More sport climbing in the Stronghold. The rock here is more interesting (IMO) than Isle of You, and the bolt spacing is much closer (both vertically, and horizontally). You can decide for yourself if this is a good thing. With the exception of just a few bolts near protectable cracks, most of the bolting is quite good on a solid and unbroken face. This is a predominantly moderate area with most of the routes in the 5.9 to 5.11 range. South facing and warm, with little shade. Beware, in places the rock is still a bit flaky.
I believe that most of these routes were put up by the prolific Scott Ayers.
Getting There
Just as you enter the Stronghold, you will pass a cattle guard. There is a sign here and a spur road to the right leading up past a couple of campsites (and the trailhead to Entrance Dome) toward Batline Dome and Owl Rock. Take this spur. This road gets pretty rocky toward the top, but I made it up with my Honda Accord, and I've seen other passenger cars up there as well. At the top is a small parking area under Batline Dome, and above a sinkhole/ravine. Obvious across the ravine is Owl Rock (home of Nightstalker, 5.9 **). From the southeast corner of the parking area, you can see Zappa Dome up the drainage (there is a big tree at the base of the wall). The Kerry guide, and the Falcon guide both have directions to Batline in them, but not Zappa Dome.
From the trailhead drop down into the ravine toward Owl Rock. As you get to the bottom of the stream bed, look for a faint opening to the left (continuing straight will take you to Owl Rock). Go up the stream bed under a gray buttress on the left (with a couple of bolts) and then back into the stream bed. Continue until a well-cairned trail climbs out of the drainage, up through the slabs and talus to the base of the wall.
Approach time: ~20 min.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Zappa Dome:
Warm and sunny. Take a 60M or 70M rope. A good concentration of moderate climbs makes this a great place to go with a less-than-hardman partner and have a good time.
I would second Tony's comments on the area. A 60m rope is fine. Although there is shade for the belayer, it can be hot here by later March. The left side of the wall goes into the shade by about 3pm.
At some point, I'll put together a topo for this area. There are several other areas I'll be working on before this one, so in the mean time, here's a list of the routes. They are in order from left to right.
Hope this helps you all enjoy this fun area.
1. Plooking and Thrashing 5.10a (avoiding the direct start) or 5.10c (direct start) 2. Keep It Greasy 5.9+ 3. Friendly Little Finger 5.8+ 4. It Just MIght Be a One-Shot Deal 5.7 5. Conceptual Continuity 5.9 6. Treacherous Cretins 5.9- 7. The Mud Shark 5.7 8. The Grand Wazoo 5.9 9. Burnt Weenie Sandwich 5.10b/c 10. Weasels Ripped My Flesh 5.11b 11. Latent Appliance Fetishist 5.10b 12. Playground Psychotics 5.10a 13. You Are What You Is 5.10a 14. We're Only In It For The Money 5.10a 15. Strictly Commercial 5.7 16. Excentrifugal Forz 5.8+ 17. Token Of My Extreme 5.4 18. One Size Fits All 5.8 to 5.9+ (height dependent crux)
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