Fresno Dome- Poking Papa Bear
Rock Climbing– California
Total Time: 4:00
Distance: 2.7 miles
Elevation Gain: 700′
Crux: 5.10 a/b
Pitches: 5
Protection: Singles to BD #4, nuts, half dozen alpine slings, 12 quickdraws, 70m rope
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Fresno Dome, no services
Holly and I were slowly ticking off the classic multipitch lines at Fresno Dome. Starting with the ultra-classic South Pillar and ticking off Whiskey Bill, it was time for a step up in difficulty with Poking Papa Bear 5.10a/b, 6 pitches. The crux pitch was tightly bolted slab, with the remainder of the route 5.9+ or less, still a challenge but definitely within my abilities. With my mom in town for childcare we got a leisurely start, leaving home after breakfast and reaching the trailhead mid morning. The trail had undergone significant work since our first visit, all of the downed trees cleared and multiple official forest service trail markers leading the way. We quickly reached the shallow saddle between Fresno Dome and the subdome to the east, picking up the climbers trail and stashing our packs for the return trip. We followed the trail past the climbs on Panorama Dome before finding the start of our route, uphill of a leaning pillar of rock. I spotted the bolts to start the route, and after flaking the rope and stick clipping the first, I started up the crux pitch.
I always hate to have the hardest pitch of the climb be the first one, as I definitely have found I need a little warm up not only for climbing, but the mental side of leading with slab being one of the harder disciplines mentally. After a few false starts I made my way up crimps to the second bolt, but then hung to figure out the moves. I found a nice sequence to the left of the second bolt and that put me above the crux, cruising past a few more bolts to a final tricky mantle and top of the first pitch. I clipped into the two bolt anchor and brought up Holly, pulling on the quickdraw at the mantle but otherwise climbing it smoothly.
The second pitch was the longest of the route, about 40 meters and mostly bolts with a few supplemental pieces. I initially thought I needed to climb the wide crack in the corner, but three closely spaced bolts just to the left which led up the face on fun knobs with a supplemental wide cam in the crack a bit higher. From there it was a big step right over the crack into more bolted face climbing. This lead to a right angling crack a bit higher with a few more pieces, followed by a few more bolts to another ledge system higher up. The pitch was fairly sustained 5.8 and would be a standout pitch of the climb. This was in contrast to the throwaway third “pitch,” essentially a third class scramble up a ramp to the right with a quick move in a corner to a higher and much larger ledge system splitting the upper face, with the upper section known as Looking Glass Rock. With the ledge splitting most of the climbs on the southeast side of Fresno Dome, it does give you the option of different variations and options for the finishing pitches. But we wanted to climb the route in its entirety, and I moved about 20′ right to the base of an obvious corner system and fourth pitch, building an anchor off a few nuts and small cam to bring up Holly.
The fourth pitch was another highlight, following the right facing corner up to a steepening face, with a bolt protected reachy move up to a mantle. The lower corner went down easy, probably 5.7 with great gear options. As the corner steepened I moved right onto the face, placing a cam in the thin horizontal crack before clipping the bolt. Stemming up a bit higher, I was just able to reach the jug above the bolt, latching on with both hands and moving right above the second cruxy move, rated 5.9+. A sloping mantle brought me to the next two bolt anchors and I brought up Holly, the jug unfortunately out of her 5’1” reach and needing to pull on the draw to reach it.
The fifth pitch was a short 5.7 face, trending left off the anchor past three bolts to a final ledge below the summit. I climbed this quickly and decided to link this with the final pitch, with a quick 5.9 bolt protected mantle off the anchor leading to a short but steep 5.7 finish to the anchor.
I brought up Holly and the two of us walked to the summit for a short break, with Iron Mountain just behind us, my adventure with Naya from the day before.
Coiling the rope, we followed the trail back down to our packs, a bit too hot for any extra cragging. From there, it was a quick hike back to the car followed by the windy drive back home.
