Quarter Dome routes - Tenaya Canyon

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Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 16, 2008 - 01:43am PT
Anyone have beta on the Quarter Dome routes in Tenaya Canyon?

North Face FA 1962 Yvon Chouinard & Tom Frost FFA 1980 (Pegasus) Max Jones & Mark Hudon
Route of All Evil FA 1971 Matt Donohue & Cliff Jennings

West Quarter Dome
North Face FA 1969 Phil Koch & Dave Goeddel
WBraun

climber
Jan 16, 2008 - 01:55am PT
Mimi

climber
Jan 16, 2008 - 01:58am PT
There's been substantial rockfall there that's dramatically altered the climbing. Werner would know the details.
WBraun

climber
Jan 16, 2008 - 02:05am PT
Mimi that happened many years ago. I can't off hand remember the story behind the rockfall and what it did to the route.

My photo above is from last summer. It was taken from the helicopter on the way to half dome.

P.S. Clint probably knows .....
Mimi

climber
Jan 16, 2008 - 02:08am PT
I know, but didn't the Route of All Evil fall off or part of it fall off?
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Jan 16, 2008 - 03:49am PT
Ed,

In June 2006, I hiked to the top of Pegasus and rapped down to the base of the 5.12 finger crack, replacing a few bolts and checking out the pitches. Here's my trip report, which includes a link to Bill Wright's report of climbing the route in 1994.

http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/rep/066yqdom.htm

I drew a properly scaled topo (matching the Meyers topo to a photo), but I haven't inked and scanned it yet.

I have heard Pegasus can be approached by hiking to the saddle between West Quarter Dome and Half Dome, and going down a gully with maybe a few rappels. Otherwise you have to cross the river which implies waiting until the fall.

There was a rockfall in July 1997 from the route right of Pegasus (Route of All Evil) which left some loose rock on the first 4 pitches of Pegasus. Above that Pegasus should be fine.
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Jan 16, 2008 - 01:38pm PT
I did the EQD-NF (5.9,A2) many a year ago. Nice route: fun, no loose stuff, easy route finding, a smattering of ledges, no great bivi spot (as I recall) and fantastic views (as is the case of every wall!)

We did not come up from Tenaya Canyon; instead we trekked around the backside of Half Dome and then dropped down the gully. The descent was a bit shaky in spots but far better than dragging the pig up Tenaya and then the slabs.

There was some rockfall on West 1/4 dome and I guess also on ROAE but nothing unusual for exfoliating domes.

Final comment... why am I saying this!!!??? There is a LOT to be done up there. (Kicking myself!)
monolith

Trad climber
Berkeley
Jan 16, 2008 - 01:57pm PT
No great bivy ledges on the North Face route, but there is a cool bivy site at the start. It's up on the platform below the first pitch. Short easy 4th/5th section to get there, which you need to do anyway.

One needs to pay a little more attention to find the 9th pitch. (first pitch after the traverse). There are several choices. All I can advise is don't take the first one (not very helpful,I know).

That side of the canyon is cold in the spring. Watching the sun hit Watkins long before it hit us was torture.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Jan 16, 2008 - 03:18pm PT
There is also a route left of Pegasus, which is not listed in the Meyers guide:

Nashville Skyline (V 5.8 A3) Charlie Porter and Gary Bocarde Jul-72
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 17, 2008 - 01:33am PT
thanks all great info on this area!

I wondered because I was waiting for light on a little hike last weekend and sort of got a great 'cross the Valley view:


for a few hours... the light was fantastic!
lunchbox

Trad climber
santa cruz, ca
Jan 17, 2008 - 12:47pm PT
Here's a few recent images of Quarter Dome taken from Mt. Watkins in May 2007


Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Jan 18, 2008 - 03:23am PT
lunchbox, try it like this:


(right click on the image on google/picasaweb, select Properties, then copy the long URL when ends in .JPG - for this one it is:

http://lh6.google.com/scottylappin/R4-Sj-a7WoI/AAAAAAAAACk/dZJXQUvxMgE/IMG_1953.JPG?imgmax=800

Then put a [ IMG] tag in front and a [ /IMG] tag at the end (without the spaces after the [ ).

The direct link to the gallery is nice for downloading the full resolution images:

http://picasaweb.google.com/scottylappin/QuarterDome/photo#5156501146327276130

Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing.
aldude

climber
Monument Manor
Jan 18, 2008 - 03:41am PT
Nice Pix! I've mentioned this before but Urmi & I put up a cool 5 pitch route right of the North Face of West Quarter Dome. " Quarterpounder " 5.11 bobs and weaves up long flake systems starting 3/4 down the west approach gully. Supercool bivy in the sky on a hanging rib jutting out in Tenaya Canyon just west of NQD. Water is available @ a spring on the trail 1/4 mile up the CloudsRest Trail. No bolts!!
Trusty Rusty

Social climber
Tahoe area
Jan 18, 2008 - 03:49am PT
Glacier Point Doux.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Jan 18, 2008 - 03:59am PT
Here are a couple of crops/reductions of Watkins from Quarter Dome (sorry the light is not very good on the South Face):



and Yasoo Dome and The Chief further right.
[Edit: Yasoo Dome is the dome right of the right brushy gully. There is a 6 pitch route in the obvious left-facing, right-trending corner system. The Chief is aldude's 15 pitch route further right, around the corner on the big face.
Golden Dawn is an 8 pitch route left of the left gully. Escape From Freedom is an 18 pitch route on the big face further left.]

Trusty Rusty

Social climber
Tahoe area
Jan 18, 2008 - 04:07am PT
Ed-
You got any beta on Liberty Bell Mntn?
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Jan 18, 2008 - 11:14am PT
The North Face route on East Quarter Domes was "the most fun that I've ever had on a first ascent" according to Tom Frost. I was over on the Apron when the 97 rockfall sent a towering cloud of rock dust which dwarfed the formations themselves. It was a strange day. I was heading over to the Calf to run a pendulum cleaning clinic and came around the corner to the moonscape from the GPA rockfall. The Calf was missing about a third of its bolts from neglect or rockfall shear. The next day I went looking for Werner's Crack and only found the upper half of the route!
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Jan 18, 2008 - 12:11pm PT
Hey guys, great pix.

Damn I miss Yosemite.
Nate D

climber
San Francisco
Jan 19, 2008 - 05:09pm PT
Clint, master of climbing data,
Know the origin of these dome names - Yasoo and the Chief? Is Yasoo the thin buttress thingy, or the more dome-like formation? Or is that one (just right of center), the Chief?

Beautiful country!
Nate
Jerry Dodrill

climber
Bodega, CA
Jan 19, 2008 - 05:28pm PT
Cool thread. Here's a shot from Watkins, looking over to .5 Dome. I took some pix of .25 domes too and will have to pull them out. This was taken after working all day on Escape from Freedom with T. Addison in '00.
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