The view from the top of Half Dome is breathtaking
Description
The classic profile of Half Dome, recognizable worldwide, sits over the east end of Yosemite Valley like a distant guardian. Glaciers cleaved the dome clear in half, leaving incredible slab climbs on the sunny southern aspect such as Snake Dike (5.7) and Southern Belle (5.12) to amazingly steep lines on the NW face. The namesake route (the "Regular" route) on the NW face is one of many aid climbers' first objectives, but it makes for a great, adventurous free climb as well.
Even the hiking route up to the summit visor, via the cables, is classic, and it is no wonder why this formation was used for the North Face's logo.
Getting There
Half Dome takes a bit of work to get to. There are generally two approaches used by climbers:
1) Hike up from Happy Isles up the Mist Trail through Little Yosemite Valley (approx. 8 miles to the shoulder of Half Dome).
2) Head over from Happy Isles past Mirror Lake and hike up the "Death Slabs".
Option 1 is smooth hiking and clearly the way to go for the south facing routes. Option 2 is significantly faster (for the NW face), in both directions, but requires skilled route finding, very steep hiking, and use of fixed lines.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Half Dome:
Snake Dike 5.7 R Trad, 8 pitches, 2000 feet, Grade III
Snake Dike (along with Royal Arches) is one of the classic long moderate routes of Yosemite. For many climbers, this is number one on the Yosemite tick list when they first come to the Valley. For others it is known as "Snake Hike," but the bottom line is it is a great climb up an amazing natural feature to the top of one of the most spectacular formations in Yosemite - second only to El Cap itself.Get to the SW shoulder of Half Dome by following...[more]Browse More Classics in CA
The death slabs are not that bad. Find a topo, such as Chris Mac's in Supertopo. It is pretty chill as long as you don't get off route. If it looks scary, you probably aren't on the right path.
By John McNamee Administrator From: Littleton, CO Dec 13, 2006
I haven't done the "death slabs" in years but if I remember correctly the key was being familiar with it prior to hiking it with a haul bag. Zip up it with a day bag to get to know the route.
It's a lot of effort with heavy loads so break it down and do it over a couple of days. It's the only approach I have used.
I echo with Karsten just mentioned as well. I just brought the latest version of the Supertopo's Big Walls guidebook and it has a great description of it.
When descending the cables on a crowded day you may find it easier to clip into the cables with a binner attached to a sling then step outside of the cables. Use another sling and binner to clip past the poles so that you are always clipped in.
I have done both approaches and absolutly recommend the "Slabs." There were only 2 slightly tricky parts: 1) Finding the right start...the spot where you leave the trail was very inobvious when I did this a few years ago. Maybe it is better now. 2) There is a spot near the end where the route seems to get blocked by a steep wall on your right. At first we actually climbed this darn thing only to figure out that the correct way to go is around a corner to the right. There is a hidden fixed rope (or two) ver that way and provides quick access to the long slpoe that brings you to the base of the wall. Chris Mac's topo is pretty good, and we figured it all out without checking it out first. I have also gone down this way and it wasn't bad at all. The best part about this approach is that you have STUNNING views of the whole wall that almost seems to hang over your head the whole way. If this is your first wall it will make you think "...um...gee...what am I getting into?" Have fun!
Is anybody familiar with which climb was FFA by Jim Erickson and Art Higbee, in 1976. It was captured on the film Free Climb: The Northwest Face of Half Dome?
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