Particulars
Nevado de Colima, Jalisco, México
About 13,845 feet in elevation – I have seen other figures that range up to as high as 14,600 but I don’t think it is so high.
Difficulty: This is a walk up on good trails, well marked and straight forward. The elevation is a factor so don’t take it too lightly but someone in reasonably fair physical condition can do this.
Appeal: This is the nearest mountain to Guadalajara. For me the logistics of getting there and away provided the biggest part of the adventure but this is still a nice hike on a cool volcanic mountain. It has birds-eye views of Vulcan de Colima which is a recently active volcano.
Spam
Friday
This is my third trip to Guadalajara and I'm a bit jaded by it now, especially since I've seen nothing but the airport, the hotel, and work. I certainly haven't seen anything worth taking a picture of. However, tomorrow I am going to go climb a mountain. It isn't technical or anything but it is a little over 4200m (probably about 13,845 ft -- higher than Hood, Adams, or Borah but less than Whitney or Rainier). I have brought my hiking boots and a minimal pack with the kind of things I usually take hiking. The only thing I need is to fill my Camelback with water. It takes no less than seven requests of the hotel staff to get four liters of bottled water. They just can't understand why I want that much of it. I'm sure they now think I am as loony as Howard Hughes but I have my water.
Saturday
Using my entire Spanish vocabulary I manage to take a taxi to the Guadalajara bus station, get a ticket, get on the right bus to Ciudad Guzman, and get a taxi to take me about 25 kilometers to the National Park of Nevado de Colima. The road up here is rough and steep and rocky and I am quite amazed that the taxi could do it. Frankly, I didn't really think I could get this far! The taxi driver asks for 500 pesos for the trip. I think this is way too much but I give it to him without question because I want him to come back to get me later in the day. We have to negotiate this. He doesn't want to come later than 3:00pm but it is already 11:00am and now that I am here, I want enough time to get to the summit. He finally agrees to 4:30pm.
Next I have to pay 10 pesos (about $1) and listen to a park ranger tell me not to attempt to go to Nevado del Fuego or any other peak besides Nevado de Colima. I don't understand much of what he says but I say "si" a lot and he thinks I understand. The hike is great. I don't take any breaks and I hike as fast as I am able because I really want to get back in time for the taxi. I see 2 white tail deer. I am accosted by another ranger about a half mile from the summit who gives me the same warnings as the first one. It got really cold up there and I even have to put on a jacket. There is a little snow hiding here and there. There are lots of great views and I get some nice pictures at the top. Yeah! I made it! I head down and make it to the ranger station by 4:15pm. Plenty early enough for the taxi.
I enjoy a break for a few minutes and continue hiking down the road thinking I will meet the taxi on the way up. By 4:35pm I am convinced of the truth: the taxi is not coming. I am not to happy about the thought of hiking the 25 km (15 and 1/2 miles) back to town. But I am saved! I hear a truck rumbling down the road and it stops. The front seat is full but the driver nods and points to the back in response to my request for a ride to town. The back of the truck is full of garbage! But it is mostly cardboard boxes and black plastic bags and it doesn't smell so I count my blessings and hop in. The truck takes off like the devil is driving it. Tree branches whack the sides. Every bump tosses me into the air and I am afraid I will be thrown out. I lean back on the trash which fortunately makes a good cushion and brace my feet up on the rails in an attempt to stay on board! At every turn I hear and feel the wheels skidding in the gravel and I pray that all the garbage will save me. Dust billows in so much that I have to keep my eyes closed most of the time -- just as well because it is too scarry to look out. My left arm is wrenched and to add insult to injury, it starts to rain.
Glory be! We arrive back on a paved road at the base of the mountain! But we don't stop! In fact, without hesitation we zoom past Ciudad Guzman and I am sure I am about to get to see the local dump. Sure enough, that is where we go. I help throw the garbage out of the truck. I don't let on but I am a bit worried about the whole situation. I am again about 10 miles from town and seemingly at the mercy of a garbage truck driver. However, when the truck is clean, the driver asks me where I want to go. I tell him about Hotel Tlayolan (gly-o-lon). He confers with the other guys on the scene then says, "ok" and we head off again. The truck drops me right at the hotel. This is supposed to be the nicest hotel in Ciudad Guzman so I am sure they don't have too many guests show up in garbage trucks but my American Express card was accepted quickly enough. Like they say here, "llavays al mundo" (the keys to the world).
Now, I am sure Dave J. will say, "I told you, you should rent a car." However, I am still safe and sound and I don't have to contemplate the complexities of driving in Mexico. Damn, I am ready to come home. Oh, and just in case riding in a garbage truck could have negative health consequences, I **am** taking my Cipro!
All my best,
Greg
Logistics:
Guadalajara is served by several major airlines from the United States. It is about a four hour flight from Los Angeles, California. Ciudad de Guzman is about 60km south of Guadalajara (Mexico’s second largest city). Judging by my experience, you may want to rent a car in Guadalajara but taking public transportation definitely adds to the adventure of the experience.
From Ciudad de Guzman, here is a map sketch to find the park and the start of the hike:
{insert sketch here}
Take Highway 54 south. Take the Ciudad Guzman exit. Turn left and cross the overpass back over the highway. After about 500m turn right at the first big intersection. Look for a sign to the “instituto tecnologico”. At the traffic light 500m later exit to the right, and follow the road going under the bridge. On the right you will see the Instituto tecnologico. Continue straight ahead and pass by a jail and a gas station. Veer right and about 400m later you will see a white building on the left side, and a sign, “Parque Nacional Nevado de Colima”. Turn left, into the dirt road, continue 16 km till the ranger station. There park the car and start walking. The park ranger at the gate gave me a little brochure with a map but I found the trail easy to navigate to the summit intuitively.
If you need a hotel in town, I recommend the Hotel Tlayolan, Javier Mina No. 35, Cd. Guzman, Jalisco, telephone 011.52.412.33.17.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Why Spam?
I have inflicted many of my stories on my friends and relatives via e-mail. Mass, unsolicited e-mail is referred to as spam. I don’t know why. I’m sure that it has no reference to the meat product that the Marine Corps used to feed me occasionally. Mostly, my kind and indulgent friends ignore my spam but occasionally, they respond with a comment along the lines of, “You should write a book.” Well, I reasoned, if Bill Bryson can write a whole slew of books along the lines of A Walk in the Woods, then surely someone will appreciate my prattling on about my experiences. After all, the only passage I recall from A Walk in the Woods that I thought was actually funny was the description of his friend casting aside canned hams from his backpack a mile or so into the Adirondack trail. I should note that I don’t know Bill Bryson. I have never even met him. I’m pretty sure that he will want to keep it that way.
Other than that, I have noted that I have a whole bookshelf filled with guidebooks: travel guides, climbing guides, hiking guides, paddling guides, and etc. There is a recipe to them all. Each pertains to a specific sport and vicinity: for instance, hiking and Idaho, or climbing and Smith Rock, or kissing and the Northwest. Frankly, I am bored with this recipe and I want to do something different. I don’t know why. Maybe it is because Mark Twain’s travelogues are boring. He did something different and wrote Huckleberry Finn and found success. Great, now someone will accuse me of maligning Mark Twain.
Mostly I hope that some description, or idea, or story that I have put down on these pages will inspire some wonderful adventures for others. Also, I hope that none of the people I have mentioned (Would it help if I just claimed that I made up all the names?) will take offence at my recounting of our experiences. I will go only so far as to allow that they may have a different recollection than I do. I hope they are having good times wherever they are. This especially pertains to my ex-wife who was party to several of the adventures I’ve shared here. I admit that I am not always so kind to her memory; however, what man ever places his ex-wife on a pedestal? I also hope that my ex-wife’s successor will not take offence at my telling of my adventures with my ex-wife. If I have learned nothing else, I have learned that wives can be sensitive. Ok, that is as deep as I wish to dig this hole I am standing in right now.
Cheers,Greg
Other than that, I have noted that I have a whole bookshelf filled with guidebooks: travel guides, climbing guides, hiking guides, paddling guides, and etc. There is a recipe to them all. Each pertains to a specific sport and vicinity: for instance, hiking and Idaho, or climbing and Smith Rock, or kissing and the Northwest. Frankly, I am bored with this recipe and I want to do something different. I don’t know why. Maybe it is because Mark Twain’s travelogues are boring. He did something different and wrote Huckleberry Finn and found success. Great, now someone will accuse me of maligning Mark Twain.
Mostly I hope that some description, or idea, or story that I have put down on these pages will inspire some wonderful adventures for others. Also, I hope that none of the people I have mentioned (Would it help if I just claimed that I made up all the names?) will take offence at my recounting of our experiences. I will go only so far as to allow that they may have a different recollection than I do. I hope they are having good times wherever they are. This especially pertains to my ex-wife who was party to several of the adventures I’ve shared here. I admit that I am not always so kind to her memory; however, what man ever places his ex-wife on a pedestal? I also hope that my ex-wife’s successor will not take offence at my telling of my adventures with my ex-wife. If I have learned nothing else, I have learned that wives can be sensitive. Ok, that is as deep as I wish to dig this hole I am standing in right now.
Cheers,Greg
Spam from Snake Dike
Particulars
The Snake Dike route, Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California
The elevation of the top of Half Dome is 8,842 feet.
Difficulty: This climb is rated 5.7R. The “R” for “runout” means that there is substantial distance between protection. In other words, you could fall a long way. What is not said here is that most of the runout is on easier ground and the 5.7 sections are short and have a little more protection. Still, I would not advertise that anyone should regard this climb as anything less than a potentially dangerous, intrepid, arduous adventure. This is a sixteen mile round trip with a gain of 4,842 feet for the day.
Appeal: rock climbers like to say they have done this 5.7R quietly, like modest school marms, and then describe the dangerous 80 foot runouts and the terrifying view from the Springboard as their audiences gape in awe. Rock climbers that have done this climb many times are just sick. Please be understanding of that sort, there is no cure for their addiction. Once I even did this climb two days in a row.
Spam
Cindy was looking for a boyfriend. I wasn’t it but she did think of me as a friend. She would hang out a Camp Four and talk to climbers and take them for test drives. Chris was one of the climbers who she talked with but wasn’t inclined to test out. Chris wanted to climb Snake Dike and was looking for a partner to do it with. So was I. Cindy hooked us up. Chris knew how this was done: get up early but not too early. Carry only four quick draws and two or three small cams, water, and lunch. A small lunch. Hike fast.
Early the next day we did that, starting at Happy Isles and hiking up past Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls on the Merced River before splitting off on a climber’s trail that led us to the start or Snake Dike. This climber’s trail is a little hard to follow at times and there are numerous cairns that can lead you on a circuitous hike. Never-the-less, a lot of climbers seem to navigate this path without too much difficulty. When we arrived at the start of the climb a lot of climbers had preceded us even on that early morning. There were six climbers in line before us waiting to rope up and every belay station above was occupied with at least two people. Chris took one look and said, “tools”, and turned away in disgust. Being the neophyte that I was, I wasn’t ready to start criticizing every other climber that I saw but I do recall it being quite a circus.
Eventually, we did get our turn and Chris led off. We alternated pitches after that so Chris got to do all the 5.7 sections. The first pitch starts off with a steepening ramp and then a little traverse over some “glacier polish” below a step. It is possible to set a piece of protection high and to the right of the step but I don’t recommend it. It really won’t help the leader if he or she falls and it imperils the second. Once around the step, it is short jog right to an anchor. The second pitch protects fairly well and is 5.6 at most. There is a little route finding difficulty as the leader approaches the anchor which is up on a dike after a short traverse. I know of one climber who missed the anchor and continued traversing onto more difficult terrain. They took a long skidding fall. This granite is about like a cheese grater if you slide on it. I have heard it suggested that one should run down the slope rather than allowing yourself to slide down it. This makes sense but is not instinctive. On the third pitch, there is a deceptive bolt off to the left after an initial traverse. Don’t clip it. Again, it positions the second for a big swing. After the first three pitches, the dike starts. It is knobby and easy to climb and there is a mid-pitch bolt every eighty feet and a two bolt anchor at the end of every rope length. We climbed without hesitation until we ran out of bolts and the grade eased to about 5.2. At this point we loss patience with the rope and untied and hiked solo up over the long shoulder to the summit.
On top Chris showed me the Diving Board. This feature protrudes a little over the vast vertical face of Half Dome. It slopes outward just a little and its surface is a little sandy. I crept out, unroped, and lied down on it then looked down at a team of climbers coming up the Regular Route. My mind said that I was slipping slightly outward. I struggled with this feeling and waved to the team below. I think I tried to say, “Hello,” but I’m not sure I was actually able to get the words out of my mouth. The team below returned my greeting. Feeling that I had accomplished what was necessary to show I wasn’t afraid, I retreated, trying not to do so too quickly. It was the most terrifying experience of my life.
Logistics
Fly, drive or hitch a ride. Merced, CA is the closest city of any size and if you are coming from far away you will probably fly into San Jose near San Francisco. There are busses from Merced and the big city. For train buffs, Amtrak will get you to Merced also. Once at the park, there is a shuttle bus service. You might stay in your own tent in Camp 4 or the Pines Campground, a tent cabin at Currie Village, or at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel – it all depends on your taste and your budget. In fact, there are so many transportation and lodging options that I couldn’t possibly describe them all. Try the Yosemite National Park web site. It is fairly comprehensive.
You need a wilderness permit to camp in the back country of Yosemite. It is permitted to camp on the shoulder of Half Dome so if you want to be first on the route, this is the way to do it. The price you will pay will be that you will need to carry your gear over the route. I wouldn’t recommend stashing it somewhere. I watched a bear mauling a backpack one day. Of course, this won’t happen to you, bad things only happen to other people. It is not permitted to camp on top of Half Dome and there are a few other camping area restrictions in the Yosemite back country. Again, the NPS has a good web site with lots of good info and advice.
Hiking Yosemite National Park by Suzanne Swedo and Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs by Don Reid are good references. Snake Dike is also featured in Yosemite Valley Free Climbs by McNamara, Barnes, Roper, and Snyder from Supertopo. Supertopo does a really nice job with route descriptions and includes critical details that other authors leave out. The other authors might feel that supplying all those details would detract from your experience of adventure. If you buy this argument, you might as well not pick up any guide book at all and just figure it all out on your own after you get to your destination. For that matter, why decide on a destination in advance, anyway?
The Snake Dike route, Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California
The elevation of the top of Half Dome is 8,842 feet.
Difficulty: This climb is rated 5.7R. The “R” for “runout” means that there is substantial distance between protection. In other words, you could fall a long way. What is not said here is that most of the runout is on easier ground and the 5.7 sections are short and have a little more protection. Still, I would not advertise that anyone should regard this climb as anything less than a potentially dangerous, intrepid, arduous adventure. This is a sixteen mile round trip with a gain of 4,842 feet for the day.
Appeal: rock climbers like to say they have done this 5.7R quietly, like modest school marms, and then describe the dangerous 80 foot runouts and the terrifying view from the Springboard as their audiences gape in awe. Rock climbers that have done this climb many times are just sick. Please be understanding of that sort, there is no cure for their addiction. Once I even did this climb two days in a row.
Spam
Cindy was looking for a boyfriend. I wasn’t it but she did think of me as a friend. She would hang out a Camp Four and talk to climbers and take them for test drives. Chris was one of the climbers who she talked with but wasn’t inclined to test out. Chris wanted to climb Snake Dike and was looking for a partner to do it with. So was I. Cindy hooked us up. Chris knew how this was done: get up early but not too early. Carry only four quick draws and two or three small cams, water, and lunch. A small lunch. Hike fast.
Early the next day we did that, starting at Happy Isles and hiking up past Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls on the Merced River before splitting off on a climber’s trail that led us to the start or Snake Dike. This climber’s trail is a little hard to follow at times and there are numerous cairns that can lead you on a circuitous hike. Never-the-less, a lot of climbers seem to navigate this path without too much difficulty. When we arrived at the start of the climb a lot of climbers had preceded us even on that early morning. There were six climbers in line before us waiting to rope up and every belay station above was occupied with at least two people. Chris took one look and said, “tools”, and turned away in disgust. Being the neophyte that I was, I wasn’t ready to start criticizing every other climber that I saw but I do recall it being quite a circus.
Eventually, we did get our turn and Chris led off. We alternated pitches after that so Chris got to do all the 5.7 sections. The first pitch starts off with a steepening ramp and then a little traverse over some “glacier polish” below a step. It is possible to set a piece of protection high and to the right of the step but I don’t recommend it. It really won’t help the leader if he or she falls and it imperils the second. Once around the step, it is short jog right to an anchor. The second pitch protects fairly well and is 5.6 at most. There is a little route finding difficulty as the leader approaches the anchor which is up on a dike after a short traverse. I know of one climber who missed the anchor and continued traversing onto more difficult terrain. They took a long skidding fall. This granite is about like a cheese grater if you slide on it. I have heard it suggested that one should run down the slope rather than allowing yourself to slide down it. This makes sense but is not instinctive. On the third pitch, there is a deceptive bolt off to the left after an initial traverse. Don’t clip it. Again, it positions the second for a big swing. After the first three pitches, the dike starts. It is knobby and easy to climb and there is a mid-pitch bolt every eighty feet and a two bolt anchor at the end of every rope length. We climbed without hesitation until we ran out of bolts and the grade eased to about 5.2. At this point we loss patience with the rope and untied and hiked solo up over the long shoulder to the summit.
On top Chris showed me the Diving Board. This feature protrudes a little over the vast vertical face of Half Dome. It slopes outward just a little and its surface is a little sandy. I crept out, unroped, and lied down on it then looked down at a team of climbers coming up the Regular Route. My mind said that I was slipping slightly outward. I struggled with this feeling and waved to the team below. I think I tried to say, “Hello,” but I’m not sure I was actually able to get the words out of my mouth. The team below returned my greeting. Feeling that I had accomplished what was necessary to show I wasn’t afraid, I retreated, trying not to do so too quickly. It was the most terrifying experience of my life.
Logistics
Fly, drive or hitch a ride. Merced, CA is the closest city of any size and if you are coming from far away you will probably fly into San Jose near San Francisco. There are busses from Merced and the big city. For train buffs, Amtrak will get you to Merced also. Once at the park, there is a shuttle bus service. You might stay in your own tent in Camp 4 or the Pines Campground, a tent cabin at Currie Village, or at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel – it all depends on your taste and your budget. In fact, there are so many transportation and lodging options that I couldn’t possibly describe them all. Try the Yosemite National Park web site. It is fairly comprehensive.
You need a wilderness permit to camp in the back country of Yosemite. It is permitted to camp on the shoulder of Half Dome so if you want to be first on the route, this is the way to do it. The price you will pay will be that you will need to carry your gear over the route. I wouldn’t recommend stashing it somewhere. I watched a bear mauling a backpack one day. Of course, this won’t happen to you, bad things only happen to other people. It is not permitted to camp on top of Half Dome and there are a few other camping area restrictions in the Yosemite back country. Again, the NPS has a good web site with lots of good info and advice.
Hiking Yosemite National Park by Suzanne Swedo and Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs by Don Reid are good references. Snake Dike is also featured in Yosemite Valley Free Climbs by McNamara, Barnes, Roper, and Snyder from Supertopo. Supertopo does a really nice job with route descriptions and includes critical details that other authors leave out. The other authors might feel that supplying all those details would detract from your experience of adventure. If you buy this argument, you might as well not pick up any guide book at all and just figure it all out on your own after you get to your destination. For that matter, why decide on a destination in advance, anyway?
Spam from Royal Arches
Particulars
The Royal Arches Route, Yosemite Valley, California
Difficulty: This is a serious, long rock climb on a big cliff. It is about 16 pitches long with the most difficult pitch being 5.7 A0 or 5.10b. Most of the route is easier and quite varied. If you do the A0 version, it amounts to a fixed pendulum – not hard as long as the rope is in good shape. Although it is possible to rappel this cliff (10 raps), it is not recommended. However, the walk off is difficult to navigate and strewn with false little trails that lead to drop offs.
Appeal: This place is beautiful! It is a gorgeous route on excellent rock and a great adventure. Definitely a world class experience.
Spam
On my first ever trip to Yosemite I teamed up with Jeanie to climb the classic Royal Arches route. While this climb is not as prominent as Half Dome, the cliff is still pretty daunting when viewed from the valley. We planned to head up in the afternoon and bivy on some fourth class ledges to get a head start on the morning crowd. A 5.6 chimney, a 3rd class scramble, a short 5.4 crack, more scrambling, and a 5.6 crack should have taken us to our bivy site but somewhere we went wrong. The first chimney was boot polished and more difficult than I expected. I hauled our packs up on a second rope before belaying Jenny up. The sun was still hot even at 5:30pm and I felt heat exhaustion coming on after only the first pitch. Thirty minutes rest in the shade of a Manzanita restored my energy and we kept going. The route finding seemed obvious, telltale chalk, pin scars, and poot polished rock marked the way. We didn’t question it much when the 5.6 crack that was to lead to our bivy site looked more like an open book that wasn’t marked on the topo in the guide book. But one pitch of this dihedral led only to a second and not the 4th class ledges and bivy we were looking for. “Maybe if we do another pitch we’ll find something,” we reasoned. Jenny was in the lead now and she set the belay at another tree and hauled up the packs. “She’s a tough little girl”, I thought to myself. When I reached her I surveyed our surroundings and saw a nearby opening in the rock to our left. I peered in and could see a level place about two feet wide and maybe five feet long and only darkness after that. “I want to go on up a bit,” Jenny said. Above us the dihedral continued up to yet another Manzanita. Dusk was gathering.
“You should take a head lamp,” I suggested. “No, it will only take a couple minutes to do this,” she replied. “Your belay is on,” I acquiesced. She climbed up but soon her pace slowed and she began placing more pro as the climbing was becoming more difficult. The dimming light faded to dark. “Greg, I can’t see to place anything. Can you bring up my head lamp?” “Sure,” I said and found my head lamp in my pack and turned the lamp on but nothing happened. The battery was dead. I turned my attention to Jenny’s pack and rooted around until I found hers. The battery was missing. Carefully I pulled each item from her pack and placed it on a six inch wide ledge beside me. Finally, I found the battery and got the lamp working. I replaced everything in her pack. I followed the pitch and when I reached her, we discussed what to do. The climb was at the limit of our abilities and the darkness just made it plane dangerous even with the head lamp. We decided to lower to the cave I had seen earlier.
Jenny wriggled into the cave first and exclaimed excitedly that it was huge. It wasn’t huge but it did continue for about ten feet beyond what I could see earlier and widened just enough to lay down on. So we did with me farthest into the cave and her near the entrance. We made our selves comfortable in our bivy gear and went to sleep, but not for long. I think I hadn’t slept for ten minutes when she screamed. Her scream and the shock of being awakened practically paralyzed me with fear. “What is it?” I shouted, my voice matching the volume and urgency of hers. “A cat. A big cat,” she gulped out. It was a few moments before I managed to convince myself that a mountain lion could not up so far up a cliff. Though the animal remained a mystery to us that night, we later deduced that it must have been a ring tailed cat. These cute little creatures are more closely related to raccoons but they do look kind of cat like and have a bushy ringed tail. They are also quite curious animals. I know this because they kept returning to the cave entrance to sniff around and play with some of our climbing gear outside. Jenny and I didn’t get much sleep as a result.
The next morning I finished climbing the pitch above in order to retrieve our gear then we bailed. Simply put, we were just too tired at that point to take on a big route. Below, at a bus stop near the Ahwahnee Hotel an older couple began a conversation with us. They were going hiking they explained and noticed that we looked like we had been out hiking also. “Yes,” we admitted. “Where did you go?” they asked. “Up there,” we pointed at the Royal Arches. “Oh my. That looks very steep,” they commented. We thought so too.
Logistics
Check out the logistics section in Spam from Snake Dike.
The start of the Royal Arches route is just east of the Ahwahnee Hotel. The trail is pretty worn by this time and shouldn’t be too hard to find. Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs by Don Reid features this route as well as Fifty Classic Climbs in North America, by Allen Steck and Steve Roper and Yosemite Valley Free Climbs by McNamara, Barnes, Roper, and Snyder from Supertopo.
The Royal Arches Route, Yosemite Valley, California
Difficulty: This is a serious, long rock climb on a big cliff. It is about 16 pitches long with the most difficult pitch being 5.7 A0 or 5.10b. Most of the route is easier and quite varied. If you do the A0 version, it amounts to a fixed pendulum – not hard as long as the rope is in good shape. Although it is possible to rappel this cliff (10 raps), it is not recommended. However, the walk off is difficult to navigate and strewn with false little trails that lead to drop offs.
Appeal: This place is beautiful! It is a gorgeous route on excellent rock and a great adventure. Definitely a world class experience.
Spam
On my first ever trip to Yosemite I teamed up with Jeanie to climb the classic Royal Arches route. While this climb is not as prominent as Half Dome, the cliff is still pretty daunting when viewed from the valley. We planned to head up in the afternoon and bivy on some fourth class ledges to get a head start on the morning crowd. A 5.6 chimney, a 3rd class scramble, a short 5.4 crack, more scrambling, and a 5.6 crack should have taken us to our bivy site but somewhere we went wrong. The first chimney was boot polished and more difficult than I expected. I hauled our packs up on a second rope before belaying Jenny up. The sun was still hot even at 5:30pm and I felt heat exhaustion coming on after only the first pitch. Thirty minutes rest in the shade of a Manzanita restored my energy and we kept going. The route finding seemed obvious, telltale chalk, pin scars, and poot polished rock marked the way. We didn’t question it much when the 5.6 crack that was to lead to our bivy site looked more like an open book that wasn’t marked on the topo in the guide book. But one pitch of this dihedral led only to a second and not the 4th class ledges and bivy we were looking for. “Maybe if we do another pitch we’ll find something,” we reasoned. Jenny was in the lead now and she set the belay at another tree and hauled up the packs. “She’s a tough little girl”, I thought to myself. When I reached her I surveyed our surroundings and saw a nearby opening in the rock to our left. I peered in and could see a level place about two feet wide and maybe five feet long and only darkness after that. “I want to go on up a bit,” Jenny said. Above us the dihedral continued up to yet another Manzanita. Dusk was gathering.
“You should take a head lamp,” I suggested. “No, it will only take a couple minutes to do this,” she replied. “Your belay is on,” I acquiesced. She climbed up but soon her pace slowed and she began placing more pro as the climbing was becoming more difficult. The dimming light faded to dark. “Greg, I can’t see to place anything. Can you bring up my head lamp?” “Sure,” I said and found my head lamp in my pack and turned the lamp on but nothing happened. The battery was dead. I turned my attention to Jenny’s pack and rooted around until I found hers. The battery was missing. Carefully I pulled each item from her pack and placed it on a six inch wide ledge beside me. Finally, I found the battery and got the lamp working. I replaced everything in her pack. I followed the pitch and when I reached her, we discussed what to do. The climb was at the limit of our abilities and the darkness just made it plane dangerous even with the head lamp. We decided to lower to the cave I had seen earlier.
Jenny wriggled into the cave first and exclaimed excitedly that it was huge. It wasn’t huge but it did continue for about ten feet beyond what I could see earlier and widened just enough to lay down on. So we did with me farthest into the cave and her near the entrance. We made our selves comfortable in our bivy gear and went to sleep, but not for long. I think I hadn’t slept for ten minutes when she screamed. Her scream and the shock of being awakened practically paralyzed me with fear. “What is it?” I shouted, my voice matching the volume and urgency of hers. “A cat. A big cat,” she gulped out. It was a few moments before I managed to convince myself that a mountain lion could not up so far up a cliff. Though the animal remained a mystery to us that night, we later deduced that it must have been a ring tailed cat. These cute little creatures are more closely related to raccoons but they do look kind of cat like and have a bushy ringed tail. They are also quite curious animals. I know this because they kept returning to the cave entrance to sniff around and play with some of our climbing gear outside. Jenny and I didn’t get much sleep as a result.
The next morning I finished climbing the pitch above in order to retrieve our gear then we bailed. Simply put, we were just too tired at that point to take on a big route. Below, at a bus stop near the Ahwahnee Hotel an older couple began a conversation with us. They were going hiking they explained and noticed that we looked like we had been out hiking also. “Yes,” we admitted. “Where did you go?” they asked. “Up there,” we pointed at the Royal Arches. “Oh my. That looks very steep,” they commented. We thought so too.
Logistics
Check out the logistics section in Spam from Snake Dike.
The start of the Royal Arches route is just east of the Ahwahnee Hotel. The trail is pretty worn by this time and shouldn’t be too hard to find. Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs by Don Reid features this route as well as Fifty Classic Climbs in North America, by Allen Steck and Steve Roper and Yosemite Valley Free Climbs by McNamara, Barnes, Roper, and Snyder from Supertopo.
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