Rastaman Vibrations.

Rastaman Vibrations has been considered to be the pinnacle of true ground up ethics at Calaveras Domes. A Jay Smith classic showcasing his abilities as a true master of stone. A route not to be taken lightly. 

P1. Start up a series of blocks to a ramp which quickly goes vertical. Once on the face, it’s almost impossible to not want to reach over to the bolts on the nearby squeeze job as the lone piton protecting the difficult moves is long gone.

P2. Climbs a crack which opens just enough to wiggle in some gear. A test of endurance, as well as gear manipulation. You’ll be in full contemplation mode while figuring out this high stepping, gear fiddling groove of grandeur. 

P3. Traverse under the big roof to the left. A wide mix of 3” to the smallest gear you have protects this weird traverse of undulating perplexity. The difficulties begin after passing a curiously placed (and almost useless) ring bolt hanger. Look up for hidden holds as you continue your traverse, and clip a much appreciated bolt, which replaces a piton long gone from the scene. The difficulties end abruptly on some jugs just below the short wide section which leads to the bolted anchor. 

P4. Climb the face above traversing right (.10d) to a dike and tiptoeing your way up, finally ending on ledges below a left facing corner. Take advantage of any gear you can find. A short and tame pitch compared to what’s to come. 

P5. Traverse left into the right facing corner and scratch your way up this surprisingly difficult 10+ corner until you are forced to traverse left across a slab to a bolt. Now tiptoe across the face (.11c) to another left facing corner and climb .10bR/X for 20ft up good slopers with zero protection in the corner to the bolted anchor. 

P6. Tiptoe right across the face and be perplexed at figuring this roof puzzle out. Climb easy terrain up to the right edge of the roof. Now traverse left under the roof making some big moves with good gear until you can gain a good hold/rest on one of the big knobs. Continue left under the roof (.11b) further than you initially thought until you can reach up to a big, positive chicken head. Mantle over the roof onto the chicken head, and follow the bolts across the face, climbing thin .11c slab past the first bolt. Now climb .12b static slab,  or try to (frog jump) to the next chicken head, and mantle on top of it.  Now traverse slightly down and left into a right facing corner, where you’ll climb .10bR for about 20ft to a bolt. Back clean your lowest gear from here, and continue up a .10bR ramp for 15ft to the anchors. There is zero pro in this corner besides the bolt. 

7. Start up a rotten flake system (.10aR) which only gets worse as you go up. Flexing flake hopping and questionable gear slopping brings you to a head wall. Now tiptoe up the face heading right toward a bolt which will land you on a fussy dike, which traverses back left to a good stance and a bolt. Head out right along he face to another bolt and make a couple moves to another good stance.  Now cash in those karma points as you make a good 20ft run up a vertical dike with some mid .10R climbing to the next bolt. Next up is an even bigger runnout, which will have you contemplating life’s choices as you negotiate the .10R/X climbing to the anchors. But don’t stop here. Continue up and right to Warlord Ledge, a mere 15ft away, which is a better spot to belay. 

8. From Warlord Ledge, climb up a shallow groove to the left and then up an exposed series of flakes and edges (5.9) trending toward the big corner to the left. This pitch originally had only one bolt and now boasts 8, when a newer route paved its way over top the last few pitches to High Street Ledge. The bolts are sufficient to protect the pitch well, but there is plenty of hidden gear along the way should you choose to supplement it and make the pitch totally tame. 

9. Two retro bolts protect a few moves (5.9) heading up and left on a traverse which gets you to an easy right facing corner with ample gear to a decent ledge and a two bolted anchor. 

10. Continue up the corner and onto the slab above following 4 bolts trending left. The first and third bolts are original, while the second and fourth are retro. Gain a thin dike and tiptoe your way along up to High Street Ledge. Two bolt anchor. 

11. Climb the corner above to another big ledge and follows the thin corner system above. Small nuts and big balls protect this (.10+) test in your yoga abilities. Now enter the main corner above and go to work on this calf destroying lieback (5.11a) above. The holds are often under a carpet of moss which is easily pulled out in clumps. However, this pitch has seen an increase in traffic, so it may actually be fairly clean now. Run the rope to its end and build a belay where you can. 

12. Easier corner climbing up a crispy face with good gear. Needs some traffic. Finish on a hole in the wall (Angels Landing) with a two bolt anchor.  A bolted face variation (2 bolts) exits the corner and climbs the slab to the left to Angels Landing, which avoids the dirty corner climbing for the last 30ft. 

13. Finish up a low angle corner to the top of the dome. 

Cams, doubles to 3” single #4 for pitch 3 if you’re skeert. Nuts, micro and offsets useful.

All bolts inspected and/or replaced by ASCA on 7/12/23.