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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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Here's what it looked like last weekend Sat Jan 29, 2011 from Merced Crest
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Slater
Trad climber
Central Coast
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Munge -
you GO girl!!!
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H
Mountain climber
there and back again
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Hey Munge,
The regular route is a great fun, easy climb. I highly recommend it. Could easily solo it but the down climb would be intimidating. Hard to believe it was done in l873. Those guys had cojones!
We stayed at the camp above Illilouette creek. Its tricky to cross if its a high flow. After hiking the trail towards Starr King you encounter the trail to Lower Merced Pass Lake. at that point you can cross country to the southwest side of the bump south of Starr King, due east from that point. Up that and start traversing across to the saddle of Starr King proper. Don't climb too high or you have to down climb. If it looks like rain you don't want to anywhere near the gully. There are many little creeks to refill water bottles along the way below tree line.
There are many other routes on Star King as well; 5.8-5.10 mostly on the east side. Plus if those domes in that area were in Tuolumne there would be route everywhere. The other easy climb but not as classic is on the north shoulder. PM me and I would be happy to share more. One of the best views of Yosemite park there is!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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is that the way you went?
yeah - its like dirt slopes - easy walking. I looked at the satellite pictures from that book "above Yosemite" to decide my route, back before google earth.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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One of my favorite trips. We did it in a day from Mono Meadows. We started at the northeast saddle.
Me, MJ and Judy roped up. Dave G soloed up. First pitch is 75', no pro. Second pitch has a nice crack, take lots of #2s. The third pitch is easy fourth. Great, great rock. Beautiful Sierra granite, well featured. 5.2 at the most.
We rapped down to the southeast saddle. Dave soloed down. A traverse! Wee!
It was a fun day, the hike was beautiful, we did it in October so Illiloutte Creek was low.
No waiting in line!
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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Crazy amount of FA potential in that area. To the south there's a smaller sub-dome sorta feature, and the south-ish facing wall looks like it has Shuteye-type featured granite.
Definitely go from Mono Meadows, as GDavis already said.
Lots of bouldering potential if there's gonna be a big group and you want Camp 4 basecamp sorta potential. Here's a crazy mushroom-esque type boulder with several futuristic, proud high balls waiting for a some strong youngin's with hiking boots.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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To the south there's a smaller sub-dome sorta feature
This thing?
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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I don't think that is it, but it's hard to tell from the angle. The wall I remember was steeper with more flakes and dikes. But it could be out of the picture you posted.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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IIRC, this is the same small dome, from the south.
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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That's Dome Baez (and probably has other names - oh yea, Outback Dome) and it's to the west of Starr King.
billygoat is probably talking about the south facing wall to the S. of Starr King.
Many routes have been done already on all those other domes.
See the other Starr King threads (W. Face TR, etc) for mention of them.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Nate D, thanks for putting a name on that little dome for me.
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Banquo
Trad climber
Morgan Hill, CA (Mo' Hill)
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nutjob
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nothing to add here but a bump for good stuff.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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I just love this thread. Been out to Starr King on a number of different occasions and always like it. I may be one of the few people who have failed on one of the easy routes on it.
Onetime succeeded on the NE Face route and did the bivy on top. What a spot for an overnight.
The campsite down by Illouette creek is also a beauty (there are a number of them, but the one east of the creek, near the trail junction, pretty much due west of the dome is a gem)
So few people out there and the beauty of Yosemite shines through!
Pictures posted are wonderful. Thanks.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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That first ascent in 1876 is more remarkable when you realize that friction climbing had not yet been invented.
They would have inch wormed the steepest friction sections on either their backs or their bellies.
Never been back there myself, but it's on the list.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 8, 2011 - 01:26am PT
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seems like a good collective of nuckleheads want to check this out first hand like.
any guesses on when we can do this thing? (skeezing would be styling, but haven't bought a rig yet and that's too far to snow shoe)
when do skeets hit bad? when does snow normally clear out?
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Adamame
climber
Santa Cruz
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Sounds like a grand outing. Low hangin' fruit, as it were, waiting for YOU to pluck.
Oh, yes. It's a Grand Rock. There it is.
Everything is always right there until you are looking uphill at it. Hah ha, Starr King Low angle fruit!
To the south there's a smaller sub-dome sorta feature
That is actually to the NW of the main formation. The foramtion Billygoat speaks of is farther to the South along the trail to Merced Pass and directly south of Starr King.
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Banquo
Trad climber
Morgan Hill, CA (Mo' Hill)
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If you aren't on skis, I would watch for the Glacier Point road to open. That will be about as early as you can get in and what we did a couple years ago. It was warm but lots of snow in the shady parts which made finding the trial difficult at times.
I'm not an expert regarding mosquitoes but it seems to me that there are several species and the one I like the least is a large black one that is common around melting snow. Searching this site
http://www.mosquitoes.org/MosqBio.html
I find:
Aedes clivis
Habitat/Ecology - Found in grassy snow-melt pools at higher elevations.
Hosts - Aggressive day biters.
Distribution - Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
Vector Potential / Diseases - None
Expect mosquitoes until things really dry out at the end of summer. The summer bloodsuckers are most active around sunset. They thin out below about 60 degrees and you won't see any below about 50 degrees.
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