The Dome, Grand Canyon, 5.9, 700 feet, 9 pitches.

The Dome is a prominent nine pitch climb in the Western Grand Canyon. It is accessed via the remote east Tuckup Trailhead, it was first climbed by George Bain and Glenn Rink in 1981 I was scheduled to do a presentation on this climb at the Grand Canyon Symposium in the spring, but it was cancelled due to Covid. Recently, I received word that the rescheduled presentation in the fall will also be cancelled, so I guess Ill spray about it here.

 

2019 was a productive year in the Grand Canyon for me. I climbed eight technical summits to include: Isis, Zoroaster, O’neill Butte, Vishnu, Mount Hayden, Brady Peak, The Dome and Buddha Temple. However, this climb proved to be the most memorable and fulfilling of all of them. In fact, of the 35 summits I have reached in the Grand Canyon, this one certainly represents the pinnacle moment. Pun most likely intended.

A 5:00 a.m. Friday morning departure from Phoenix got us to the eastern Tuckup Trailhead by about noon. By 12:30 we were beginning the rugged 11 mile  approach along the Tuckup Trail/Route to the base of the Dome and the start of our climb the next day. Heavy packs  ruled the day on this trip, as all three of us were carrying at least 8 liters of water for the three days, along with: two 70m ropes, a double rack, pitons, hammer, bolt kit, 3 days worth of food, general supplies and personal climbing equipment. We arrived to camp after about 5.5 hours.

 There were nine pitches to this climb and it would be too daunting to describe everyone of them in detail, plus nobody is clamoring for beta on this one anyways, so  I will describe the general gist of the climb. The pitches ranged from moderately sandbagged climbing to tough awkward climbing, heady climbing and downright loose and insecure climbing that one could perhaps argue should not be repeated. Pernell and Sean swapped leads for the entire climb. I am barely a moderate leader at best and I did not want to do anything that would jeopardize our send, so I just did my best to keep the ropes managed and us moving.

The climb did not let up for one minute really. After the first four pitches, there was a tedious traverse across the top ridgeline that took careful scrambling, down-climbing and two raps just to reach the headwall and the final pitches of the massive climb. The headwall (pictured below) was a little demoralizing to look at after completing the ridgeline traverse. The climbing only looked harder and more scary, nevertheless, without as much as a dissenting comment, we continued on with our mission, but we certainly earned our money on the last two pitches. The 8th pitch was the dreaded 5.7D pitch, (as described by the first ascent party) with the D standing for dirty and deadly. Sean however, handled the suspect rock and pro admirably and before we knew it, we were staring at our final pitch options, either the dried unprotected wall of mud and rock, or the airy traverse and scramble to the summit.

We chose the dried wall of mud, which was essentially a chossy boulder problem, as it took no pro and there were no great spots for drilling or hammering pitons. Pernell soloed the short, but spicy 5.9 wall of mud and then set up our final top belay. From the top of the last pitch, it was a pleasant stroll up the steep hill to the unique summit. After a brief stay on the summit, we had to encounter our biggest anxiety of the day, “how are we going to get down?”

We had to sling a bush just to do some controlled scrambling down the steep east slope of the summit, where the real scary fun would begin. A narrow traverse was needed to link back up with the end of the 8th pitch. The traverse was airy and completely exposed, so we chose to pitch it out and cross with a belay. From the top of the 8th pitch, it was all about finding ways to safely build rap anchors. We used a combination of nuts and pitons to complete two raps that got us to the predominant saddle dividing the distinct ridgeline of the Dome. From there we utilized a piton and an old bolt to rig a two rope, 200 plus foot rap to reach the ground. It took us 10.5 hours to complete the climb and descend to the base.

It’s hard to grasp the enormity of this one and I could not be more grateful and humbled for the opportunity to join these two veteran Canyon climbers on this one. The Dome is undoubtedly the pinnacle of Grand Canyon climbing and I am almost in a state of disbelief that I was able to take part in this ascent. By our best calculations and information from the Canyon climbing community, we believe we were between the sixth and tenth party to ascend this summit

The approach and return was 22.4 miles RT with 4K of AEG. A dry camp is required to complete this climb, as there is no reliable/safe to drink water in the area. All overnight trips into the Grand Canyon backcountry require a permit. We completed this climb over three days in 2019. October 11-13.

 

A few, "no gud" bolts still lingering.

You do not want to know what is going on in this pic, it may have involved a cam toss, but safe to say the traverse pitch should be done roped up.

Have to be a little off to want to climb these things, such an experience following on this one.

Awesome, Lee! Thanks for sharing!

unless there’s a dollar sale on totems this is going to be the best thing on mountain project for awhile. thanks for writing your trip up and sharing it here. 

Fan Zhang wrote:

Awesome, Lee! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! It was nice to make a contribution beyond snarky comments in the forum. lol

petzl logic wrote:

unless there’s a dollar sale on totems this is going to be the best thing on mountain project for awhile. thanks for writing your trip up and sharing it here. 

Thank you, I was not sure if it was a little too fringe, glad some outside of AZ enjoyed.

Looks awesome. Great write up!

This was fun to read, thanks for sharing.

Looks like a cool adventure.  Excellent!

So sick!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Great write up and bold adventure, thanks!

Excellent! Thank you for sharing that.

Technical question: does MP not allow for larger format photos? Such glorious pics and none of the grandeur comes through in the tiny little images. I know we can click through, but is there a way to display big and proud within the TR text?

Sirius wrote:

Excellent! Thank you for sharing that.

Technical question: does MP not allow for larger format photos? Such glorious pics and none of the grandeur comes through in the tiny little images. I know we can click through, but is there a way to display big and proud within the TR text?

Ya I was a little disappointed in that too. In general the formatting for trip reports seems a little clunky, I should have played around with it more maybe...

Ney Grant wrote:

Great write up and bold adventure, thanks!

Thank you, it really was, hard to describe what goes into some of those summits below the rim...

Thanks Lee,

Because  I usually drink a gallon a day, I will have to write this one off, lol

Ezra Ellis wrote:

Thanks Lee,

Because  I usually drink a gallon a day, I will have to write this one off, lol

Ya water is always on the mind on these ones, seems you can never carry enough sometimes...

Great read! Thanks for sharing, Lee!

Sweet! Thanks for sharing. We need more of this content on MP. Obviously I should contribute too...just gotta take a trip!

Shout out to Petch for regularly sharing his TRs!

Awesome write up!

Mike Lethal wrote:

Awesome write up!

Thanks! This reminds me that I need to get back into shape, lol.

Spent a lot of time in my youth hiking in the canyon and always dreamed of climbing the many cool formations but never got the chance. Thanks for the report and for confirming my thoughts about what the climbing world be like. The photos are fantastic. Thanks for posting.