Bill and June Climb Two Yosemite Classics

East Buttress of Middle Cathedral May 22, 1999		Royal Arches Route May 29, 1999
The East Buttress of Middle Cathedral (Grade IV, Class 5.9 A1 or 5.10c) is a long climb of awesome quality. It was first climbed in 1954 by Warren Harding, Jack Davis, and Bob Swift, and it's first non-aid ascent was completed 7 years later by Yvon Chouinard and Mort Hempel.	Click to Enlarge Picture of the E. Butt. of Middle	Believe it or not, the Royal Arches Route (Class 5.7 A0 or 5.9) was first climbed in 1936 by Ken Adam, Morgan Harris, and W. Kenneth Davis. Today it is still considered to be one of the all-time classic climbs in Yosemite, and we both had a blast going up it that weekend!	Click to Enlarge Picture of Royal Arches
The East Buttress of Middle Cathedral is considered to be the easiest path up the Largest section of the "Cathedrals" formation that resides directly across from El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. At 5.9 A0, the route is relatively moderate in terms of its technical climbing rating, however at Grade IV, it is very long. The climb requires a 30-45 minute uphill approach, an enduring 11 pitches of consistent climbing over 1000 vertical feet of granite (a pitch reaches from belay station to belay station, sometimes spanning all 200 feet of the rope), and a long hike down an avalanche gully at the end. It takes most climbers a full day to complete and is difficult to retreat by rappel because the route traverses to the right and left. I felt that June and I could complete the route because I had climbed it once before with my other partner Lenny Oliker. So on May 22, 1999 we woke up at 5 AM in the morning to start because the route was notorious for causing people to end up spending a night on the rock. Since we definitely didn't want to do that, we sprang to life, ate as much breakfast as we could, and headed out for Middle Cathedral. Getting to the formation by car was a hassle because from our campsite we had to drive completely around the Yosemite loop road -- a 20-30 minute trip. Since we had packed our gear the night before, we were immediately ready to roll upon arrival. We brought 3 Liters of water, one sandwich, 2 Cliff Bars, and a ton of climbing equipment: doubled up on gear that was 2 inches wide and under. We also brought headlamps, Gore-Tex jackets, and a lighter in case we didn't get down before nightfall.		The Royal Arches Route follows a fairly easy-to-climb crack system that begins just east of the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite Valley. What the route lacks in technical difficulty it somewhat makes up for in shear length. It is 14 pitches long (a pitch reaches from belay station to belay station, sometimes spanning all 200 feet of the rope), and requires descending the North Dome Gully (somewhat sketchy!) or rappelling over 1000 vertical feet straight down. It takes most climbers a full day to complete, but some finish it within only a few hours. On May 29, 1999 June and I woke up at 5 AM in the morning to start this climb because we didn't want to spend the night on the route if something went wrong. After eating a hearty breakfast, we only had to walk 20 minutes from our campsite in Upper Pines Campground to get to the base of the climb. We arrived at the start just after 6 AM. We geared up with an especially light rack of equipment and slings -- no gear wider than 3 inches. We did, however, pack over 4 Liters of water, numerous Cliff/Balance Bars, and two 60 Meter ropes (two ropes are required for the rappels). We made a conscious decision to NOT bring headlamps and a layer of Gore-Tex -- a calculated risk -- because the sun was going to shine all day and days were extremely long at this time of year. We figured that if we were lagging too much, we would start bailing off the route by 1 or 2 PM.
We left the car and headed due south and up the hill towards the base of Middle Cathedral. The hike up followed various drainage systems and took us about 40 minutes to complete. The approach was like a 6 AM StairMaster workout just for warm-ups. Of course, there was already one party almost finished with the first pitch by the time we got there, but we were happy being the second in line because more parties were coming behind us.	Click to Enlarge Bill & June's Self-Portrait on E. Butt. of Middle	We started up the route on the alternative 1st pitch, which was a piton-scarred 5.7 crack in a corner. From there, there was a bunch of 4th class (unroped climbing) scrambling with a section or two of 5th class (roped climbing) in-between. The route topo lead us to continue up and right on a massive system of ledges and loose flakes. We almost immediately rose above tree level, which enabled us to see the entire splendor of Yosemite Valley.	Click to Enlarge June on Pitch 10 of Royal Arches
June and I slammed some water, taped our hands, and geared up with equipment. I linked the first two pitches together because they were short and over low-angle terrain -- basically easy climbing with one hard move up and right to the first belay station. I also linked pitches 3 & 4 together because someone on rec.climbing suggested it could be done. This section was 200 feet of stellar climbing. The rock was very clean, stable, and required extensive moderate lay-backing. There is a huge ledge and a nice set of bolts at the top of the 4th pitch. June came up and we took a little rest because the guys in front of us were making the next pitch harder than it should have been. The 5th pitch was considered to be the "crux" pitch -- the technically hardest single pitch of climbing -- because it had a 40 foot section of blank face followed by a slight roof up high. Because the climbing is so hard (hard 5.10c), most people use the 6 bolts that were originally placed on the first ascent (his is considered to be "aid climbing" and is the "A1" part of "5.9 A1" in the rating). In the name of safety and speed, I "aided" the first section of bolts and then went on the pull the 5.9 bulge move up high. Although June had no previous experience pulling "aid" moves, she cranked up those bolts no problem. She did however, have a little trouble getting over the bulge. She persisted and eventually got through the section without too much effort.		This part may not have been the "technical crux" of the climb but it seemed to be because of the difficult route finding through this section. Normally, this route would be so crowded that you could virtually follow the party in front of you the whole way, but on this day there was only one other party on the route the whole day. We were on our own, and we were also somewhat lost. This slowed us down to the point that I started to wonder if we would make it to the top in time to rap off before dark. If we thought that was going to happen we would have to bail off the route early in the hopes of getting ourselves out of there before nightfall. Even though we weren't sure if we were actually on-route at this point, I continued to lead what seemed to be the line of least resistance up the system of granite cracks and shelves -- at one point I even had to downclimb a section because the crack I was following petered out! Anyway, after what seemed to be harder climbing than the route topo suggested, I finally saw the fixed pendulum line at the top of the 9th pitch. It was nice to know we were finally, and most definitely, on track. From there, June and I linked the next 4 pitches into 2 with my 60 Meter rope and set up a belay just to the right of the pendulum point. Those 2 pitches were relatively easy, but did require some groveling through a small chimney system (a crack that is wide enough to fully get into).
The sixth pitch was probably the most exposed part of the climb as far as fall-potential was concerned. I had to lead up a low-angle face that had a few decent holds to an old piton that was hammered into the rock. I clipped that piece of junk because it was the only piece of protection I could get. From there, I followed this small flake system way over to the right. This pitch was a wild traverse where falling for either the leader or the "second" would result in a long swinging pendulum to the left or right.	Click to Enlarge June on Pitch 8 of E. Butt. of Middle	At this point, we were basically at the point of no return. If we were going to bail, we'd have to do it soon because it was going to get much trickier to retreat after we completed the next few pitches. Because we knew that we were on-route, still had 8+ hours of light left, and also had no one in front of us to slow us down, I was confident that we would make it to the top in time to get down in the light of day.	Click to Enlarge Bill Rapping Royal Arches
At this point June and I were starting to get both physically and mentally tired, and possibly a little dehydrated. Since the guys in front were slowing us down a little again, we rested for a few minutes, ate a Cliff Bar, and pounded a bunch of water. Feeling a little rested, we climbed the next pitch with relative ease. There were excellent flakes of granite to grab and climb up the entire way. This was the type of climbing that give the route its reputation of being one the all-time classics. The next pitch was the most aggressive as far as true "crack" climbing was concerned. It required both hands and both feet to be crammed into a perfect flaring hand-sized crack -- you just had to get in there and go for it! June had a harder time than I did in that part because her hands are smaller than mine... Ha! Ha! Ha! (Just kidding honey).		This was the pitch I avoided telling June about before we started! "Oops honey, I forgot we have to swing 30 feet to the left to grab a ledge all while hanging on to a knotted fixed rope." Oh well, wasn't too bad for me... I swung over, grabbed the ledge, and pulled myself up on it. From there, I traversed a thin ledge system all the way into the corner system on the left. There was a plush ledge to belay from with a huge tree providing shade. At this point the weather was still perfect temperature-wise, but the wind really started to pick up. I couldn't hear June at all as she completed the traverse, but she ended up making it just fine. Although she did have a few words for me once she got to the belay stance. Sorry Juney, that little maneuver must have slipped my mind when I described the route to you earlier, but you could have checked the topo yourself.
The 8th pitch was weird, un-aesthetic, and somewhat loose. I had to grovel through some manzaneta bushes and then up a small corner system that never quite had a real good hold to grab. I felt off-balance through the hardest 10 feet. But June and I both slogged our way up the pitch and then regrouped. As we exchanged the gear at the belay, we checked the clock. Only noon! We were in good shape to make it to the top and get down before night as long as nothing went wrong.	Click to Enlarge Bill at the top of Royal Arches	Pitch 11 went straight up from the large tree and was considered to be the hardest pitch of climbing from a technical standpoint. It started in a 5.7 flake system that sent you right into a tree that was growing out of the crack. From there you had to either go up a wide crack to the left or climb up the branches of the tree. Although it was more awkward, I chose the tree -- it was more protectable than the wide crack because I didn't bring any wide gear with me.	Click to Enlarge Topo/Notes for Royal Arches NOTE TOPO ERROR: It incorrectly says "Link 5 & 6", but points correctly to pitches 6 & 7.
Given that we were confident that we would make it on time, we slowed down and relaxed a bit. We ate another Cliff Bar and downed some more water. This was always hard to do because you rarely feel like eating while climbing. But we knew to keep eating or drinking a little bit all day long even though we didn't want to. Otherwise our energy levels would crash and burn before we finished the route. I thought the next pitch, pitch 10, was one of the most challenging. At only 5.8, it sounded like it should be easy, but it had sustained moves the entire way to the next belay. This is the type of 5.8 that was deceivingly harder than it looked. I made it through on lead just fine though by putting a piece of gear in the crack system about every 5 feet. The pitch ended at a sweet ledge that I used to belay June from. It was plush. I could sit down under a little tree while belaying June from the shade. By the time June made it up, she looked pretty worn out. I reassured her that there was only on more pitch to do, and then we could start heading down.		From the top of pitch 11, it was smooth sailing. Pitches 12, 13, and 14 were easy 5th class roped climbing mixed with some 4th class scrambling. I ran each of the pitches out the full 200 feet of rope, and June and I made good time through this section. There was of course the classic unprotectable 5.4 traverse at the top as well. We had to climb from the right crack system across a relatively blank face over to the left side. I managed to go the harder high route, while June found some small holds to grab on to while she traversed over to me. Once there, we knew the rap anchors should be somewhere close by. I headed up and left across more slabs until I found two shiny new bolts with rap slings and rings. Hurray! We made it to the top with time to spare, it was about 3 PM. Well, it's actually not that easy to get off this thing... You can take a 2-3 hour hike down the North Dome Gully (sketchy downclimbing and hiking on slabs and loose rock), or you can take the rappel route (only if you have two ropes and with dangers of its own). We chose the latter.
Little did she know that the last pitch was the worst as far as fun goes. You had to grind your way up this easy, but wide and dirty low-angle gully to the top. After a lot of huffing and puffing, June and I finally made it to the top at 2 PM. It was an awesome view from up there! You could see all the way down the Valley towards Half Dome. We were psyched we made it, but we were exhausted and had a long descent ahead of us.	Click to Enlarge Topo/Notes for E. Butt. of Middle	Rappelling off the Royal Arches Route requires ten separate raps with two ropes tied together the whole way -- over 1000 vertical feet straight down! Rappelling can be very dangerous because of three reasons: (1) you can rap down and not find the next set of rap anchors, (2) you could rap off the ends of your ropes if you're not paying attention, and (3) the ropes can get stuck on trees or in cracks which means you won't be able to continue down.	Click to Enlarge Rap Topo/Notes for Royal Arches
It was at the start of our trip down when we realized our supply of water had run out. Oops, looks like we should have brought 4 Liters instead of 3. Oh well, we gobbled down our sandwich, bummed a few sips of water from the guys behind us, and started out on our journey back to the car. From the top of the East Buttress, we had to scramble up about a 100 feet of 4th class (unroped, but steep hiking) to get to the path that wrapped around the backside of the Middle Cathedral rock formation. In order to walk off the route, one must traverse WAY to the climber's left. After about a half mile of bush-whacking and tricky route-finding, we found ourselves surrounded by an awesome amphitheater of sheer granite cliffs jutting a thousand more feet into the sky. It was truly spectacular back in there. Eventually we ended up right at the base of the amphitheater. From there we completed three short rappels, which led us straight down into an avalanche gully that was filled with huge boulders. We hiked, scrambled, and down-climbed our way through the gully for what seemed to be forever, scamming some more water from another party on the way. Our knees were killing us -- it was like going down 200 flights of stairs after we had already been climbing for 7 hours! Mission accomplished! We finally reached our car around 5 PM after nearly 10 hours of action. We were drained, hungry, and dehydrated, but we made it... without even spending the night at the top (thank god!).		This last problem is the most common and can easily cause a pair of climbers to spend the night on the rock. Because of this, June and I took our time getting down. We were extremely careful to watch the rope and prevent it from getting hung up as we pulled it down to the next rap station. At one point we even did an extra, shorter rappel down to a lower tree so as to avoid getting a snag in the upper tree. If it got stuck there, we would not have been able to retrieve it. It was spooky at times, rapping down a blank face of granite, only hoping you'd find the next set of rap anchors. However, we ultimately had little trouble finding most of the rap stations, except a couple near the ground. Although at one point I was rapping through a small drainage system and got myself and the ropes totally soaked! After the final 200 foot rappel, we were on the ground after 12 hours of climbing and rappelling. It took us longer than I thought it should have, but that was mostly due to being lost at the very start of the climb. Overall, it was a spectacular day with incredible views of the Yosemite Valley the along the way. It was equally nice to have had such a classic climb virtually to ourselves for the whole day. Climbing this route together truly epitomized the reasons why June and I love to rock climb.

Bill & June Climb Two Yosemite Classics

Bill & June Climb
Two Yosemite Classics