An awesome crack route that is generally well-protected. Very memorable views and climbing.

3rd class up (about 150') to the base of the most obvious cracks on the NW Face and build a belay.

p1- Climb a great crack to a 5.9 overlap. Pull the overlap. Book says to stop here. We continued through the next great 5.8 crack section and stopped on a roomy ledge. Right at the end of the 60m, but we could've third-classed in higher from the ground. 5.9, 200'.

p2- Climb great 5.8 fingers to a .10a hands section. The book says to belay here at a small ledge. W/ a 60, it's easy to gun it through the .10c thin crack to a good ledge. Belay here where the crack peters out. Have some smaller nuts to back up the piton with. 5.10c, 170'.

p3- Work up to the top of the flake off the belay ledge and piece together a route through the face to the crack above and right. 5.9, 50'.

NOTE- w/ a 70, you might be able to link pitches two and three in a marathon pitch.

Direct Northwest Face

Big Boys Don't Cry

Northwest Books

Sandbag

John Henry

Cry Baby

Mega Bleam

Crying Time Again

Maybe not as classic as Crying Time Again, but good nonetheless.  If the marginal pro on the last pitch is too daunting one can easily escape right on the big ledge.

Pitch 1 - poorly protected 5.8 climbing past one bolt to a single bolt and gear belay.

Pitch 2 - steep, well protected climbing past three bolts(5.10a). Higher up a fourth bolt leads to a small ledge where you belay.

Pitch 3 - climb up on knobs and edges past two bolts to a two-bolt anchor.  Crying Time Again comes in from the left, make sure you head up and right to the belay.

Pitch 4 - climb more or less straight up past two bolts to the big ledge which cuts across the face.  There are some big knobs up there!

BITD, we used to combine pitches 3 & 4 into one, long rope stretching 180' pitch when the longest ropes we had were 165'!

Pitch 5 - climb up and right past a couple of pieces of fixed protection(5.10c) then head straight to the top.

This is a great climb for the grade on Lembert Dome.  The first pitch is the meat and potatoes of the climb with a fun 5.6 lieback section.

P1: 5.6 (or 5.9 variation). Start up a 3rd class ramp and belay at a thick shrub / small tree (whatever you want to call it).  There is a good bolt that protects the face friction to gain the corner / lieback about 15' from the belay shrub.  Then follow the lieback up to some broken ledges until you reach another belay shrub.  Avoid the steep crack that looks harder than 5.6 (5.9) or charge up it with good pro.

P2: 5.6 or less. Continue up the broken ledges and up a short crack that accepts wider pro.  Finish near the lip with a gear anchor wherever is convenient.

Walk off right to gain the upper sloping section of Lembert, then follow it down the backside on the easiest path pack to the parking lot.  No real downclimbing required and pretty easy (unless wet).

This route starts off of the ledge at the end of the the first pitch of the NW Buttress route.  A series of three cracks lead up and left for the second pitch of NW Butt.  For Sandbag, stay in the rightmost crack.  Nice climbing up a right facing corner that eventually roofs out right.  Pull around to reach ledge/rail.  Clip bolt then move up and right connecting rails with one fat mantle being the crux.   Good stuff.  Head up placing gear in a seam that eventually dead ends.  Reach up and left to a slanted and a bit hard to see rail and climb up to ledge system.  Move right a few feet and clip pin (there is gear) in right facing corner.  Climb corner until it starts to arch right and turn to choss.  Before choss pull out to left arete on bulbous heads to eventually gain belay ledge.  Long pitch. 220+ ft  Steep and fun!

John Henry is a fine two pitch bolted face route. An easier alternative to Crying Time if that climb is booked up or a fun way to start the Direct NW Face route.

While the bolts are well located to protect each hard move, you can expect to be well above each bolt on relatively easier climbing.

Start about 200 feet down and south (right) from the start of Direct NW Face, look for a low angle seam/crack on the face right near the edge of a recess on the right side of the apron.

Pitch 1: Head up the low angle crack as it heads up and right, as it bends further right find a nice 1-2" cam placement and head up and left on the slab past two hard to see and well spaced bolts to a new double bolt anchor/rap. 5.7(5.6R) - 180 feet.

Pitch 2: Head up and right up ever steeper and harder face climbing with nice holds and good rests past 8 bolts to a double bolt anchor/rap. 5.9 - 180 feet.

From here you can do two double rope rappels from the fixed anchors or continue up Direct NW Face. If you choose to continue up, dirty slab up and right past an old rusty 1/4" bolt on slabby ledges and then back left to join the second to last pitch of Direct NW Face - one move of 5.9R.

Excellent pitch that is often used as an alternate start to Crying Time Again.

Tightly bolted route by Tuolumne standards. Some guidebooks describe the 5.8 climbing to the first bolt as runout, but it's really pretty mellow.

There is a second pitch with no pro that did not look that exciting.

P1: Climb mostly straight up, trending slightly left toward the first bolt.

One could clip the first bolt with a longer runner to completely eliminate drag, but it's not bad either way.

From the first bolt, climb on a diagonal mostly up and to the left for 6 more bolts.

At this point, there is a short section of slab Supertopo describes as 5.7, which this climber thought felt considerably easier, especially for the Meadows. You could take up some small gear, around green/yellow Alien sized, however if you haven't had trouble up to here, you most likely don't need it to get to the chains.

In general, whenever difficulty is encountered, the best course of action is to move further left, and then up. Positive holds abound.

Descent: Not sure on route length, but rapping on a single 60m rope will easily get you back to the belay ledge.

Awesome moderate knob pulling. Even though this climb has bolts I would not consider it a sport climb. The bolts can be almost impossible to see at times even if they are five feet in front of you. The last pitch has several different options. 5.9 R or 10a safely bolted.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Northwest Face