Hi Steve C
Hi CaT
You're both spot on. I'm new to this group and I'm trying to calibrate my posts and understand what you guys mean. I remember that this is an official peak bagging group, and technical rock climbers rarely continue to the peak after completing a route. Yes I am a traditional Yosemite climber. While the total lack of places to put pro on a slope does not make it a more technically difficult, it does rate an "X" for the route, meaning a fall probably ill be fatal, but the difficulty comes from absolutely smooth rock. Even 1/16th inch bumps are climbable, but when its smooth and polished even climbing shoes don't stick and there simply are NO handholds. On an "X" route this is a real pucker factor.
Actually I consider it kind of crazy to climb the cables without some way to fasten to them and considering that they're steel and continuous from top to bottom, I think the only way to protect the climb would be with a prussic of maybe 6mm rope and hope that it sticks to the corrosion on the cables. I would find that way scary. I am impressed with your courage. I wouldn't do that.
Indoor climbing walls of course have small pieces of plastic screwed to them to hold onto, imagine trying to climb the plywood walls WITHOUT the handholds. You can imagine that the slope would have to be much less, and this is the reality of glaciated granite. Some places its polished literally as smooth as a granite tombstone, which is a good euphemism because if you should get onto it, you're gonna take an air ride. One thing about the trade routes in Yosemite is that few are verticle so you rarely fall straight down, instead you slide or roll and there is rarely much of a yank on the rope, its not even like gym climbing.
I'm looking at my Yosemite guide book. Snake Dike as you may know was a 5.7 put up by 5.11 climbers so they only placed bolts at the belay points a rope length apart because to them it was a stroll in the park. It has an "R" rating meaning "runout" meaning little pro for a long ways. It's also rated with three stars and 5.7 quote" there are long runouts but the climb is on relatively easy rock". Most of the other climbs on that side are 5.9 or greater, theres a 5.10b and a 5.11+, so the snake dike route is special in the ease of the rock chosen, but the rock around it is much harder in general. Any 5.9 climb in Yosemite Valley was considered to be the maximum a human could climb before the standars and techniques improved. Someone who climbs 5.11 in a gym would be way stressed on Yosemite 5.9, besides needing the skills to protect it, AND climbing draging a 10 to 12 pound rope and carrying a rack weighing 12-16 pounds. Try climbing in the gym someday with a 25 pound pack. Seriously try it, its an eyeopener.
Well happy trails to you all.
Jim Shaw
