Sep 16: Today Gosia, Snort, Robert and I climbed to the top of Half Dome via a route called Snake Dike. In fact it should be called Snake Hike, more on that later. Robert has been to Yosemite many times. He has been wanting to do this route for a long time. It almost didn't happen. We hiked up in 3 hours in warm, sunny weather. We rope up at the base of Half Dome. There's a German party in front of us. Robert and Charles go first, Gosia and I are 2nd. As we start climbing the weather changes in literally minutes. At the end of the first pitch the wind is just howling, dark blue thunder clouds everywhere. It is starting to rain. Halfdome is notorious for lightning strikes. And climbing wet granite slabs is not my idea of fun at the best of times. So we quickly descend. We decide to wait a while, we do have enough time left to still do the route. It does indeed clear, and an hour later we are off again. We run up 8 pitches of a huge dike. Think "Sands of Time" on Paarl Rock except pink and about one meter wide. The walk down is horrendous. We get back at about 7 pm. A good day: 1,500 m altitude gain, climbed 9 pitches, walked 24 km. I think I will sleep well tonight.
1 comment:
sounds like you're having fun...shot on the ascent of Separate Realty - I would love to climb it sometime.
What is the SA grade of snake dike?
Brent
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