Dome Rock 7,221′- Tree Route
Rock Climbing– California
Total Time: 2:30
Distance: 0.7 miles
Elevation Gain: 425′
Crux: 5.6
Pitches: 4
Protection: Doubles to BD #2, nuts, 60m rope
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Dome Rock Rd, no services
In the Southwest Sierra Nevada, there are a remote series of spires and domes known as the Needles. With names like Voodoo Dome and the Warlock, the area has a somewhat mystical feel and is known for hard and often run out trad climbing, the California equivalent to Cochise Stronghold in Southern Arizona. Although I was up to try some of the lines in the area, last year’s Castle Fire left the Needles completely closed off. However just to the south and outside of the burn area is the Needles much tamer cousin, Dome Rock. With a 10 minute approach and the ultra classic 5.6 “Tree Route,” it offers a casual introduction to the area without runout climbing or the need to illegally enter the burn area. We drove south early at the start of a long weekend, taking the long windy road out of Porterville. They were clearing debris from the Castle Fire on parts of route 190, leading to a 30+ minute delay sitting in backed up traffic on a one lane road. By the time we actually reached Dome Rock it was after 11 AM and the temperatures were rising quickly. After racking up at the car, we followed a well defined use trail around the north and east side of the rock towards the base of the climb.
There were a few cairns along the slabbier sections of the approach but it was overall very easy to follow, taking about 10 minutes from the car. A huge (dead) pine tree marked the route, with a team of two on the second pitch when we reached the base.
After a quick snack and water, we flaked the rope and I started up up the first pitch, a low angled crack zig zagging up to the large dead tree. I climbed to the right of it to avoid the rope dragging around it, then looked for the remains of a second dead pine that is supposed to denote the first belay. There were two small pines growing in a crack, and I wondered if they were covering the original belay station. I briefly checked out a two bolt belay to the left (which belongs to Anti-Jello crack), then traversed back right to a different two bolt belay station for Last Homely House. It would be a little traverse-y for Holly, but better than belaying through the small pine tree.
The second pitch is considered the highlight of the climb- 110′ of splitter baggy finger crack, by no means my forte but low angled and with enough knobs and features on both sides to make the finger crack very forgiving. I started up the crack, going about 25′ between placements to avoid running out of small cams. When the crack ended I moved a few feet left into another crack system and up to a triangular depression big enough to sit. I built a gear anchor from three cams and tried to keep the rope out of the string of ants as I brought up Holly.
Pitch 3 was fairly short following the same crack up to an easy lieback flake, some of the easiest climbing of the route. There were two separate stacked flakes you could lieback off of, each offering different sized cams which would be nice if you went up with a light rack. This lead to a 3 bolt belay ledge, not huge but by far the roomiest of the route.
I quickly brought up Holly to head up the final pitch, with two options to finish the route. The traditional Tree Route exit was to do an ascending traverse out to the right to a weakness with a 5.5 move out to the slabs above. What has become the more classic finish was to climb slab off the belay directly, passing two bolts to lead to a 5.6 weakness directly above. I elected for the second option and started up the slab. It was quite polished and I blew a foot in one spot, thankfully after clipping the first bolt and not falling on the glassy rock. To be honest, the last pitch felt out of character with the rest of the route, the first three having excellent crack climbing with this last one mostly tenuous slab. The step up and over the final slab was far easier than it looked below, and felt considerably easier than the crux move on Tollhouse Traverse despite the higher rating, although Tollhouse is notoriously sandbagged. Above the step, the route quickly became third class, and I walked up to the first tree I could reach to belay up Holly. She made short work of the slab and was quickly up to join me below the summit. We had cruised the route, taking under 2 hours for the four pitches, and could have easily shaved off more time I had run together pitches 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. From the tree, we moved a bit closer to the high point, taking a long break in the shade and enjoying the Needles to the northeast, the Mineral King area to the north and Olancha Peak to the east, one of my bigger adventures for the year.
After hanging out for about an hour, we walked back to the car and headed out, continuing south and stopping in Kernville for food before swinging back north on the east side of the Sierra, spending the rest of the weekend in the Mammoth Lakes area.