Stately Pleasure Dome
Climb Review
This dome is all granite like most domes/mountains at Yosemite.
The parking is directly under the dome, though it does take 15-20 minutes to walk to where the route starts. We initially walked to the east, but realized the routes must be on the west face and walked back.
There was a huge sandy ledge right below the routes we were interested where we were able to relax, gear up, and chill out while we were not on the route.
There was no trash to be seen, which was fantastic.
There are no restrooms; the closest is probably at Tuolumne Meadow.
Aoxomoxoa (5.5; Stately Pleasure Dome)—This multipitch route is frankly one of the easiest trad routes I’ve ever done, and I’m not sure about the 5.5 rating—IMHO, it’s a 5.2 or a 5.3. The first pitch meanders across the rock as it climbs maybe 45m to the first pitch and it’s a sustained difficulty throughout. There are no “holds” per say, but the rock is low enough angle and grippy where there are “holds” everywhere (at least that’s what I told myself). The second pitch is only protected by a single bolt, but again, is easy enough terrain (I felt so confident that I ran up the 2nd half with no hands). There are optional bolts on the second pitch if additional protection is desired as one could go left on to Jabberwalky if it’s not being used. The anchor bolts felt solid and we rappelled on both with a 70m. The rappel from the first anchor didn’t get us on to flat ground, so we swung over to Jonah and down climbed the last 15 ft or so. I did follow on both pitches as my leader (the ever awesome Darlene) wanted more experience; maybe this would have seemed more difficult if I was leading?
What I Learned
This was the first time I’ve ever climbed anything roped up where I felt so confident that I knew I was being cocky and I didn’t tone it down. If this is the feeling I’ll get in a few years on routes that I currently judge difficult (because I improve over time), I can’t wait, as it felt AMAZING.
This was my first time following on a multipitch climb and I loved it. It felt as secure as top rope and the views were jaw-dropping. I probably also felt so secure because I trusted Darlene—O Captain! My Captain! More seriously though, I had a lot of trust in Darlene because she rehearsed each individual step she would do while she was racking up. Because of that, I had a lot of confidence in her competence.
Friends
I came up here with Darlene, Louie, Karen, and Pete. This is my first time outdoor climbing with Karen and Pete... although Karen couldn’t climb due to an ankle injury. Pete turned out to be a chill hang and I was glad that he came as we needed a another climber with Karen injured for us to all climb at the same time. He partnered up with Louie and they climbed Turkey Trot (a heinous looking slab climb) together. Karen, even with the injury was super fun to be around as she took pictures, climbed up an easy 5.3 part way, made great conversations, and I thought was a person that I would like to climb outdoors more with. Louie was their usual bad-ass self leading Turkey Trot and free soloing Jonah. Turkey Trot looked way scary though at this point, with Louie crushing everything with ease, can I really say I was surprised? Lastly, this was Darlene’s first multipitch route and her first lead outdoors without bolts being pre-clipped (at Bishop, she had her first outdoor lead, but the first four bolts were pre-clipped). She did amazing leading both routes and was even managing rope much better than I had done my first time. The view was gorgeous at the top of the second pitch, so I was glad that she was able to enjoy it. Hopefully, she liked it enough where she’ll be hooked on multipitches and I’ll have another partner I can call on for adventures!
What Happened?
After a special weekend at Bishop, I wanted to climb a multipitch route on the way back, so I proposed stopping on the way through Yosemite to my super-cool-friends-carpooling-with-me. They have a lot of trust in me (and a lack of options for transportation), so they readily agreed to my plan for stopping by Stately Pleasure Dome.
Pete met us there, which was both a surprise and not. I wasn’t surprised he was there since he told me in person the day before that he’d be here. I was surprised that he showed up at least 20 minutes early, which is a quality I love in people.
At the dome, we had trouble spotting the routes, so we walked around a bit, but with enough information from Mountain Project, we eventually found the start of the route and started getting ready. Darlene took all the time she needed to make sure that we wouldn’t have an incident on the route, which I appreciated. During that time, Louie and Pete climbed up Turkey Trot—Louie led the route and Pete made it all the way up with a few slips. Louie then started free soloing Jonah, which was bad ass, as then they could hangout with Darlene as she climbed up Aoxomoxoa.
When Darlene was ready to go, she and I tied into our rope and she started climbing. The bolts were difficult to see and there was a section where Darlene spotted the first bolt which happened to be about 8 or 10 ft directly left of her position (about 10-15 ft above the starting point). I think the slab traverse freaked her out a little bit, but she kept her composure, climbed steadily, and was able to clip into it. From there, she did great in clipping all the bolts and just steadily making her way up to the first anchor. We then used the limited communication strategy we had practiced to clearly communicate only the necessary commands over the radio (which wasn’t super needed, but I had it, so we used it as practice). I then started climbing and found myself feeling confident and moving very, very fast. When I realized that it was Darlene’s first time leading and possibly belaying from top, I halted and asked how she was handling the slack. In only a few seconds, she quickly pulled all the slack and said she was good to go. With her giving me the green light, I restarted my fast pace and only stopped to catch my breath. I felt like if I had better cardio, I could have run up to the first pitch, which was an amazing feeling. When I got there, I clipped in with my PAS and stacked rope on to it (usually the top belayer stacks the rope and hands it over, but I was going so fast that it was impossible to stack). Darlene then started up the second pitch (at the time, I didn’t even realize that she had taken all the quick draws that I had picked up while following) and did a great job again. I then repeated my fast climb on pitch two, except I went even faster as I felt even more confident. When I arrived, at the anchor, we went over minor improvement points for setting anchors and enjoyed the scenery. Lake Tenaya was looking quite good from our vantage point, and I think for me, it’ll be a core memory forever. We then rappelled down to the bottom using our ATCs.
At this point, it was like 1pm or something and we wanted to get back to the bay area before 7pm, so we decided to suspend any further climbing and just head back. We cleaned up, said some well wishes and goodbyes to fellow climbers that were climbing next to us and started walking the same route back. The hike back to the car took a bit of concentration as the terrain was a bit steep, but no one was hurt, so it was a win. I guess the only thing I would mention about that part was that Louie and I found some moss that were growing from the snow melt and they were just so soft.