Thin edges down low yield to delicate slab climbing higher up.

Old Man Quiver

More Raisins

Between Nothingness and Eternity

Saucer Full of Secrets

Just Barely

Handycraft

Save the Wails

The Good Samaritan

Fruit at The Bottom

Windjammer

Last Homely House

Tobin's Dihedral

Air Corner

Tree Route

Vicious

Anti-Jello Crack

Sanitarium

Red Mushrooms

Direct Anti-Jello Crack

Arwen

Close To The Edge

Left Crack

The Last Dihedral

[Redacted]

A diagonal, traversing route that traverse to and under the Great Arch.

Start by climbing up the right facing sickle flake/crack until possible to move left onto the face near the end of the sickle formation.  Climb up to a "blocky horn" and then traverse diagonally left and barely up to a belay from a large horn and a single bolt.

Climb up to a big knob hold just above the horizontal ridge.  Traverse left on the ridge for around 30 feet to knobs which lead to a large shallow scoop.  Climb past a bolt and up to a big horn.  From the horn, traverse left and slightly down around a corner "the down staircase" to a belay ledge at the base of the Great Arch.  Long pitch, around 165 feet.

4th class climbing over to the top of the Munch Pinnacle.

Follow the Arch Finish for two pitches.  At the top of the Munch Pinnacle, climb past a bolt to the Great Arch and follow the arch around a corner to a belay at some "buckets".

Continue following the arch then climb down to the summit bolts.  Scramble off.

If that sounds "interesting" and slightly confusing...then, heed this advice from the good ol' SSRC Needles guidebook:

The one route that seems to scare most people is More Raisins.  Rated 5.7/5.8, it is probably the most difficult route finding problem on Dome Rock.  It is not recommended as a beginner's route because it traverses several harder routes, requires a competent knowledge of knob tie-off techniques, and lacks comforting bolt protection.

Good luck and have fun!

1st pitch

: 8 bolts to belay. This pitch certainly has the most consistently hard climbing of all the pitches. I felt the harder moves were reasonably protected, but the pitch is definitely runout on the easier 5.10 sections.

For me there were 3 crux sections.  The first crux is at the start of the climb, with thin-edge pulling and high-step commitment.  The second crux is the footwork needed to get by the high angle chickenhead-downslopers near the 2nd and 3rd bolts (not too much for hands here--all footdancing).

The third crux (for me, the psychological crux) is 3/4 up the 1st pitch, just past a short, right-facing corner.  Here,the climbing is not the most technical, but the bolt is 10-15 feet below you, with a nasty smackdown fall onto the lower slab. The move is going right from one downsloper to another.  You can set up by crossing the left foot over the right foot, positioning on the furthest right aspect of the downsloper that you are on. A little layaway edge at shoulder height for the left hand that allows you to commit to the right lean/step. If you commit solely onto the left foot & hand, leaning right, you can place the right foot onto the downsloper about 4-5 feet away. It's far enough away that you have to give the shift a definite committing push.  For me, this was the point where I was stuck between "failure and frustation;" going back and forth on that move, chasing away thoughts of the slab below, until finally committing to that step over.

2nd pitch

: Two alternatives here. The 1st alternative is up right on 5 or 6 bolts with some 5.10 climbing to another bolted belay.  This  connects to the upper pitch of Tobin's Dihedral & Close to the Edge.  The 2nd alternative is up left on harder 5.10 climbing, and then left on 4 or 5 bolts to another bolted belay. Both options are followed by a third pitch of easier climbing to top.

Wow! Stellar moderate face climbing up an improbably looking blank face from the ground. The route name should be giveaway as to some of the crucial holds.

P1

Cruise up and left 15 feet on good edges and chips to clip the first bolt. Climb a couple of feet, take a deep breath, and mantle (10a) into a saucer. Clip the second bolt. Trend up and left on small edges to a good rail system. Get your feet on the rail and walk your feet to the right. Easy climbing here but don't blow it to clip the 3rd bolt. Go out right onto a pockety rib. Easy pocket climbing to the forth bolt. Slightly harder climbing off the forth bolt with smeary, insecure feet. Eases off to the clip the fifth bolt. Hard crux moves on smaller saucers to a well defined flat edge. There's no sixth bolt as described in Kris Solem's guidebook but fret not as the climbing is easier and very secure. Load up the thin, hollow flake with small TCUs to get your head back on straight. Easier climbing up and left to the three bolt belay.

You can rap back to the ground at this point with a 70 meter. Watch your ends. Very close.

P2

Easier crack climbing up and right. Clip the only bolt on this pitch and run it out to the anchor.

P3

Slab paddling to the top.

All bolts are new stainless steel as of 2008.

Known primarily for a novel "slab-dyno" past the first bolt, this  route provides some tough slab smearing to a moderate yet exciting finish. The first crux is, as mentioned, a bizarre leap to a good crimp. The guidebook refers to the move as "The Boing", and rightly so: there seems to be no other option than to spring, jump, or otherwise lunge to the next hold, which is decidedly awkward on a thin climb such as this. Afterward, engaging face climbing leads to a good ledge, then a moderate runout to a two-bolt rap anchor.

You can top-rope this route with a 60 meter rope.

starts with thin hands and a step up onto a fixed cheat-stone, quickly the feet disappear, then it opens up to good hands. actually quite a lot going on for such a short route

Starts out with a compression boulder problem. Getting through the second bolt is the crux. Tricky bulge up higher leads to hero 5.11 slab climbing. Lower from bolted anchor or climb the second pitch.

The first 80 feet is beautifully subtle friction climbing on a polished slab (5.11+).  After 4 bolts, clip the lower anchor of "Red Mushrooms" and follow that route to the top.  Six bolts lead to the original P1 belay of "Red Mushrooms."

Fruit at The Bottom climbs an arching dihedral just to the left of Anti-Jello Crack

P1. Climb the left facing corner to a bolted belay. 35m

P2. The business. Lay back and stem the arching corner all the way to its end at a nice belay stance. Save some finger-sized pieces for the anchor. 35m

P3. From the belay, climb straight up the face passing a few bolts to the summit of Dome Rock. 60+m

Windjammer starts well down on the lower face of the Dome and takes one of the longest lines to the summit.  On your way down you'll pass Tobin's Dihedral and then a large pillar/block that rests against the face.  The face is obvious -- a sea of giant knobs and chickenheads.  The remains of an old motorcycle are in the woods near the start.

P1:  This is a unique and amazing pitch.  Begin by lassoing an obvious knob 20' up with the rope (it helps to stand up on a block to do this), and then delicately TR through the crux, hoping the rope doesn't fall down, until you can sling the knob for pro.  The line trends leftwards and has a fair amount of traversing.  Pro consists entirely of slung knobs (although I did slot in a wire between chickenheads at on point).  Three times on the climb I pulled up several armloads of slack and lassoed chickenheads above to protect the climbing.  Simply unreal.  Belay at a two-bolt anchor.  5.10 R.

P2:  If my memory serves me, one continus up on slabby rock and then enters a beautiful lieback hand crack and follows this to the next belay.  I believe there were a few old bolts (in need of replacement) protecting some slab moves on this pitch.  5.10 PG13.

P3:  Continue up on easier, bolt protected, slab to any of a number of anchors on low angle rock below a long roof band.  Scramble off left under the roof to the summit, or rap with two ropes.  5.9+ PG13.

Work your way up sloping holds and smears to a left trending crack/seam where a medium stopper and small cam placement can be found.  From the end of the crack climb straight up to a set of bolts listed as T.R. Bolts in the old guidebook. Clip one of those bolts (or both?) and head straight up to another protection bolt.  Next climb up to a stance with belay bolts, (same anchors as Arwen).  The route now merges with Arwen.  2 more fun but runout pitches lead to the top.

Eye-popping 200-foot tall dihedral.

P1 (5.10++, 160 feet): Fifty feet of endurance laybacking (with VERY slippery feet) leads to a no-hands rest out on the face. Eighty more feet of easier laybacking with excellent footholds leads to a class-4 trough.  Belay thirty feet higher on a small ledge, where the class-4 section ends.

P2 (5.9, 120 feet): Continue up the dihedral to the top of the giant pillar.  Runout face climbing leads up and left to a bolted belay.  From here, easy fifth class leads to the top of the Dome.  It is also possible to make two rappels down Between Nothingness & Eternity (two ropes required).

relatively easy off-width moves gain juggy knobs, an easy traverse right follows, then the corner and more jugs.  fun and airy for 5.8, but too short and easy to warrant more attention than a quick hit before leaving this lovely climbing mecca.

The Tree Route is the true "trade route" of Dome Rock--expect to wait in line.

P1 (5.5, ~110 ft.): follow an obvious hand crack that heads right and then diagonals left to a large yellow pine.  An excellent hand jam between the giant conifer and the rock allows you to pull past the tree and onto a generous ledge.  From the ledge, climb a slab past intermittent cracks to the belay stance above a second, smaller pine tree.  Belay takes 1/2" to 3/4"

P2 (5.6, 120 feet): truly classic for the grade!  Jam and lieback an obvious handcrack.  Look for excellent foot holds on the face to the left.  The first 80 feet or so is sustained 1/2-3/4".  Either carry extra gear of this size or leap-frog your gear up the crack with you.  When this crack tapers and disappears, step left and follow intermittent thin cracks (TCUs helpful) to an obvious triangle shaped ledge/basin.  Belay here (belay takes 2.5" to 3.5"--I often use two #3 camalots).

P3 (5.5, 110 feet): follow a large (4 to 5") crack, which eventually tapers and turns to a shallow, right-facing corner.  Belay on an obvious ledge with three bolts.

P4 (5.6, 180 feet): the technical crux and truly memorable!  Step off the belay ledge onto a delicate 5.6 slab.  Clip a bolt and hope your feet stick.  The slab eases and then gives way to a  two-foot "roof" (protected by a bomber 2" piece).  From here, the technical difficulties are over.  A 3rd class slab leads for over a hundred feet to  an obvious horizontal crack.  Belay here (belay takes 1/2" to 1-1/2"").

An arching splitter of unusual excellence and a convenient test-piece to prevent slab-induced muscle atrophy.  The Hickey-Moser-Vernon guide supplied the name and rating for this route. That out-of-print guide describes Vicious as one of several short top-ropes close to the parking spot.  A route this good has surely been led many times.

The crux is the start, liebacking left of the thin crack.  After a middle section of splitter hands, a 5.10 traverse to finish.

A shorter, 5.9+, steep hand crack, can be found just west and might be a good warm up.

Aiding up the start a bit, to get in a top-rope piece for working the crux, is easy.  To make the second placement free, so close to the ground, is the real-deal trad thing.

Convenient (bolt) anchor recently added.

P1 (5.5):  Start as for Tree Route.  From atop the large Pine Tree, locate a 2-3" crack and follow it up and left.  (Alternately, start on the

bolted face

to the left of Tree Route.) Belay from a shallow horizontal ledge at the start of a stunning finger crack.

P2 (5.9+ sustained):  Truly classic!!  Follow a left-leaning finger crack that arcs left along a clean slab.  The crack starts as solid fingers and slowly tapers down to nothing.  Take the time to find decent, sloping footholds out to the left.  The crack takes many TCUs & small stoppers.  As the crack tapers and disappears, face climb up and left to a hanging-belay from bolts.

P3 (5.10a):  Step left and follow an obvious left-facing dihedral.  As the corner curves to the right, the crack in the dihedral diminishes.  The final 30 feet is the crux and requires small TCUs & stoppers.  Belay from the 3-bolt anchor atop Tree Route's 3rd pitch.

P4 (5.6):  Follow the final pitch of the Tree Route to a belay beneath an obvious horizontal crack.

Awesome face and arete climbing on a striking pillar.  The top-out is tricky and exposed.  You must turn the corner to the right to keep the grade at 5.9.

P1: A true sport route (as long as you don't expect solid, modern bolts).  7 bolts to a ledge with rappel anchors (for those wishing to retreat) OR 9 bolts to the original P1 belay.  The crux is reaching the first bolt (10+).  There are a few 5.10 moves to the second bolt, then the rest of the pitch is sustained 5.9+ climbing on delicate smears with the occasional thin edge.  Sport climbers who plan to lower from the first anchor should consider top roping the left-hand variation past three bolts and a shallow crack (5.10c R/X) and "the Good Samaritan" (5.11+ PG13), a breath-taking exercise in friction on the right-hand side.

P2: From the higher anchor, P2 sets off through a series of small roofs (5.7, protected by three bolts, no gear)  This section is not a sport route and feels significantly runout.  Next, a large roof (small to medium gear) is encountered.  Belay just above the roof from two bolts.

P3: Long, runout slab climbing leads to the top.

A few hard face moves up to a bolt (5.10a direct, or easier to the right) yield to easier climbing past widely-spaced bolts.  The route boasts excellent rock quality and a striking line.  There are two additional 5.9 cruxes which are both well protected.

Bolts appeared on this face within the last 2 years or so.  Nothing is known about the first ascentionists, the route name, or its original difficulty rating.  If you have any information, please post it below.

Arwen is an old school 5.9 slab route with significantly less bolts than the Moser guide indicates.

P1 went on two pieces of gear, heads up to a bolted anchor (somewhat) visible from the ground (if you're looking pretty hard).

P2 starts thin and gets thinner, first (only) bolt at 20', then thinthin to easier moves and slightly left to the anchor. Random bolt clippable from anchor that has no apparent value visible here.

P3 steps left, clips bolt, then back right to a tight seam than offers gear at the top. Good gear under an overlap is followed by continuous, unprotected, thin black slab that gradually eases, again, bolted anchor is slightly left at the top, just underneath a larger overlap/small roof.

Last pitch steps left and follows shallow L facing corner to overlap (gear), then old buttonhead to 5.5 slabbin' to the walkoff. Good route, thought-provoking crux, but not much gear on the entire climb. Anchor at top of P3 is experiencing serious galvanic corrosion and is in need of replacement. All other bolts besides pro bolt on last pitch (not crucial, gear just below, no tough moves above) are solid. Runout but worthwhile if you're solid at the grade. AGAIN, *SEVERAL* of the bolts shown in the Moser guide are not on the route-heads up.

1st pitch: Start immediately to the right of Tobin's Dihedral and stay close to it's edge. Come ready to place oppositional nuts in horizontals, tie off chickheads and clip a few bolts.

2nd pitch: Continue up the corner/crack of Tobin's. You can break out right on the face and clip bolts or continue until corner runs out.

3rd pitch: Continue up the face clipping bolts. Climbing gets easier the higher you get.

An excellent sustained moderate crack climb.  It looks wide and ugly from below, but is actually 2 pitches of excellent hand and finger crack climbing.  Follow Arch Bitch-Up 5.8 to top.

Pitch 1: Left Crack starts at Tobin's Dihedral.  Stem/lieback the first move of Tobin's to reach a horizontal thin crack.  Traverse the crack right 30' (crux) and follow the crack as it curves upward to form a wide looking (hand size) vertical crack to a bolt/rappel anchor, 5.8 - 120 feet.

Pitch 2:  As you follow the moderate hand crack up it diagonals left after a prominent ledge.  Option A (recommended) is to follow this crack past the ledge to join the top of Tobin's and continue the nice dihedral to the top of a pillar (gear anchor 1-3" cams) 5.7 - 100 feet.  Option B at the ledge traverse about 15 feet right, ascend a short bulge to reach an easy bushy crack left of Arch Bitch-Up to a tree belay 5.8 and spooky - 90 feet.  Option C at the ledge follow the crack left about 10 feet up to a wide spot and face traverse up and right to reach the easy bushy crack and belay at the tree 5.8 and spooky - 90 feet.  If you did option A, move the belay down and right 20 for the next pitch, easy 5th class.

Pitch 3: Follow the last pitch of Arch Bitch-Up past a slung knob to a bolt, head up and left big knobs to a weird ear / lieback.  Bizarre and fun maneuvers past the ear (gear 0.5 - 3" cams) lead to a bolt belay / rappel station, continue past one more bolt and an easy runnout to another bolted belay, 5.8 - 180 feet.  Walk off or easy 5th class left then up to the top of the rock.

Layback, undercling and face climb up the massive, right-facing dihedral for two pitches.  While the massive dihedral looks breath-taking from a distance, all should be warned that various parts of the route contain massive, detached flakes or moss-choked cracks.  Placing solid gear is impossible for large stretches of the easier portions of the route.

The physical crux of the route is climbing past positive edges on the first 10 feet of the route.  After gaining the main dihedral, the route is mostly 5.4 with sections of 5.7.  As alluded to, the psychological crux is climbing with non-existent or completely sketchy protection through several sections of the route.

Once atop the dihedral, on a large ledge, step left and either climb a crack up the headwall or rappel with 2 ropes from a tree.  If continuing, belay from gear at a small, uncomfortable stance atop the next pitch.  One pitch of easy, runout slab climbing leads to the top of the Dome.

One of the recommended moderate routes on Dome Rock. A thoughtful traverse, OW/chimney, and face climbing complete the three pitches.

P1: Begin with the first few moves of Tobin's Dihedral, then traverse right along a horizontal finger crack. (Be sure to protect your second here!) Left Crack takes the first hand/finger crack up, while Arch Bitch-Up continues right around a no-hands step.  Climb the outside face along the wide right crack, passing a fixed piton early and ending at a bolted anchor. 5.8

P2: Continue following the wide crack up, using wide pieces and slinging a few knobs until reaching a nice ledge. Continue up the flaring chimney and belay on a ledge with a large bush. (Optional variation: Traverse right before the chimney and face climb past a bolt, traversing back left above the chimney. Caution for rope drag.) 5.7

P3: Climb directly up the face, slinging a knob and clipping a bolt before reaching the large flake. Ascend the flake with a tricky dismount, then continue on the face past a bolted anchor. A significant runout on relatively easy face takes you to the anchor directly above. 5.8

Walk off left and up to the top of the dome.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Dome Rock