It is two days after climbing this route and still, I am exhausted.
I met Mitchell, as I have others, on the partner forum of Mountain Project. He had just started working at the Priest Station Café on CA-120 E, about 50 miles west of Yosemite, and was looking forward to his first foray into the valley. I was looking for someone who would want to climb Snake Dike with me, but everyone I asked had already climbed it and didn't want to do it again. Most had the same reply, "Snake Hike? In this heat? You're mad". The climb is referred to as Snake Hike because of the insane approach of about 5 miles up steep terrain and a return from the summit of 7.5 miles. The guidebook can never truly express how hard it is, so I was easily able to convince Mitchell that this would be a fun first climb in Yosemite for him.
The plan was to wake up at 2am so that we could hike up in the dark before it got too hot. You can imagine how frustrated I was when at midnight, I was still rolling around in a puddle of sweat trying to get some sleep. Eventually, my alarm roused me from my stupor and we drove to the car park below Half Dome where we had some coffee and packed our bags with the bare essentials. The meagre rack we decided to take consisted of 6 cams, a set of nuts, a few slings and a rope. This is not nearly enough gear for a single pitch route, whereas this has 8, but then again, there is hardly anywhere to place gear on this route. Although an easy graded climb, it is rated R because of the long runouts and complete lack of protection on some of the pitches. One slip on this route and you are in serious trouble.
The hike up the Muir trail to the top of Nevada Falls was pleasant in the early morning. The crisp smell of the forest and the dull roar of the waterfalls filled the air as we followed the beams of our headlamps up the winding path till finally, the sky started to lighten and we could see the outlines of the mountains around us. We reached the top of the waterfalls at dawn, and a short while later we broke from the hiker's trail to get onto the climber's path which would take us to the base of the SW face. As I had done this before, there was no need for route finding and because of this, we were making good time. I remembered a lovely meadow hidden in the trees and smiled at the thought of seeing it again, although this time it was less of a meadow and more of a swamp that was completely infested with mosquitoes. There were so many that if they had a coordinated strategy they could have carried us away. My lungs were bursting as we started climbing the final slope, but we could not stop. Despite the repellant we had applied, the mosquitoes were eating us alive, and all we could do was to get as far away from them as quickly as possible.
The final slabs seemed to take forever, but eventually, after 4.5 hours of hard hiking, we arrived at the start of the climb. I would have liked nothing more than to have a good long rest before we got going, but the day was already heating up and a group of three climbers were heading up the hill below us with intentions of climbing the same route. So we geared up, tied into the rope and set off.
The first pitch was mine to lead. A short smooth slope and a traverse below an overhang brought me to a lovely crack system which I followed until I reached the anchors just as Mitchell shouted up that I had 3 metres of rope left. He soon joined me and then, after taking the gear, he headed off on his first lead in Yosemite. The second pitch starts by moving right along a small horizontal crack that ends abruptly and one has to step across a blank section to a few divots in the wall. These are then climbed up to another small horizontal crack, the last good gear placement for a while, and then 10 metres higher to the anchors.
On a side note, the anchors and the occasional bolt were replaced after I had last climbed this route in 2014. For this, I am truly grateful.
On pitch 3, I climbed up and to the left to finally reach the main dike which we would then follow up to the top of the climb. Most of this is unprotected with runouts on some pitches of up to 60 metres. The climb and the views are spectacular with the horizon to the east lined with snowy mountains, to the west was Yosemite valley. We knocked off pitch after pitch, and after climbing this snaking feature, we eventually reached the top 3.5 hours after starting. Although this was the top of the climb, it is not the top of Half Dome. The guidebook is not wrong when it says "slabs forever". For the next hour, we slogged up the calf burning slope until we were able to drop our gear and slump down on the summit.
We celebrated as I always do with a double fist pump, but our smiles quickly faded when Mitchell realized that he only had one hiking shoe clipped to his harness. A check of all the gear confirmed the tragic reality that he had lost it on the climb. We decided to wait for the climbers behind us to see if they had found it, but after 1.5 hours and no idea if they were actually going to finish the climb, we had no choice but to start the walk back.
First, we had to get down the cable staircase that runs from the summit down to the subsidiary dome. While having a harness allowed us to clip into the cables to help with the descent, it was still quite something sliding down that smooth rock. I still can't believe that people take kids up there. Once we were down and had reached the trail, Mitchell decided that having one sore foot was better than two. He took his one shoe and pulled out the sock from inside, and although just thin material, it was better than nothing. The shoe went onto the left foot and the sock went onto the right, and looking like a vagabond, he hiked the 7 miles back to the valley floor. Another 4.5 hours later, we were back at the cars, utterly exhausted but content with what we had accomplished that day. For me, it is always incredible to climb such epic routes with someone I have just met. We were strangers the day before, yet we were able to work as a cohesive unit on the wall.
Two days later, while writing this, I jumped onto the Mountain Project website to check the lost and found. Miracles abound, someone found Mitchell's shoe.
They have been reunited...
To watch the video of the climb, click the link below...
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