UKC

I'm off work and want to spend a month in yosemite late April-late May, but while I've done plenty of trad and a lot of multipitches I've never big walled. According to people on mountain project I should still go as I can do all the other stuff there, but I'm wondering if anyone here can advise on having done a similar trip?
Particularly with finding partners, and what the style shock was like compared to UK (or verdon?) multipitching. 
 

Plan basically is to stay in camp 4 a couple weeks and in my hired van outside the valley for the other two. 

April May can be iffy for weather. We ended up going to J Tree and Red Rocks and back up over a three week trip to get away from rain and snow.

I arrived solo in 1980. Did about 40 routes with Brits and Americans, including Half Dome NW face with an untested guy.  An unforgettable trip.

No direct advice on your question but worth pointing out that park access and camping reservations are important considerations with Yosemite I believe Camp 4 now also requires reservations and there may be a limit on 7 days in the park at any one time? Apologies if you’re already across this.

Thanks! Yeah as far as i can tell Camp4 is a 'get in line at 4am and hope for a space' thing (they were balloting in covid i think?) and you cant stay more than 7 nights may-sept, so im hoping to do 7 nights in april, 7 nights in may, and then stay outside the valley in the van. Thanks for mentioning it though, there sure are a lot of regs to note! 

Try here for partners.

https://www.mountainproject.com/partner-finder

Like Pedro50 above I went solo in about 1990 so of course things have changed. I relied on old fashioned notes pinned to the Camp 4 noticeboard. Had no luck to begin so decamped to Tuolumne. I climbed with about four partners after placing another note, one of whom became a life long friend.

Another had big wall ambitions (I hadn't particularly) so we went back to the valley and ended up doing Half Dome reg NW after working through quite a few other routes to get us fit and competent.

You'll have to decide on your own method of finding partners in a way you feel comfortable with.

The style shock is a thing, overcome by mileage on long routes. Clean aid needs a bit of thinking about and it's really helpful to get someone to teach you. Just do loads. I strongly advise going up to Tuolumne too for more long routes in a different style.

So yes totally do it. And try to stay for longer than a month.

There was pre-covid a good chance of meeting people, there's a notice board in camp4 for people looking for partners and always lots posted up. 

If you want to do some specific big walls it would be worth learning the basics before you go. You could learn it out there, but why waste your holiday learning when you could be climbing super classics. Pretty much all the stuff you need to know can be learnt and practiced in quarries at home.

https://www.youtube.com/@SuperTopoVideo - chris Macnamara has some helpful videos but id also recommend his book "how to big wall climb". Does what it says.

Depending on how obvious your van is, there seemed to be lots of people staying in vans in the park in October (you can get busted though, so think twice). 

Lots of people post for partners on the camp four notice board. It's worth checking the current booking rules, I think they might have changed recently.

A bit of aid practice in the UK is worthwhile, especially bolt ladders, lower outs, using skyhooks/camhooks, jumar following. I ran a course for some guys earlier in the year with Yosemite bigwalls in mind. Worth practicing crack climbing too.

Quite a lot of the easier walls don't require a portaledge (S Face Washington Column, West Face leaning tower, The Nose). Haul bags are cheaper to buy there than here. 

Belays are for the most part all bolted and seemed pretty well set up for abseiling (70m rope can be handy).

Free WiFi can be found at Degnans deli (between the store and ranger station) and at Yosemite Lodge Bar (other side of the road from Camp 4). The lodge WiFi was much better when we were there.

If you have any specific questions feel free to send me an email.

From May to September 14 nights are allowed in Yosemite National Park. Only 7 of those nights are permitted in Yosemite Valley. 

There is no reservation required to access the Yosemite National Park in 2023. 

When bolts are used in Yosemite they do not follow European conventions of closely spaced bolts. There are bolted anchors. 

To climb 5.9 Yosemite Cracks competently on a big wall requires substantial Yosemite experience climbing 5.10 and to be a solid 5.10 leader. The majority of climbers new to Valley climbing require a period of adaptation. Modify what you believe you can climb initially and begin conservatively. 

Mountain Project is a fertile site to find climbing partners as well as the notice board located at the site entrance. 

Historic Camp 4 was traditionally a first come, first serve campsite. If you haven't done already try to reserve a campsite. All reservations may now be taken. 

Andy Kirkpatrick's book is excellent on Aid Climbing and what's required to climb a big wall.

Agree with others that late April - May is potentially difficult for weather. We always used to go late May - June for 3 weeks and even then getting up to Tuolumne for a week was sometimes difficult because of snow. Have a warm sleeping bag! 

I spent ages messing around on jumars, transferring to abseil and sack hauling in scruffy quarries/ trees in UK before I went. Plus big long enchainments of routes in the mountains.

It definitely paid dividends. The faff of big wall stuff is difficult to prepare for. 

If you're steady at E2 (from your profile), then you have loads of options for routes - both short and long - which will be great, but don't need a 'big wall' approach.

My last trip was in the spring 2019. I didn't find it that easy to find partners at first, it seems to take a little while before people know you're knocking about and looking for partners, but once I got into the swing of things it was okay. Be prepared for some flakey people! I stayed outside the park as C4 is a bit grim imo, but that's a pain too. As one of my climbing partners on that trip said, accomodation is the crux of any trip to Yosemite. Having a hired van is probably a good idea (I had a car and it was fine but a van would be good). On that trip the weather was a bit unsettled and for the last week the forecast was very cold and wet, so we bailed to Joshua Tree - where it was still cold and hailed (in May!), despite being 500 miles further south. Tbh the climate is weird now and in California it's even weirder, so be prepared for anything and also be ready to travel. There is more great climbing than you could ever do within 12 hours drive.

The climbing takes a little bit of getting used to but you'll be fine. Climb some cracks before you leave, gritstone ones are as technical as Yosemite but much much less sustained. Getting a bit of confidence on the wider stuff helps too - climbing somewhere like Ramshaw will really help, as does general fitness for all day excursions and general crag fitness. There's lots of pushing and udging which is hard to train for at the wall. Yosemite chimneys are the living end, I found a 5.8 chimney in the Valley was as tiring as climbing 5.11 in Joshua Tree. 5.9+ is harder than 5.10! Take lots of cams. As Rob says above, there are a ton of routes you can do if you can climb E2, from single pitch to longer day climbs.

America is quite expensive these days so budget accordingly. Gas is, by their standards, quite highly taxed in California.

Happy to answer any questions you may have. It's an awesome place, you'll have a great time.

Hobson Moor Quarry - the perfect spot to hone those Big Wall skills:

https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2022/10/02/big-wall-apprenticeship-where-b...

Cheers, Dom 

I think these days Camp4 is a reservation system, not a queue up at 4a.m. type thing. Was like that in October last year anyway, but there are different rules for different times of year.

There's loads to do without bigwalling, if you climb E2 you'll be fine.

If you do want to get into big walling I think that the resources from VDiff climbing are by far and away the best: https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/bigwall/ , https://www.youtube.com/@vdiffclimbing , https://vdiffclimbing.thinkific.com/courses/big-wall , https://vdiffclimbing.gumroad.com/l/vdiff-bigwall . I haven't actually seen the course, but if it's anything like the rest of his stuff it'll be great. The Chris McNamara stuff is good, but some of the methods aren't the most modern anymore and it's not as polished. Stuff from howNot2 guy is intermittently good and bad, I wouldn't recommend it.

I've only been there with partners, but in the short time I've stayed in camp 4 (not a very nice campsite, but does now have some showers) I/we were asked if we were looking for partners a few times, so it is possible. Bear in mind that the standard of partner can vary wildly and it can be hard to tell! We were approached by someone who'd done a sub 10h NIAD two days previously and someone who wanted to climb some 5.7/8. Obviously both are fine, but it's worth being honest with people about how good you are. I've never been approached by anyone asking about partners outside of Camp4, but another place to try could be El Cap bridge/meadow.

I got my partner for The Zodiac by chatting on the bridge. Friends for life.

E

Yes you can find partners.

But although the odds are good, the goods can be odd.  Road test at manure pile or similar before committing to something big.

Be honest about your lack of experience - nothing pisses people off more than finding they're the teacher without agreement.

And drop a few grades to start. Yosemite granite is not the same as Scottish!

Good call above re Tuolumne.

Don't forget to fully offset

You could turn up as well as reserve in October, I think its moved to reservation only though currently. The company who runs recreation.gov is getting sued for how it manages bookings across the board currently so it might change.

The How not to highline bigwall series is good too and probably the most up to date https://www.youtube.com/@HowNOT2/videos

Potentially also worth noting that you might not be fine on lots of routes if you can’t jam, even if you can lead E2.