North North Dome Gully (Direct Routes)

Overview

The most direct route to North Dome and Basket Dome from the Valley. We follow North Dome Gully "all the way up," making our way up the slablands on the east side of North Dome to attain the dual summits of North Dome and Basket Dome. If you're sick of adding needless feet to an ascent and are up for a scrambling and bushwhacking adventure, this is the approach for you. Additionally, the views of Half Dome from the saddlelands between North Dome and Basket Dome are absolutely spectacular.

Getting There

From Yosemite Valley, make your way to the base of North Dome Gully via a variety of trails.

Route Description

This route has 3 main parts.

Part 1: North Dome Gully +

From the Valley floor, follow North Dome Gully up as if hiking to Washington Column (see the North Dome Gully page for exact information here). When you reach the cairn that marks the turn southwest to traverse the death slabs, do not turn southwest and instead continue north, up the gully. Continue up, staying in the gully when you can. In general the gully is faster than the surrounding steep dirt covered slopes, although occasionally it will be faster to break right or left and walk a few dozen feet up the dirt slopes to avoid obstacles. Near the end of the gully there is a cairn on a large white boulder.

Part 2: Ledge/Slab/Boulder Bushwhacking

From the cairn, climb 25 feet up the (withering and shrinking) gully and witness a fortuitous split. To the northwest, a subgully heads up against the side of North Dome. Actually, this gully is tangent to the very bottom of a large arch turned on its side that continues a few hundred feet up the side of North Dome. To the northeast, an easier ascent following the bottom of slabs and bushes beckons. This is the route we will take. After ascending perhaps 100-150 feet through brush one will come to the beginning of the slab ledges proper, the first one being about 10 feet tall. There is a cairn here. Next, follow the gaps in the slabs and boulders north-northeast. If you find yourself facing class 4 sections, reconsider and take an alternate route up. I was able to find a class 3 route fairly easily, although one will be pulling on bushes to aid in the ascent and often carefully walking through them to keep on easy, stable ground. Eventually, one tops out above a few large boulders and the steepness recedes. There is a cairn at the top of the slab section, but there are probably half a dozen routes up and so seeing this particular cairn is somewhat unlikely.

Part 3: Brush Maze to North/Basket Dome

Walk northeast through the maze of brush. The views of Half Dome from this point on are stunning. There are isolated bits of desire paths undoubtedly from past ascents/descents, but the general strategy is to attempt to walk in the brush as little as possible, instead aiming for exposed boulders and occasional dry washes that head north and stay bare for 50-100 feet at a time. Gradually the steepness again recedes and the brush gives way to forest. From this point, the approaches are obvious. Head northwest to get on the class 2/3 slabs that make up the eastern part of North Dome, or head northeast to head to the class 2/3 slabs that make up the southwestern part of Basket Dome.

All in all, the distance from the base of North Dome Gully to the saddle between North Dome and Basket Dome is about 1.5 miles. Add in another half a mile to the summit of either dome and you're looking at an extremely short, albeit extremely steep (3600 feet) ascent that has essentially 0 feet of elevation loss on the way up. I feel like North Dome Direct (NDD) or Basket Dome Direct (BDD) would be fair neologisms for these routes, since the alternates (Yosemite Falls, Snow Creek, Indian Canyon, Ahwahnee Ledges/Royal Arches/North Dome Gully up the west side of North Dome) involve much longer approaches or several hundred feet of extra elevation gain to get to the respective domes.

Essential Gear

-Long pants to protect legs from brush

-Sufficient water if the seasonal creek north of Basket Dome is dry

External Links

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