Some of you may have read the prequel from last July when I took my oldest son (then 11 years old) up Snake Dike with my good friend Dave. When we got back, I wrote the trip report, and it got a lot of good reviews, but my two younger sons, Riley and Sawyer, were unimpressed. They figured if Ky could handle the big day, so could they. So I promised them I would take them up the next summer.

August 28, 2010
The weather forecast was for much cooler temps and gusty winds with afternoon showers. This seemed ideal as last July when we went up, it was scorching hot, so hot we ran out of water. I had a new strategy to shorten the day for the boys; I put them to bed in the back seat of the truck with a pillow and blanket each, so that when I went out there to leave at 1:30 am, they could keep on sleeping. And it worked. I drove to Lee Vining and picked up Dave who had volunteered to go again and help carrying gear and belaying. They slept right on through until we parked near Curry. We pressed their school backpacks into service as climbing packs, and they carried all of their own gear except food.

We unloaded bikes, and rode down to Happy Isles, leaving the truck around 4:18 am.



We cruised up the trail, and surprisingly we didn't see any others heading up, but saw a few folks coming down, from where I don't know.


We made good time up the trail, and were soon at the point where we left the Mist Trail for the use trail between Liberty Cap and Mt. Broderick.



It was still dark on this section, but the use trail is well defined and we managed to stay on route.



It was starting to get light as we hiked between the domes, and Ry and Saw wanted to scout the same giant leaning flake as their older brother.




We headed out through the woods to catch the use trail to Lost Lake.



Once we broke out from between the domes, we caught our first glimpse of the difficult South Face.




I have done this approach many times in the past, and it has always been somewhat of a challenge to keep away from the bush-whacking, but this time the trail was very well marked and easy to follow, with regular ducks, and the brush barely touched us. It seems greatly improved. Did Roger Brown have anything to do with that? As we broke out from between the domes, we spotted a pair of climbers on the approach ahead of us. They seemed to be making good time, and we hoped they would be one or two pitches along when we got to the base.










Apparently we were gaining on the climbers ahead of us, because when we arrived at the base they were just getting started.


The leader was competent though, and they climbed quickly. We geared up and got started. I put both Ry and Saw on one rope, they're quite light (65 & 70 pounds) and we didn't want to carry 3 ropes. It warmed my heart when Ryle was able to tie his own butterfly knot unaided.



I climbed up to the belay ledge, and Saw and Ry started up.





They cruised the first pitch, flying up everything in their way. Once they were a ways up, Dave started behind them, and I was able to belay all 3 of them since they were all on 2 ropes. The first ledge is large enough to be comfortable for four, and when they were all clipped in, I headed out on the traverse.


I set up at the belay, and the crew started over. This belay has no ledge, so it was kinda cozy with all four of us there.


I was glad to be on my way, to ease the crowding, and I made the friction traverse and over to the actual Snake Dike. I turned right at the first set of belay bolts, and climbed up to the next set.



Everyone joined me there, and I headed off up the 4th pitch. In the meantime, the pair ahead of us was making good time and pulling away.




You guessed it, next I climbed the 5th pitch, and Ry, Saw, and Dave cruised up to join me at another crowded hanging belay.



Onward to the 6th pitch, and the end of the dike.




Ry and Saw were happily cruising along, and they wished that there were more pitches of climbing.





The seventh pitch is just friction, with no handholds, but it's really low angle, so you don't miss the handholds too much.



We finished up the last two friction pitches, and changed shoes and started the long slab granite slog to the top.





We went down the cables, thankfully not crowded due to the sketchy weather, and then took the super secret short-cut. Dave takes much more artistic photos than I do, I just want to record the event, Dave likes to celebrate the event. So he takes photos of stuff like waterfalls, the moon, shadows, and low light.



We passed Vernal Falls, and then we were back to our bikes. We dropped our packs at the truck, and rode down to the store where Dave treated us all to ice cream.


The little guys had an awesome day, and I was amazed that they did the whole thing as just a matter of fact. They never complained, never grumbled, and didn't even think of getting scared. When I was 10, you would have had to sedate me to get me up that route. I'm a lucky dad to have such cool and adventurous boys. Big thanks to my good friend Dave for helping out on both trips.