This past non-winter was not so good news for skiing, but the low snow-pack means we can escape into the high country way earlier in the season that usual. In mid-April, we took advantage of fantastic weather and rapidly melting (or already gone) snow to do the Snake Hike. In case you aren’t familiar with it, the Snake Hike involves a 6 mile approach, Snake Dike, a 6-8 pitch 5.7 up a fantastic juggy dike on the side of Half Dome, hiking up 3rd class slabs forever to get to the top of Half Dome, descending the cables, and another 8 miles of hiking back down to the Valley.
We got up at 4:30am and were hiking by 5 in the light of our headlamps. We redpointed the approach (successfully avoiding the 5.0 dirt chimney I remember from the first time Luke and I did Snake Dike) and were the first at the route. Chris and I were the first party, starting up not much after 8:30am and topping out the route at ~12:30pm. I think we were all at the top of Half Dome around 2pm, then headed down the cables (which were down, making it a little more exciting) and made the long trudge back down, including the hoards that had descended upon the Mist Trail.
All in all, it was a fantastic day. Snake Dike is a really fun route, the weather was amazing, and the hike was only miserable on the way down (wet feet, approach shoes that weren’t the smartest choice for 14 miles in a day). But enough with words, here are some photos of our day:
Mandatory group waterfall shot!
On the final part of the approach past Lost Lake
Chris and Lizzy at the first belay
Chris on the edge of Half Dome
Lizzy runs it way out on the dike
Manit, Jonathan and Ben on the first pitches
The group cruises up the dike highway
Lizzy is psyched for endless jugs.
Lizzy and the snowy Starr King
Lizzy and Chris are done with the technical climbing.
The orange team is ready for endless slabs!
Summit success!
SNAKE HIKE PARTY!
Ben, Jonathan, Manit, Lizzy, Chris and Luke
That looks awesome! We’ve been wanting to do this but the approach just sounds painful. Looks like it’s worth it though. How’s the supposedly very long runout?
It’s definitely worth it! The runouts are long, but the climbing is easy, especially on the dike. The key is just relaxing and you won’t even notice that there are (almost) no bolts on the dike pitches.