Article appeared in Mountain #60, March/April 1978
 
TUOLUMNE MEADOWS
Tom Higgens
 
FOR THOSE WHO ENJOY high-angle face climbing in cool, glistening surroundings, the 
granite domes of Tuolumne Meadows are ideal. Near to Yosemite, but 4,000 feet 
higher, Tuolumne is a cool alternative to climbing in the heat of a Yosemite 
summer. Also, in contrast to the smooth grey rock of Yosemite, the granite of 
Tuolumne is orange, bright and knobby, though sometimes broken by a flashing sheet 
of smooth glacier polish. Climbing here is an airy, visually titillating 
experience.
 
There is only one drawback to climbs on such gorgeous rock. So perfect are the 
domes that many routes are broken by few if any cracks. Fortunately - or 
unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint - the established routes without cracks 
are generally well protected by bolts. If one chooses to use them (virtually 
everyone does) they first must be found. A certain amount of squinting into the 
sea of reflective knobs and crystals is necessary to turn up the small hangers on 
quarter-inch studs.
 
Tuolumne and Yosemite climbs differ not only in their character and temperature 
but in their length. The longest climbs in Tuolumne are around 10 to 12 pitches, 
but most average three to five pitches. As a result, there is plenty of time for 
beer drinking, swimming' and hiking before or after climbing. A seasonal store and 
restaurant provide some of the basic food and drink necessary to keep one going.
 
Tuolumne Meadows is located at 8,000ft in the high country above and north of 
Yosemite Valley. The area is reached by driving from Yosemite along Tioga Road for 
about an hour, or until the first view of the large, shining granite domes knocks 
you out of your car.
 
First to come into sight while travelling west to east are Polly Dome and its 
subsidiaries along the north side of the winking Tenaya Lake. Pywiack Dome stands 
at the east end of the lake and the Pennyroyal Arches to the south. In another few 
minutes of driving Medlicott Dome, a long low schooner, appears to the south-east. 
Its highest neighbour, Mariuolumne, is just to the north. Together they hide a 
shallow lake near their summits. Next, again to the south of the road, appears a 
soft-looking pyramid, the Lamb. A gradual turn and drop in the road prepares one 
for the free-floating feeling of encountering Fairview Dome, hovering huge above 
treetops, isolated from all the rest. Across from Fairview is Daff Dome, named by 
an  acronym  (Dome  Across From Fairview). The trip ends in another mile or two in 
Tuolumne Meadows proper, touched off by little Lembert Dome at the east end.
 
The development of climbing on the beautiful granite domes of Tuolumne  Meadows is 
a story with many paradoxes. In his Climber's Guide to the High Sierra, Steve 
Roper says Tuolumne is visited by "vast numbers" of hardmen who establish 
residence there. "Crowded", Roper calls it. In fact, Tuolumne traditionally has 
not been excessively crowded, as one might expect of such an attractive area. Only 
recently have many climbers been attracted to Tuolumne. Perhaps this paradox can 
be explained by another - one of the best rock climbing areas in the country has 
no guidebook exclusively devoted to it. Except for Roper's Guide to the High 
Sierra and an old article in Ascent, there are no descriptions to the Tuolumne 
Domes. Finally, a decade of tradition in climbing style, turned topsy-turvy inside 
of a few recent years, adds still another irony.
 
Beginnings
 
There are probably two reasons why the first long, notable route in Tuolumne did 
not spur on other climbs until four years later. Chuck Pratt and Wally Reed 
climbed the Fairview Dome by way of the most central major crack system on the 
north face in 1958, bivouacking once and using many pitons for aid. Along with a 
few short routes on Lembert in the 1950s, done by Warren Harding, Dick Leonard and 
others (including the now famous Water Cracks), the long Pratt-Reed ascent of 
Fairview was to become a classic and popular climb, but not immediately. First, 
more interest in face climbing had to develop and second, interest had to be 
quickened an area lesser in scale and grandeur than Yosemite.
 
Edging, friction and route-finding techniques, so necessary on the blank faces of 
Tuolumne, began to develop in Yosemite and Tahquitz to the south shortly after the 
first major climb in Tuolumne. Bill Amborne, Eric Beck, Jeff Foott, Bob Kamps, and 
Frank Sacherer, among others, created excellent Yosemite face-climbing routes on 
Glacier Point Apron and/or Cathedral Rocks, beginning in 1960. Then, in 1962, some 
of the best California climbers  were   to  visit Tuolumne, diverging from climbs 
where the   greatest  prestige  and  interest centred - Yosemite aid walls and 
smooth crack climbs.
 
The stage was therefore set for 1962 and 1963. In these years Bob Kamps and Mort 
Hempel freed the Pratt-Reed route on Fairview, though not in a style which was to 
credit them with a first free ascent. Kamps followed one pitch free on which 
Hempel used one pin of aid leading. Frank Sacherer and Wally Reed climbed West 
Crack (5.8) on Daff Dome in 1963. This intimidating but moderate climb probably  
attracted crack-man Sacherer because it follows an unbroken 400ft sliver on the 
west face. However, delicious knob climbing, not jamming, characterises this climb 
and makes it a perfect introduction to Tuolumne rock.
 
The Great White Book (5.6) on Stately Pleasure Dome, another now-popular climb 
following an unmistakable left-facing open book, was done by Hope Morehouse, Jim 
Baldwin and Jeff Foott in 1962. In the same year Wally Reed and Glen Denny climbed 
the Inverted Staircase on Fairview Dome, and a year later Kamps and Reed freed 
this route (5.10). Perhaps Kamps had more than his usual one or two cups of 
morning coffee. He eased up the crux lead like smoke, but with no puff. To this 
day, the three-step arch pitch turns back top climbers and has limited the current 
ascent total to perhaps half a dozen.
 
Plum years -- 1965-70
 
A few of the climbers who first nervously toed on to the Tuolumne walls and felt 
the cool, deep blue air knew a decade or more of face climbing might be beginning. 
All was not certain - whether one could stand on knobs and edges long enough to 
place protection bolts on sections of crackless walls, or whether the sense of 
teetering was pleasure or fear or what. But the beauty of it all, the weakening 
inside at tilting back to see oceans of rock, this feeling of being propelled 
around - up, down, or was it away - this convinced some to try a dose of Tuolumne 
rock, cracked and crackless.
 
One of the first to take too strong a dose  of crackless  rock was Tom Gerughty. 
Tom, his camera eye far in front of his climbing eye, chose to follow the lovely 
white crystal strings on Pywiack Dome. Perhaps he hoped for a path of friendly 
crystals. He set out in 1966 with Dave Meeks and Roger Evja. Tom had not placed 
bolts before from small stances and found he could not stop at hard sections to do 
so. He trembled up and up on the continuous last pitch, afraid to go on, afraid to 
go down. The drill dangled uselessly from his side. At the end of the last pitch, 
he risked a 200ft slab-splashing fall. Shaking violently, he somehow made the 
move. Since Tom's ordeal and with his permission, one or two more bolts have been 
added to make the climb (5.8) a sane, though scary, venture.
 
The Dike was the aesthetic plum on Pywiack, following the sinuous crystal dikes on 
the north face. It was a pivotal climb as well, for it alerted other climbers to 
the possibilities and risks of venturing on to crackless Tuolumne rock. The lesson 
was well taken. Between 1965 and 1970, climbers - including Gerughty - took the 
main arches and grooves of Tuolumne Domes. Only now and then were totally 
crackless areas climbed, and usually only between cracks. The resulting routes are 
some of the most pleasing to be found anywhere. The Hobbit Book (5.7) is a 
striking dihedral route on Mariuolumne, where the climbing is on chickenheads and 
waves of orange rock. Topping off the route is a hidden, highly reflective lake 
just over the summit.
 
Many of the lines following cracks on Medlicott were also done in this period, the 
finest being the Yawn (5.9), the Coming (5.9) and Chartres (5.9). The Yawn, done 
first by T M Herbert and Gordon Webster and freed later by Phil Bircheff, is the 
only long chimney and crack climb in Tuolumne. Some mysterious order in things has 
put the most elegant dihedral in the Sierra at the top of this climb. Chartres, 
done by Kamps and me, is an ethereal line connecting several long arches. When we 
first climbed the route we arrived at dusk below an enveloping roof at the top, 
utterly stymied. At the very last we found the secret -- a thick dike glowing 
around the roof corner.
 
On Daff Dome, the prominent Crescent Arch began a rating debate in Tuolumne. When 
Layton Kor and Fred Becky first climbed the route in 1965, neither had much 
experience with Tuolumne rock. Without the confidence to use the many small 
crystals and edges, they nailed much of the route. Kamps and Herbert soon after 
climbed it free, calling the climb 5.9. Robbins disagreed. He called the route 
5.10 because the final pitch is so sustained. Kamps disagreed. He claimed that 
ratings should be tied to sections, not pitches, and that Crescent has no 5.10 
sections. Some, including me, have tended toward the Kamps method of rating, while 
other climbers have not. Thus, rating disagreements stemming from section versus 
pitch arguments still surround such notable routes as Piece de Resistance, the 
Vision, and Lucky Streaks. This confusion affects primarily the 5.10 and 5.11 
climbs, as it probably does everywhere.
 
Gradually, many crack systems, buttresses, roofs and other prominent features were 
climbed in this period, and even several crackless faces. Rawl Drive (5.9), Nerve 
Wrack Point (5.8) and Vision (5.9) represent examples of lovely, sustained routes 
on glistening, golden rock made possible by bolts placed on lead from difficult 
stances.
 
Here we learned there is no trick to bolt placements from small stances. All one 
can do is twist, hammer, twist, hammer, stop, hold that flake, free one foot, 
shake it, free the other, shake it, twist, hammer. In time, the calves bulge, then 
break through a pain barrier. Ten to 20 minutes later, the bolt is ready to clip 
through. A lead involving several bolt placements might take a couple of hours. 
After placing several bolts, the common method of resting was to come down to the 
last decent stance, rest there, then climb back up and continue until it was 
possible to stop to place another bolt. It soon became possible to stop in the 
middle of 5.8 or even 5.9 moves.
 
Phobus and Deimos (both 5.8 or 5.9) are crack climbs up steep walls and over roofs 
made possible, even moderate, by knobs and edges. On Deimos, TM Herbert sat below 
the climb screaming that Gerughty and I should come down off our first ascent. TM 
said a block was moving on to us, but we kept on trusting the rock over TM. It 
turns out there are no moving rocks on Deimos. Lucky Streaks (5.9 or 5.10) follows 
an inspiring, wispy crack system on Fairview. Kamps and I both had several bowel 
movements before starting this climb, but again, shining gold knobs allowed us to 
shake along this preposterous line, all in one day with no shenanigans. Thy Will 
Be Done follows a step over a roof where an undercling can squash your nose into 
the ceiling as you jig along. Many of these now-classic routes were done by only a 
handful of climbers in the '60s, probably because there was little information 
about routes and some exaggerated stories about route difficulty.
 
Approximately 50 routes were done between 1965 and 1971, and three or four 
climbers figured in well over half of them. Tom Gerughty, Bob Kamps, TM Herbert 
and I climbed in Tuolumne in this period without much notice and with an abundance 
of new route possibilities. An article or two in Ascent and the American Alpine 
Club Journal told something of Tuolumne climbs, but no formal guidebook developed. 
Certain climbs, Lucky Streaks and Chartres for example, became known as deadly 
routes and were unrepeated for three years after the first ascents.
 
T M Herbert probably did much to scare climbers away with his rubber-faced, wide-
eyed tales of first ascents. Swigging a beer and pacing intensely, he would say: 
"God, you should have seen them," (referring to some first ascent team) "their 
butts quivering, no place to stop, no protection except for some dinky bolt ... I 
yelled to 'em over and over there was nothing to go for and no way to reach the 
ground, and they'd better just jump, but they wouldn't listen . . ."
 
The controversial '70s The 1970s in Tuolumne have thus far been marked by many new 
routes, much debate about the appropriateness of guides and articles on Tuolumne, 
and some arguments about ethical standards. The most active climbers of recent 
times in Tuolumne are Dale Bard, Bob Harrington and Vern Clevenger. They have 
created perhaps 30 fine new climbs in Tuolumne since 1970. Vern kept (and still 
keeps) an informal guidebook to Tuolumne which is passed around only to a few 
other climbers for fear of attracting too many climbers to the area. Vern 
initially contributed portions of an early draft of this article, but decided: "I 
just don't think it belongs in Mountain." Perhaps Vern also feels, as I do, that 
it is difficult to be objective about a place one has climbed in so much. Yet Vern 
has contributed considerable information about route development in the 1970s 
which is presented here, though I must take full responsibility for any 
misrepresentations. And we have discussed continuously the pros and cons of 
several recent climbing styles which stand in sharp contrast to the methods of the 
1960s.
 
The main ethical debate between climbers of the 1960s and 1970s has revolved 
around a transition in specific climbing style. Until 1971 and 1972, the 
prevailing belief was that aid climbing was not desirable, even though it 
occurred. I recall Kamps and I turned back at least twice from a route on Fairview 
Dome which seemed to require aid to surmount a 20ft roof above Crescent Ledge. 
More strong than the unwritten rule against aid was that 1960s prohibition 
against: (1) pre-protection (placing protection on rappel or on aid, then free-
climbing); (2) previewing (rehearsing moves on rappel or with a top rope); (3) 
doctoring (fixing chock-stones, chopping holds); and (4) sieging (on climbs, team 
members following on jumars or on fixed ropes for easy returns to high points, and 
on pitches, lowering by the rope, then hand-walking it to the high point).
 
Before 1971, norms excluded these methods, but after 1971 ethical preferences 
changed. In the years subsequent to 1971 aid climbing, pre-protection, previewing 
and sieging, though not doctoring, have become more acceptable in Tuolumne.
 
On Pywiack Dome, Royal Robbins and Chris Vandiver did Boa (5.10 or 5.11, A4 or A5) 
in 1972, and aid and free climb surmounting a roof on the north face. That same 
year, a line of bolts obviously placed on aid appeared on the beautiful golden 
wall on the southern margin of Medlicott. There is still uncertainty about who 
placed this aid ladder. The Plastic Exploding Inevitable aided the giant roofs 
above Crescent Ledge on Fairview, a particular disappointment to climbers of the 
sixties who had left the roof unaided expecting someone someday would climb it 
free.
 
Also disturbing to those holding to 1960s Tuolumne ethics were cases of 
previewing, pre-protecting and sieging. Some routes involving one or more of these 
tactics include Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Shambles,  Hoodwink, Death  Crack, Wailing 
Wall, Handbook, Crying Time Again, and Willie's Hand Jive.
 
Climbers of both eras have sometimes made fools of themselves defending one or 
another style. About 1974, I chopped the bolts on Hand Jive because they were 
placed on rappel and lectured one of the ascent team. Thinking about it 
afterwards, I felt pretty foolish, but soon found company in the den of fools when 
the bolts were replaced on rappel, this time more than last! Chris Vandiver 
reports that arguments continue about the route, and in one case climbers nearly 
came to blows. Perhaps Werner Braun holds the answer. He chose to climb a route 
not far from Hand Jive by doing it solo and in work boots. Werner's Wiggle is 5.8, 
not bad for Werner's first climb!
 
However many of the recent routes were originally done, several lines of the 1970s 
offer fine challenges to climbers no matter what their ethical preferences. For 
face climbers who crave bursts of ??? on tiny edges and glossy knobs, Polly Dome 
and vicinity are a must. There is Get Slick (5.10) just to the right of the 
classic Great White Book. And nearby are Piece of Grass (5.10+) and Sweet Nothings 
(5.10+), just a notch up on the jitter scale from Get Slick. Finally, Dreams 
(5.11+) and Golden Bars (5.11) are currently the most touchy short face climbs. 
Climbers who do these routes will look over to the Dike and smile at the thought 
of Gerughty trembling. Yet the route they are on would not have been possible 
without the Dike and other climbs, each of which pointed and forever points to the 
next head-swimming possibility.
 
In the category of roof problems, several stand out. Jim Bridwell and Roger 
Breedlove   climbed   Hoodwink   on Harlequin Dome to create that upside-down 
feeling until a bucket is reached. The roof is followed by a bolt ladder which was 
placed on aid and then freed immediately. Other climbers felt the ladder wasn't 
necessary and fewer bolts would have been adequate. Wailing Wall is a roof problem 
of much more serious nature than Hoodwink. Here, fierce underclinging and jamming 
on the crux pitch provide plenty of scare. Initially called 5.12, the roof was 
protected on aid, then slowly but surely freed.
 
Uh-Uh on Fairview provides a comic relief roof. Imagine a 25ft ceiling which looks 
impassable but is only 5.3! Unfortunately, getting to the roof is not so pleasant. 
T M Herbert nearly lost his life (again) on the third ascent, when he was deceived 
by the devious second (or it is third?) pitch. Sixty feet out in the middle of 
nowhere and in the midst of incessant whimpering, T M finally placed a bolt. Boa 
on Pywiack has a roof which resists a free ascent, no matter how defined. 
Clevenger strained his back on the route and sieged it, but to no avail.
 
Crack climbing in Tuolumne took off in the 1970s. In 1972 Bridwell and Breedlove 
climbed Handbook on Whizz Dome to create a 5.11 hand and finger problem. Hints of 
resting on protection still surround stories of the first ascent. Several years 
passed before a second ascent, done in reportedly better style. Oz takes an 
appalling bold crack line on a small dome below Marioulumne. Done in 1975 by Bard 
and Locke, the route might be the steepest in Tuolumne, a truly dizzy experience.
 
Reportedly, two aid bolt ladders were employed to protect a headwall which was 
then free-climbed, all below the main dihedral. Also, the entire route was fixed 
with ropes to allow easy up and down access.
 
Death Crack (5.11) on Stately Pleasure Dome provides the overhanging fist and off-
width challenge in the area. After being top-roped by Clevenger and others for two 
years, it was led in 1976. So overhanging is this crack that the toprope swing is 
worse than a leader fall! The experience of sailing toward Tenaya Lake 
horizontally is like hang gliding. Blues Riff (5.11+) on Polly Dome is Bard's 
contribution to Tuolumne crack climbing. Ten tries over two years and much pre-
protection finally created this horrendous route.
 
In the category of long climbs, the best are on Fairview and Medlicott. Probably 
the best of all is Piece de Resistance (5.10 or 5.11) on Fairview Dome. I usually 
am restless the night before first ascents, but for this one I flipped and flopped 
in my bag from dusk to dawn. Clevenger, on the other hand, showed up at sunrise 
with his usual relaxed yawn. He and Harrington had been working on the crux 
headwall pitch some weeks before and could perhaps be more casual. But I also knew 
they had had to use aid at one point on the headwall and it was not certain it 
could be eliminated.
 
I voted for a haul bag with extra shoes, water, food and sleeping bags so as to 
allow us a good chance at the climb. We hauled lots of junk none of which we ever 
needed, but all of which helped our buzzing  brains. The aid went free, resulting 
in steep, ceaseless edging up one 5.10 move after another. Because of the quality 
of the rock, its aesthetic features and the continual blaze of varied difficulty, 
this route is my favourite in Tuolumne.
 
Near Piece de Resistance is Mr Toad's Wild Ride, a multi-year effort by Clevenger 
and others, sieged and aided but eventually freed. An enormous left-facing 
dihedral (not part of the climb) marks the general line. Here again, the action is 
superb steep face climbing on rock which sparkles in the afternoon sun. Also 
nearby are Fairest of All and the Plastic Exploding Inevitable, two other grade 
V's on Fairview. The latter involves some aid climbing over roofs high on the 
climb. Freeing the roofs should be ample challenge for the next few years. These 
are undulating, inverted bulges with few decent cracks. Fairest of All hooks too 
wildly right at its middle to be a completely satisfying climb, but does involve 
some intricate, fun pitches before deviating right. When Mike Irwin and I first 
did this climb in 1973, darkness forced us to rush one pitch below the prominent 
bowl on the route. I recall climbing a fair amount of 5.8 some 50ft out where a 
bolt was needed. Reportedly, a subsequent ascent team has added a bolt or two to 
make this pitch safe.
 
On Medlicott, a couple of medium length face routes stand out as good examples of 
climbs of the seventies. Clevenger reports Shambles (5.11+) "has got to be the 
most continuously scary long climb in the Meadows." Here Vern rediscovered the 
pull of excitement and push of fear which underlie all the greatest Tuolumne first 
ascents. After steep, unprotected face climbing, he was tugged ever closer to the 
gold wall, a dead vertical, deeply coloured sheet of rock on the right edge of 
Shambles. "I felt pulled toward it, as if the route had to finish on its margin. 
Jesus, there you are 700ft from the ground, with the sun glowing from above and 
below you."
 
The right edge of the gold wall marks Sweet Jesus (5.9), a pleasant excursion on 
fabulous rock, though a little devious toward the top. More fun, but shorter, is 
Ciebola (5.10), done last year just to the right of Sweet Jesus. Clevenger reports 
this is an "instant classicÉ" with three parties waiting in line for the climb two 
days after the first ascent". A three foot wide swath of knobs and good bolt 
protection make this the most joyous of the climbs on Medlicott.
 
Looking back and ahead
 
Among the many climbs done in Tuolumne, perhaps a few stand out as the most 
satisfying and challenging. For face climbers, the Vision and Get Slick are 
satisfying short climbs in the hard, but not hardest, category. For the hardest, 
Golden Bars and Wrinkle in Time are two short-climb challenges, with Mr Toad's, 
Shambles and Piece de Resistance in the long, hard category. Crack climbers will 
enjoy Phobus and Deimos in the moderate category, and Handbook, Death Crack and 
Blues Riff in the hardest category. And for classic, moderate routes (5.9 or 
below), there are the regular route on Fairview Dome, West Crack on Daff Dome, the 
Dike on Pywiack, the Hobbit Book on Marioulumne and Water Cracks on Lembert Dome.
 
Obviously the style of ascent is important information in Tuolumne. For those 
coming to the area uninformed, it is important to know if the hardest routes have 
been done with or without previewing, rehearsing, pre-protection or sieging. If 
climbers are led to believe a route has been done without pre-protection or 
rehearsing, for example, they will find the going unexpectedly difficult, if not 
dangerous ("sandbagged" describes the predicament of those in trouble on a route 
because of incomplete information). They may also believe Tuolumne is filled with 
anti-gravity climbers.
 
I think all of this points to the need for honesty in reporting ascent styles. 
Thus the accompanying list of selected climbs makes an attempt to provide at least 
some information about climbing styles, as has the discussion of routes. I am not 
certain all of this information is correct or comprehensive, and I must take full 
responsibility for any errors.
 
What about the future of climbing and ethics in Tuolumne? One of the most active 
climbers in recent years, Vern Clevenger, sums it up this way: "The leading 
climbers, and their ideas, have combined to form an ever-changing style of 
climbing employed on first ascents. This style is only transformed into 
'appropriate ethical behaviour' as time passes away, and only those who change 
with it are doing the best new routes as the years go by. The majority of the best 
routes have now been done, but there is always a new gem waiting just around the 
corner or back behind that dome.
 
"Obviously, no one has the right to tell another climber how to climb as long as 
the rock is not hurtÉ Historically, climbers move on to new places as they come to 
the conclusion that at least for them personally there just is not anything left 
worth doing anymore in an area such as Tuolumne. Most realize that they are merely 
eliminating problems, 'murdering the impossible', rather than solving anything.
 
"All climbers, especially those who are not yet at this point, have a 
responsibility to consider whether we really need another route which requires all 
of the aforementioned devious means of progress and maybe some new methods made up 
on the spot, for example the use of a bat-hook or quickie bolt in a shallow hole 
for tension so that a good bolt can be placed. Certainly, there are some excellent 
remaining possibilities left, but maybe all those days of terrifying strenuous 
effort could be expended elsewhere. Endless possibilities await the climber who 
journeys just a few hours away from the Meadows. For me, it is far more satisfying 
to do a new grade V on a virgin wall than to spend five days on a two-pitch route 
which barely manages to avoid easy climbing on either side.
 
"Closer to home, there are some climbs which could be redone in better style. The 
fixed protection, placed on aid, could be removed from the Wailing Wall, Death 
Crack, Boa and others so that their true difficulties can be dealt with. Far short 
of this extreme, however, lie hundreds of good routes to have a great time on, 
which after all is the whole point of climbing in the first place."
 
I have three thoughts about the future of Tuolumne. First, I hope climbers doing 
new routes in the future will be explicit about the style of their ascents. I 
think a guidebook should evolve and should contain a section about the style of 
ascents. This will allow future climbers to know about styles and their 
transformations and, based on complete information, decide for themselves what is 
an appropriate approach. Of course a guidebook might generate some new demand for 
climbing, but demand is already on the upswing and is driven by forces beyond the 
control of any Tuolumne devotees. Another obvious advantage of a guidebook is it 
would alert people to what has been done. There has already been an instance of a 
party claiming a first ascent where their route had been done a decade ago (the 
west faces of Cottage or Erratic Domes were climbed in 1968).
 
Second, to echo Clevenger, I suggest the greatest challenges of coming years are 
in doing certain routes in the traditional style of the '60s, rather than 
searching out still more lines between lines. There is just more magic per mile in 
climbing without lots of lowering, jumaring, aiding and the rest. Speaking about 
another climbing area, Eldorado Canyon, Jim Erickson has well stated a similar 
message in the book Climb!
 
Third, whatever sense or order one seeks in Tuolumne climbing, whatever direction 
anyone tries to give it, always seems doomed. The future there, as the past, will 
undoubtedly remain unpredictable and  paradoxical. From the frustration and 
satisfaction of having no guide to the Meadows, to the hope for few visitors but 
enough to appreciate one's own routes, to the climbing in one style while 
idealising another, the future of Tuolumne will be as befuddling as the fear and 
elation Gerughty must have felt when he first shook upward on that thin, white web 
of Tuolumne rock.