Multi-pitch Climbing Holdless Horror (5.6), Dozier Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
Looking up Holdless Horror from the bottom. It’s the crack system running up from the bushes in the middle of the photo
Disclaimer: This climb involves rock climbing, which is inherently dangerous. This blog post does not include formal instruction of any kind. Please make sure you have the appropriate skills and knowledge before attempting this outing.
It would be our first time climbing in Yosemite, and with the reputation of ratings being very sandbagged in the park, we decided we would start out on Holdless Horror on Dozier Dome - a 5.6 multi-pitch route - to get a sense of the ratings. We got an early start and followed the climber’s trail to the base of the route. The approach was quite easy, only being 0.9 miles with a little over 400 ft of elevation gain.
I led the first pitch up to a ledge that made for a great belay stance and set up an anchor there. Mike followed and then grabbed the rest of the gear I hadn’t used so he could lead pitch 2. I found pitch 2 to have the hardest climbing of the route, but found it to be a lot of fun with the option to get either pulled into the crack or trying to stay on the outside of it.
We swapped leads again for pitches 3 and 4. The climbing on the fourth pitch got easier and when Mike ran out of rope, he built an anchor and brought me up. At this point, the terrain felt easy enough to us that we unroped and walked to the top of Dozier Dome. We had a snack and enjoyed the views.
We then hiked northeast until we hit what many people call a fishing trail (although it leads to climbing…) and took that to the Tenaya Lake Trail intersection where we turned south and walked back to our car.
Overall, this was a great intro route at Yosemite. It gave us a good feel for the rock, and it was a very straightforward day as the route was very easy to follow (you just follow the crack), protection options were plentiful, the climbing was fun, and the walk off wasn’t complicated.
Stats: 2.7 miles, 870 ft of vertical gain
