation to this face all the time. Is it really that active? Or do we just read about the eventful ascents but never know about the 100s that don't witness any rockfall because... there's nothing to write about?
I find it astounding that on a long Jul4 weekend, and with the spring running, no one was on a trade route like this or on the Slabs. Did the thunderstorm chances put people off? Whatever the reason, let's be thankful (if indeed no one was on/near it and we won't hear about a missing party in the next day or two - I sincerely hope not).
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Bring a bolt kit . . . everywhere!
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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When the last layer of the RNWF falls waste from the Half Onion, then the route I climbed will be no more, it will be as if I climbed 5 feet out from the new face, levitating up memories.
I find that fascinating.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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When I first did the RNWF in the 70s, I stopped a pitch below Big Sandy and was looking around for the usual fixed pin anchors. I finally found them and they were hidden behind a flake that had moved diagonally such that you could no longer pound on the pitons as they were originally placed. I leaned out and followed a 30 degree rising fracture line as far as I could see in the outside plate that forms Big Sandy so it is moving too!
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big wall paul
Trad climber
tahoe, CA
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So it the regular nw face classic shut down?
This is the first big shut down since Hockey Night in Canada lost two pitches 8 years ago. anyone remember that episode? Lot of talus created there. I'll have to ask cragnshag about this. He probly doesn't care since he's too busy doing first ascents in the Valley on lesser known cliffs.
I figure everybody and their mom must be heading up the death slabs to establish the new connection for P10-12. If I didn't have wife and two young kids, that's where I'd be heading.
Paul.
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tripmind
Boulder climber
San Diego
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I'd bet that all the sh#t and piss that has filled all the big cracks at the major ledges have seeped down and started weathering the attachment points of these types of flakes, causing it to separate over time. Poop tube enforcement soon.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Added to my list: Direct North Face Lower Cathedral Rock (with Kor), El Cap Tree Direct (with Sacherer), major rock fall past us on El Cap Nose while we were on Dolt Tower in 1985 (from the Grey Bands? with Claire Mearnz), Seneca Gendarme, North Face Middle Teton, North Face Mt Temple (with Margaret Young and Jim Richardson), major rock fall from near summit of Grand Teton North Face while I was soloing it in 1963, a few others I've previously listed on ST...the mountains are alive...
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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I bet the Direct NWF will become more popular. I assume the rock is more stable than the regular route. I feel it could be done by a fast party in a day, but it took us 2 days, back in 1972.
It is a beautiful line.
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Brandon Latham and I scoped this (literally) yesterday afternoon. I don't have a lot to add actually, beyond what's already been posted here, but here is some additional information, some of it speculative:
The rockfall occurred affected pitches 11 and 12 of the Regular Route on the Northwest Face (see image below, rockfall source area shown in red). The failure consisted of a relatively thin, triangular-shaped rock sheet at least 60+ meters (200+ feet) on the longest side. The thickness of the sheet varied from about 1-3 meters (3-9 feet), suggesting an approximate volume of roughly 800 cubic meters.
The lack of direct observation strongly suggests that the rockfall occurred at night. Thunderstorms occurred on the night of July 2 and the early morning of July 3, dropping 1.8 cm (0.72 inches) of rain in less than 24 hours in Yosemite Valley, and probably more at Half Dome; when I observed Half Dome early on Friday morning water was still streaming off of it. Most likely the rockfall occurred just after the peak of precipitation early on the morning of Friday, July 3. The inclement weather probably accounts for why it appears that no climbers were present. I was listening for rockfalls during the storm, but it may be that it sounded like one of the many thunderclaps that night.
More information about the condition of the route can be found on the Yosemite Climbing Information website: http://www.climbingyosemite.com
Mark, your idea for the failure mechanism has merit. I tend not to think of the stresses as P-Delta forces, but the basic idea of slab buckling is valid, and in fact you can see such buckled slabs in many places in Yosemite on lower-angle terrain. The puzzle always is to figure out why the failure occurred at that exact moment. My colleague at the USGS (a civil engineer) and I have been pursuing different ideas about thermal stress triggering, and have documented rather large diurnal movements of a flake near Royal Arches due to temperature fluctuations. In this case I suspect that water was also involved, but it makes sense to me that hot summer temperatures would cause daily cyclic deformations that propagate cracks into the remaining solid rock ("rock bridges"), and then a final shot of water into the cracks elevates cleft pressures and off it goes.
And yes, by its very exfoliated nature the Northwest Face is prone to rockfalls. The database of Yosemite rockfalls (http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/746/); shows 8 documented rockfalls from the Northwest Face since 2006, but I'm sure that many more occurred that were not documented. Intriguingly, there are no documented rockfalls from the Northwest Face in winter. This may simply be due to under-reporting during this time of the year, but it could also relate to the thermal stresses that I mentioned above, as the Northwest Face gets direct sun only during the late spring and summer.
I've posted this before, but this quote by Galen Rowell about the Northwest Face seems especially relevant now. Could he have been writing about the area that just fell?
"Several hundred feet above the base, the narrow crack in which we were inserting pitons widended. It became a chimney, large enough to crawl inside. At either side of the back wall of the chimney there was a three-inch crack, continuing out of sight for hundreds of feet overhead. The back wall was eight feet behind the present surface, parallel to the main cliff. The cracks completely separated it from the outer rock, on which I was climbing. Here was the northwest face of the future, fully cleaved and waiting patiently, be it one or one hundred thousand years until it gleams for a geological moment in the noonday sun."
Greg Stock
Park Geologist
(209) 379-1420
greg_stock@nps.gov
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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^^^Thank You GStock.
That Rowell quote is gnarly!
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bbbeans
Trad climber
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wowowowowowowowowowowowow.......... That is an amazing quote Dr. Stock. Thank you for your analysis!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Bring a bolt kit . . . everywhere!
100%
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Jason A Graves
Trad climber
Carlsbad, CA Anchoredman.com
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Trying to look on the bright side... maybe the11c corner and 5.7 splitter leading up into the chimneys will have a much more exposed and classic feel to them now?
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TripleS_in_EBs
climber
Poulsbo, WA
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Here's a photo from Sept 2009 compared with Dave's copied from page 1 of this thread.
Here's what we said about the ledge in our trip report:
"One pitch before the chimney system, we hopped across the rumored collapsed ledge at the end of pitch 11. It was intact but it wasn’t so much a ledge as it was a collection of blocks seemingly wedged by climbers behind a large up-opening flake. These kinds of flakes are common on the face and perhaps even define the character of it. A student of Yosemite once described how the successive detaching of huge flakes created the wall in its current form and how the continuing detachment of those presently in place would unveil the future surface of the northwest face. Merely by peering behind one, a climber could possibly glimpse a yet unborn Half Dome face that his grandchildren might one day climb freshly upon."
http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Half-Dome-NW-Face-The-Good-The-Bad-and-The-Obsession-With-Bivying-on-Big-Sandy/t11369n.html
The way those blocks were piled in behind the top of the flake made me think of a climber-built patio, but maybe they were deposited there naturally.
It will be interesting to see how this event affects the route. That ledge is (was) pretty key since it allows a big rightward traverse from the end of the pitch that follows the Robbins pendulum to the giant flake that forms the chimney pitches.
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G Murphy
Trad climber
Oakland CA
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Greg Stock - would a seismometer have picked up the event so you could tell exactly when it happened?
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c wilmot
climber
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It seems plant growth and rodent waste/gathering could have an effect on rockfall as well. I myself noticed they were most frequent a few days after rainfall in the valley
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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The way those blocks were piled in behind the top of the flake made me think of a climber-built patio, but maybe they were deposited there naturally.
Climbers have always done their part in terms of depositing on the Reg.
Man have I become a scold on the subject of climbers leaving trash on and near routes. Cranky old wet towel.
El Greco: we can neither confirm nor deny, etc.
OP mentioned the base looking gnarly. I don't really have a pic with a good angle on the before version, but in this one, you can see the top of Big Sandy. In the before pic on left, the ledge would have been skier's right, so you can maybe kind of compare what that base area used to look like
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TradMike
Trad climber
Cincinnati, Ohio
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When I climbed it back in 2004, it was spitting rocks out of that area while we bivied on the sloping ledge. I told my partner, it is only a matter of time before we lose the entire route. Now, not much is holding up all that loose stuff above. Big Sandy is next.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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I added the ledge to my vintage climbing collection. It looked funny hanging out the back of my Tundra on the drive home, but hey..it's catalog #2014 now.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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31/64th's Dome...
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HeldUp
climber
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31/64th's Dome... Clever!
Part of the majesty of Yosemite, especially late at night in the Valley, is the sound of rocks falling and the echoes bouncing across the canyon walls. You never knew where it was happening, but you knew exactly what was happening.
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Grippa
Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Big Gulps huh? Welp Seeya later!
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WBraun
climber
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Caltrans is up there today assessing and evaluating the situation.
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Cannon
Trad climber
Murrieta, CA
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No way. I bivyed on that ledge. It was an awesome sunset. Comfortable. That's gonna change that section for sure
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Man have I become a scold on the subject of climbers leaving trash on and near routes. Cranky old wet towel.
You may be a cranky old wet towel...
But that doesn't mean you're not right!!
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RonV
Trad climber
Placerville
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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We used to call it the slow mans big sandy bivy. I guess now slow men need not apply.
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reptyle
Trad climber
Kali
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Good thing no one was under that! I had a similar experience on the NW Direct route back in the dinosaur days. A storm drove myself and my partner Forrest back to the valley and when we returned to the base the area had been blasted by a large fall. We had to dig for stashed gear.
At the risk of boring everyone, I have to repeat: gravity is ruthless and relentless and infinitely patient. It knows that it will win every battle eventually.
D-<
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, hardrock... thanks for the link, will go see it...
:)
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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This thread is linked in the story.. Lol
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, steve grossman...
as to this quote:
Jul 6, 2015 - 10:38pm PT
When I first did the RNWF in the 70s, I stopped a pitch below Big Sandy and was looking around for the usual fixed pin anchors. I finally found them and they were hidden behind a flake that had moved diagonally such that you could no longer pound on the pitons as they were originally placed. I leaned out and followed a 30 degree rising fracture line as far as I could see in the outside plate that forms Big Sandy so it is moving too!
this was very interesting... thanks for sharing...
also, gstock... thanks for all the info, as well...
and everyone... have not had a chance to read it all, but even though i am not a climber, i really appreciate learning and seeing what is going on, with the rock...
like to see a few more before and after, shots, too, :)
EDIT:
SAY, steve A and john, as to this quote:
Me, too, Steve. Galen Rowell told me in 1971 (before my first journey there) that he thought it was one of the most active faces in the Park.
John
thanks for sharing...
hmmm, also--it seems to give the feelings, of, the slow shifting rock, unseen by our eyes... gravity calling to whatever is up, perched on framework, etc, until too much happens, too hard and fast...
a tad here, a tad there... frameworks hold stuff very well, but when the framework shifts, oh my... :O
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, big mike... wow, oh my, yep... supertopo is getting 'out and about' as to the 'ye ol' news-articles' ...
:O
edit: or actually, supertopo is getting PULLED OUT AND ABOUT into them... as news folks suddenly now seem to know where to find needed info, which they have lacked...
super news, from a super-site, ;)
:)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, PellucidWombat, wow, say,
THANKS for the neat drawing and the 'popped off pic' etc, of the idea of the rock fall...
very interesting...
say, also, i have seen more of the before and after shots now...
say, if someone can put a few more, NEXT to each other, as before and after, that would help me a bit, too, being that i never climbed the route, etc, so i'd get a better eye-view, this way...
EDIT, FOR ABOVE, IN MY POST:
just saw jsb's post, of pics... can understand a lot better now, :)
from the distance, etc zooming in... :)
hope so, but if not, i can still go back and study...
always wished i could have studied geology, etc, more, :))
back in the OLD old days, before i got married, etc... :)
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Kironn Kid
Trad climber
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I bivied on that ledge. It was of a decent size. Rat infested too :-/
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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We used to call it Half Rubble because it (The Dome) was such a big junker. But what a location!
JL
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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I DID see that flake - hanging with a base crew, as flakes are wont to do.
Things go south so fast...
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chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
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Thanks Obama.
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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I slept on that ledge in 1983.
On Long Ledge.
I led the Robbins Traverse below that, and at the start of that pitch there was a 15' tall flake that I began climbing only to have it tip out and almost peel. I pushed it back towards the wall and jumped off to get out of the way. Once it settled I had to tiptoe up it again to reach the bolt ladder. I heard it fell off a couple winters after.
Meyers said the squeeze/chimney pitch off of Long Ledge was "5.9, poor pro", so I did the A1 variation instead.
Nigel took the next classic lead.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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From his description of the area in question, this sounds like the late-departed flake's first clean ascent. I could be wrong.
"Now, well into our second day, it was Doug’s turn to lead. From my ledge in the middle of Robbins Traverse I watched him struggle. He tired vainly to place a nut ten feet above me in a narrow crack with flaring sides. Was this as far as we could go?
"Doug’s right leg began to shake like and old-fashioned sewing machine. He came down and rested. This section is usually climbed by pounding in pitons and using direct aid....
"Doug could find no nut that the flaring crack would accept, so he tried a different way. As Dennis fed out rope, he traversed downward to a crack only a few inches wide.
"Our spirits lifted as we watched Doug “free climb”.....Soon he reached a perfect slot where at last he placed a nut that not even the weight of a car could have budged.
"This nut gave Doug the confidence to continue free climbing. Soon he had his hands on a ledge a hundred feel long and half as wide as a city sidewalk. The difficulties of the Robbins Traverse were behind us."
--Rowell’s article, an excerpt, p. 786.
National Geographic, June 1974.
A month after this was published in NG (the three--Rowell, Hennek, and Robinson—-had climbed it in 1973, pretty obviously), Jerry Coe and I went up and still found pitons useful, though we tried to honor the clean concept: the 5.9 as hard as it ever was, I guess, since neither of us could free climb it; and we scooted on through to Big Sandy with no thoughts of objective hazards or compromised ethics--we'd done our level best.
Wake me up when Thank God Ledge is gone. That will be of immense interest to me because we bivouacked there the next night!
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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The previous pic shows such huge trail of fallen rock debris- right under the start of the route, nice illustration summary of this thread
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Makes me wonder what the dome looked like before the NE Buttress started being quarried by glacial ice forcing its way round to the Tenaya Canyon glacier. Quite an impact zone for monster rivers of ice!
It seems obvious that this side/corner of the monolith got the brunt of the pressure from that confluence.
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WanderingJim
Boulder climber
Walnut Creek, CA
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Wow... I was camping on the JMT between the Clouds Rest and Half Dome trailheads on July 4th and 5th.
Based on reading the comments here, it sounds like the collapse happened between July 4th and July 5th.
If that's true, I might have heard the collapse from where I was camped.
I remember hearing a loud thundering crash when I was relaxing after a long days hike. Wouldn't have seen anything from where I was, but definitely remember hearing something loud and looking around.
I'll probably never be able to be sure it was this collapse I heard, but the timing sounds right.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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So Honnold's free solo line will never be repeated....
Certainly an interesting thought. Also, the Triple Crown (and other such link-ups) just became more demanding.
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ClimbingRanger
Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
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An update has been posted on the Yosemite Climbing Information page. We are working on a more detailed post with photos and details from our climb up to pitch 9 (the bolt ladder) yesterday.
http://www.climbingyosemite.com
Yosemite Climbing Management
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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THanks for the update. I particularly love the understatement the permeates it. The missing pitches were mentioned on the front page of today's Fresno Bee. This provides more evidence - if I needed it - of how deeply into the mainstream climbing now penetrates.
John
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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John,
So true, I see climbing everywhere in media now. I say we go back to hexes and Liberty biners. That will thin the crowds.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Thanks. I saw Greg's estimate of the slab that fell off being 200' tall, but that didn't really click until I saw the image of the whole face with it highlighted.
That's a big chunk of rock!
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drwb
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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This is the account of when Scott Sinner and I came across the missing ledge system on top of pitch 11
July 5th, Scott Sinner and I woke up at 3:45 am for a car to car ascent of Half Dome's RNWF. This would be my 3rd time up the wall, Scott's first. Arriving to the base of HD, I noticed that the climbers trail no longer existed and some alterations to the spring at the base. I shrugged it off just thinking it was from the recent storms that have been coming though the Sierras.
Scott took the first block to the top of pitch 6. I took over from there since I was familiar with the route. After completing the Robbins Traverse we were exited to enter the chimneys and simul away. I moved out onto the face to climb pitch 11 (my least favorite pitch of the route). In go mode, I followed the terrain that was present. Soon I found myself 140 from the belay. It turned out I was climbing the down climbing portion of the free variation.
I remember yelling down to him at some point that I don't remember any of this. Yelling back "I thought you've climbed this before!"
I was so confused. Stopping and looking at the topo, I knew something was not right. I was lowed 60 feet from a block and was able to back clean some gear, untie, pull the rope and got back on belay.
There was some frustration between Scott and I. He was annoyed because I was wasting time and the fact that I do not see the obvious ledge system. I kept telling him, "Dude, there is nothing there!" I swung around on a pin to check thing out. That's when things dawned on me...the whole system flaked off.
I came back to the belay and Scott tied in to check things out. Yep... the whole ledge system was no more.
This is when I called Dave Miller. We climbed the route a few years ago and Dave knows the route better then anyone I knew. I asked him if he has heard anything about any rock fall on HD. He was blown away! After our conversation he went online to do some research. That's when he created this thread.
Scott and I were both stunned! We hung out at the belay for a good while, laughing and eating Sour Patch Kids before we started to bail.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
While bailing, everything started to make scene. The base, the broken trees and all the trash...
Retreat turned out to be not so bad. Scott and I have gotten good at retreating with one another, that's one thing we are good at. We only had a 60m and 2 grigris. We managed to get down with a mix of down climbing and rappelling. We bootied some bail gear from previous parties. When on the ground, we only left 1 nut and 2 carabiners from our own rack.
When packing up, we ran into a group of 3 foreigners who were going to climb the route the next day. They spoke little to no English. We tried to explain what has happened...we only hope they understood and did not attempt the route.
I really want to thank Dave Miller for getting the word out. I did not want anyone else to go up there and epic, get hurt or get rescued.
I believe that this happened during the recent stint of storms in the Sierras. This would explain why no one herd it and why we were the first to come across it.
We are still scratching our heads about the experience...but most of all, laughing about it.
Be careful out there yall! Next time you climb something, double check to see if its still there!
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Thanks, drwb! This would make a great trip report, too. Maybe with some luck, we'll be able to find out who made the Last Ascent.
John
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TakeMeForGranite
Trad climber
Logan, Utah
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When I did this route on June 3, my partner led the pitch right after the robbins traverse. While he was standing on a huge chock stone in the bottom of the chimney, the chock stone dropped about 2 feet. I think he broke the route.
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Jim Herson and Hans Florine won't have to worry about losing the speed record on that one!
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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I think he broke the route.
Could it be the LA?
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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I think he broke the route. That's a CLOSE call. Indeed he may have "broken" the route. I'd say you're very lucky to have made it to the top.
Did any of the big flakes feel shifty?
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Billy Smallen
Trad climber
SLC
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I know this is way off topic by this point, but I couldn't resist as I am still having the same "I slept on that ledge!" creepy feelings that many others are. Pics from 2005:
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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I marked the "after" photo from http://www.climbingyosemite.com/portfolio/half-dome-rockfall/
to show the shortest route to connect over the missing flake section.
Given that it's kinda steep and smooth, my guess is it would take 2-3 bolts to reach the old p11 anchor, then 5-7 more to reach the bottom of the 5.11c corner.
This might be thought of as an extension of the diagonal bolt ladder on the Robbins traverse below.
It might also be possible to climb further up left on corners/flakes,
and pendulum far right, but it may be too steep to pendulum that far.
For free climbing, that might involve climbing on the right side of the new rock scar and then underclinging back left?
Would be risky at present due to the freshly broken rock; would be wise to check for loose rock on rappel first,
as Brandon Latham and Greg Stock described some definitely loose sections when they investigated on July 7.
(Watch for their updated report).
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DM88T
climber
free solos 3rd class
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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EXPANDOME
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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Thanks for the NPS shots - wow.
RE: the photos -it is an understatement to say "the climber's trail is gone", as stated by drwb in his TR.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Hard to tell exactly from photos, but it looks like the right side of the initial chimneys section has solid support.
If it was substantially supported by the loose flake that left, one might think it would have come off then?
Maybe more relevant - might be wise to go higher in the 5.11c corner before tensioning right to the chimney system.
(High enough to get above the fresh rockfall area).
Prior rockfalls in this same area:
1. 1968 - Psyche Flake (former moving chimney - apparently was well above the Undercling Flake?)
2. 1987? - Undercling Flake. This was slightly above the new rockfall, and is shown in one of the old photos in this thread. Was mentioned in "50 Classic Climbs" description.
Roger Breedlove photo, ca. 1974
Edge's 1983 photo - Undercling Flake directly above the leader.
le_bruce's more recent photo - Undercling Flake gone.
original from http://www.markpthomas.com/mountaineering/trip-reports/california/half-dome-regular-nw-face
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Mexico City, D.F.
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He definitely broke the route. Well, there is a great opportunity up there now to reconnect the route.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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there is a great opportunity up there now to reconnect the route. I wonder if there is a way that would maintain the overall grade of the route, and not a run out 5.14 pitch? Yes - see my 7:18pm post and photo above.
Many options; one is fairly simple.
Maybe an even better option will be possible on close examination....
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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nobody should be allowed up there anyway, unless they are Native Americans or John Muir,
going to rap bolt that broke-ass route this weekend,
did anybody find a blue colored sling clipped into the wreckage?
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Love ya Sprock!
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Mexico City, D.F.
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I can't believe nobody has bagged the FA yet. It's the most iconic rock face on the planet.
Just realized also that nobody is ever going to repeat Alex Honnald's solo.
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Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
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I'm interested to see if they look for a logical free connection, or go with the 20th century approach of "bolts from here to there". May be blank enough that it's moot, of course.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Climbing Magazine ... Clint ... Dang, I'm finally famous! :-)
But I was not the first or only one to wonder about how/when the climb will be reworked. I mean, Brandon and Greg already went up there and came back down before I even posted....
Better yet, see the fresh 7/9 update of Brandon and Greg's report - more details and up-close photos of key points in the rockfall section:
http://www.climbingyosemite.com/portfolio/half-dome-rockfall/
The newly posted photos suggest to me that the belay stance atop p12 (5.11c corner to tension traverse right) is intact, although there is a freshly broken block just to the outside of it.
That block is not needed for the stance, but people might touch it, so it should be tested carefully.
The p13 handcrack to chimney looks intact, but as Ron noted, who knows if chockstones / flakes in the chimneys loosened up, etc.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Jul 9, 2015 - 12:05pm PT
Smart people are waiting. Who wants to be the first to test if the rest of the flake/chimneys are still attached good? YOu know- the ones hanging out into space, non supported by that flake and ledge that went buh-bye..
"yur lead",, naww YOU can ave it~~~Noooo, I insist YOU get the first lead! OK, we will flip for who belays..
I'm wondering why it would be better to be belaying UNDER the guy up there testing the flakes.....
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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I confess to temptation here. I also confess that it's 41 years since I've done any climb longer than a Grade IV, so the odds of acting on that temptation are nil.
Still, if I were to make it across first, would it now be the "Robbins-Eleazarian Traverse?"
Oh well, even if my wall climbing is hibernating, my dreaming is operating full force.
John
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wayne burleson
climber
Amherst, MA
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Nice work Clint! But I think those bolt estimates may be a bit low. The friends of the OP who came upon the missing ledge could probably better estimate. Some short penji's might save some bolts... but we need to keep it A0, right?
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Yeah, those are guesstimates "for sure"! (And since you were there in June your estimate is probably better than mine).
Something at an "accessible" grade (like the rest of the climb) would be good, since a lot of people do the route.
Actually I've been somewhat surprised at how many people use the Skinner bolt ladder at the top - it's really part of the free version of Half Dome Direct NW Face, not the original Regular NW Face to the left (where I believe the aid crux is).
But I guess the Skinner bolts made it onto the supertopo for the Reg.
And some people may just want to get up in the easiest way at that point.
There's certainly room up there for a couple of different ways to bridge the rockfall gap.
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namascar
Trad climber
Pasadena, CA
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I remember there was a lot of junk up there
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tripmind
Boulder climber
San Diego
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Anyone find any chalked holds in the debris field at the base of the wall? That would surely make for a really nice souvenir.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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With all the visible loose rock at the top of the flake it's easy to imagine smaller pieces falling down behind the flake and slowly but surely wedging it off over time.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Denver CO
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I never really thought about it before, but I guess all these big features are potentially expando flakes, and you could force them open by dropping a rock down into a crack, and then the temperature changes and there are brand new stresses and it opens, then the process repeats. I guess all the features we climb on are going to fall off eventually. That's what they're doing in slow motion, exfoliating. As for Ron's concern, maybe someone could rap down from the top to survey the loose rock situation. For the big features still connected, there is really no way to tell what's holding them on. You could also just wait to see what happens, as long as you want.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Jul 10, 2015 - 08:52am PT
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Anyone find any chalked holds in the debris field at the base of the wall? That would surely make for a really nice souvenir.
Mashed up old dropped 'biners?
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jul 10, 2015 - 10:03am PT
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For the big features still connected, there is really no way to tell what's holding them on. You could also just wait to see what happens, as long as you want. ^^^The definition of Yosemite big walls.
Even Greg Stock would like to know what sort of magic glue holds Boot Flake to the Big Stone.
I don't want to speak for Greg but......
Greg and colleagues have shown that diurnal expansion of large flakes due to the heating/cooling cycles is significant. This must strain (stretch) the rock where the flake is attached to "baserock" (whatever THAT is in the Vertical World). Yes, even "solid" granite is plastic. This is in addition to winter freeze thaw cycles (water expands just as it turns to ice).
Each strain cycle likely causes micro cracks in the connection between slab and base. They grow. The result is inevitable......sometime in the future.
(Musings of a NOT geologist)
I highly recommend "Geology Underfoot In Yosemite" by Allan Glazner and Greg Stock. Which reminds me I need to read it again.
We're all rolling the dice every time we climb flake systems. I cringe slightly every time I muscle into a steep lieback up the side of a flake.
Stick to face climbs and chimneys if you want 100% confidence the granite won't take you for a ride.
Someday even Reed's Pinnacle will take a ride down the hill.
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rwedgee
Ice climber
CA
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Jul 10, 2015 - 10:28am PT
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 10, 2015 - 02:07pm PT
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I wonder how much longer this one on the Third Pillar of Dana will last? ...
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jul 10, 2015 - 02:16pm PT
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Ok, any bets on book flake?
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Jul 13, 2015 - 08:35am PT
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Man, this is so lucky that nobody got whacked. The majority of days this time of year, there are always climbers all over the route and bivying at the base. I've done it over 4th of july, and it was covered with parties.
The odds that the route was empty was dodging a bullet. It would have creamed anyone at the base. Since the lower part of the route is a little left of the rockfall, perhaps someone on the lower part of the route would have been spared.
Like others, though, I once bivied on that long ledge at the end of P11. Freaky.
From the photos, there are three layers of flakes right there. The outside flake seems to be what is gone. So the runout chimney is history. The A1/5.11 crack to its left is still there.
If some 5.12 free variation is done to replace the missing rock, I feel that the bolts should be placed close enough to aid them, Keeping the route grade where it was. The 5.9 chimney looks like it is gone.
There used to be a flake sticking out of one of those chimney pitches a little higher up. You had to layback around of it. It was kind of spooky, but It fell off (someone said 1987), making that move easier.
The Robbins Traverse pitch is hopefully mainly intact. It was a cool pitch, and had the hardest mandatory free moves on the route, IMO. I remember doing it and thinking how hard that must have been in old clumker shoes and caveman gear used on the FA. It was one of the better pitches.
The traverse free moves reminded me of Jackson's Wall Direct on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. I always thought it was a little stiff for 5.9.
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Vic Klotz
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jul 13, 2015 - 01:39pm PT
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Robbins ladder, part two?
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ElGreco
Mountain climber
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Jul 13, 2015 - 10:36pm PT
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Using the stated estimate of 800 cubic meters of rockfall and a density of 2.75g/cm^3 for granite, that's 2,200 metric tons of rock that fell, or 2,425 U.S. tons.
That's equivalent to 27,500 people (at 176lb each). Imagine that on top of you next time you sleep at the base. Sweet dreams.
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Physicus
Sport climber
Dresden, Germany
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We climbed the Half Dome Regular up to and including the 11c-crack variant of Pitch 12. The new bolt ladder and the following traverse/mantel to the begin of the sickle-shaped 11c crack variant poses no problems, just a few moves at about 5.9 (reportMantel2Pitch12.jpg). The pitch itself is unchanged (reportPitch12.jpg). The same is true for the regular pitch 13 (reportPitch13_start_detail.jpg shows the belay station and reportAbovePitch12_overview.jpg the whole Pitch 13).
However, this last image shows that there is no convential way to do the transition from the end of the 11c variant to this belay station which is about 6 m to the right and 3 m up. Either you have to throw a rope sling around the block below the belay (reportPitch13_start.jpg). However, to do this, you probably need advanced cowboy skills. If at all, the sling will catch the loose block at the lower end of this image which also indicates the boundary of the rock-fall zone (a jagged line rising from the bottom to the right edge of this image).
Another option would be to further work up above the end of the 11c variant to get to a bolt 6 m above, or to a rusty piton in the corner at the same height, allowing a pendulum traverse to the block at the base of Pitch 13 (reportAbovePitch12_detail.jpg). However, the dihedral to the bolt/piton is completely blank (reportNoCrackAbovePitch12.jpg), so one has to throw a rope to the piton (the rope will not catch the bolt), or bring very small artif gear, or a 6m-clipstick. Finally, the images reportBelowPitch13.jpg and reportMissingChimneys.jpg give impressions of the broken zone/missing chimneys below Pitch 13.
In my opinion, the best option would be to place three or four further bolts diagonally up allowing a regular pendulum traverse to the base of Pitch 13. Since such a traverse would be similar to the two traverses at the Pitches 11 and 12, it would not change the character of the route but would allow restoring one of the best climbs in the world.
[photo[photo[photo[photo[photo[photo[photo[photoid=429775]id=429774]id=429773]id=429772]id=429769]id=429766]id=429765]id=429763]
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jose gutierrez
Trad climber
sacramento,ca
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Hi Physicus,
Did you bring any cam hooks or beaks to try and aid the mungy seam past the TT bolt after the 11c section? A friend and myself were also shut down trying to get to the second bolt which was ~6m past the TT bolt, we had no aid gear as we were not prepared for anything harder than the original climb demanded. I hate aid climbing and am not very experienced with it, but I was wondering how hard it would have been if we had the right tools.
I also think that if one did get to the second bolt then you shouldn't need to do any lasso shenanigans, as the pendulum/TT would be committing, but possible since you could lower approximately 9m down to traverse/swing 6m to the bellow the belay(reaching the new rockfall zone). My guess is that the guys from Idaho did not lower off the higher bolt far enough to make this possible. Either way the aid required to achieve this will likely shut many parties down, or they will resort to non-clean methods of aid. As it stands now I think the RNWF will have very few ascents each year.
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Physicus
Sport climber
Dresden, Germany
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Oct 13, 2015 - 01:19pm PT
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Hi Cosmiccragsman,
many thanks for fixing the images. What did I do
wrong in submitting them?
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Physicus
Sport climber
Dresden, Germany
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Oct 13, 2015 - 01:56pm PT
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Hello Jose Gutierrez,
I did not bring any specific aid gear since I expected from photos of the rockfall on the internet that the TT would work just as in the past (due to the perspective, the belay for Pitch 13 looked lower than the TT point although it actually is higher).
In the meantime, I have news of a successful ascent by some Tzech guys. On my recommendation, they brought pitons, ball nuts and other small gear and could pass the ~6m section. They left one piton in place. If I understood them correctly, it is now possibly to climb/aid this section by using this piton, a very small cam/ballnut - and the vegetation below the second piton/bolt.
They also said that a pendulum is not possible from the second bolt since the arete is in the way. However, by doing a classical TT traverse, they could just reach the crack below the belay station and insert a cam on which to pull over. Moreover, above this second bolt, the dihedral looks less blank and a higher cam can probably be placed if need arises. Finally, they reported that the rest of the route (Pitches 13+) was perfectly normal.
In summary, it seems that Half Dome RNWF is possible again using free-climbing gear if this includes very small cams or ball nuts - and the piton does not get ripped. Nevertheless, the final word (three more bolts?) is probably not yet spoken.
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D-Rail
Trad climber
Calaveras
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Jun 21, 2016 - 02:25pm PT
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So the regular route has been done since the new changes. Are people doing this often? Is a lasso maneuver required still?
Has anyone been up the death slabs lately?
Daryl
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