Glacier Point Apron- The Grack
Sierra Nevada– Rock Climbing
Total Time: 4:00
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 1500′
Crux: Class 5.6
Pitches: 3
Protection: Doubles of BD Cam 0.4-2, set of nuts. Final anchor bolted.
Trailhead: Happy Isles, full services
Companions: Holly, Colin Pickles
Although there is truly little upside to COVID, the permitting system implemented by Yosemite NP this year did provide the opportunity to get on some Yosemite classic routes without the crowds. For our weekend climbing trip, we were hoping to climb some moderate multipitch routes in the Valley on Friday and head up to Tuolumne for Saturday. Although we didn’t need to worry as much about summer crowds in the Valley, we did need to get a jump on the summer heat, and headed into the park early to check out The Grack on Glacier Point Apron, a 3 pitch 5.6 that is considered the best 5.6 in the Valley and is known for having a waiting line. We parked at the backpackers lot near Camp Curry and headed down the trail towards Happy Isles. We weren’t far from the lot when we stumbled upon a bear foraging in the bushes less than 50 yards off the trail. It was my first bear sighting of the year (another would stroll a few feet from my belayer at Swan Slabs 2 days later), and we watched it for a bit before it disappeared into the underbrush.
We crossed a wooden footbridge and passed an A Frame Cabin and campfire circle that denoted where to find the climbers trail up to Glacier Point Apron.
The use trail was very easy to follow and we reached the base of the cliff in about 10 minutes from the turn off. We found the cliff completely empty despite there being dozens of routes, and I took some time to scout out our line, characterized by a sweeping splitter crack heading up the low angled slabs to the right half way up.
We got our helmets on quickly as we racked up- Glacier Point apron is known for spontaneous rockfall. In June of 1999, a 525 ton massive slab of granite broke off from the cliff face 1300′ above the valley floor, killing climber Peter Terbush and injuring his two partners. While YNP has only seen one other incident of a climber dying from spontaneous rockfall since that fateful day (the other on El Capitan in 2017), there was no reason to push our luck. After we racked up, Holly belayed from the shade of a tree as I started up the first pitch. The first 20-30′ are barely even fourth class, and it took me an uncharacteristic-ly long time to place my first piece a ways up the route. I followed the broken crack system until the angled steepened to a bulge and the crux of the route, rated 5.6. I cut right into a crack going through the bulge offering excellent pro, then ungracefully pulled myself above to reach a small finger crack. I followed this another ten feet up to a dish-like feature in the granite and built a 3 piece anchor to bring up the others. Colin came up second, being a bit surprised at the crux since it had been so easy up until then. Holly came up last, the belay just large enough for the three of us with Holly on an extended anchor to a decent seat slightly below.
I started up the second pitch which gobbled up protection as I climbed on. The jamming was outstanding, culminating in a parallel crack system towards the end of the pitch where the crack widens into a narrow trough. My topo had the end of the second pitch here, although using this as a belay spot for two more people seemed uncomfortable at best. I decided to belay up Colin only, have him lead belay me to the top of the third and final pitch, then have him bring up Holly after, keeping only two people at this narrow belay at a time.
Colin started up, having trouble with a cam that had walked into a flared crack (there were two other cams inside that had been lost as well) which Holly was thankfully able to retrieve with her smaller hands when it was her turn up. Colin joined me and gave me what gear he had, now down 6 cams between the two anchors. Luckily, the route also takes nuts and hexes well, and I placed three on the final pitch before escaping the final 20′ to the left to run it out to the anchors. I clipped into the two bolt rappel station and enjoyed the views while Colin belayed Holly up the second pitch.
It was about 11 AM at this point, and the summer rock was quickly heating up as we all ran low on water. Once Holly finished the second pitch, I quickly brought up Colin followed by Holly, a fight against time to get back into the shade. The top of the route was an excellent belay ledge, and the two of them enjoyed the view while I set up the rappel. The face was covered with bolts and rappel stations, and it’s possible to rappel the route with a single 60m rope and 5 raps. But since we had two 60 meter ropes with us, we were able to do it in 2 with a little scrambling. I went first to scout out the lower rappel station, finding two bolts with quicklinks halfway down and a tiny stance, uncomfortably small for the three of us.
The second rappel station reminded me of the belay station on Hanging Gardens in the McDowells as the three of us hung off a double length sling and the two bolts. I wasted little time setting up the second rappel and getting back to solid ground, shade and water, needing to scramble about 20′ of class 3 to make it all the way down.
By the time we were all off the route, it was clear that it would be too hot to do any more climbing in the Valley that day, and Munginella, our planned afternoon route, would need to saved for another day. We detoured over to the Merced River and Happy Isles and cooled off to discuss the rest of the days plans.
After much discussion, we decided to eat an early big meal and head up to Tuolumne early to do some single pitch climbing before heading to bed for our big outing on the SE Buttress of Cathedral the following day.
