Charlotte Dome
by Erik Sandelin
For 4th of July Catrin and I headed into King's Canyon to climb Charlotte Dome.
Although there's no El Cap and no Half Dome King's canyon is still almost as impressive as
Yosemite. What it lacks in grandeur it makes up for in wilderness experience.
No traffic jams, no tour buses and no lines to the climbs.
An eight mile hike took us from King's Canyon to Charlotte Creek where we slept.
This hike starts in a pine-forest but as you gradually gain height you get a splendid
view of the canyon and the steep ridges lining it. The sense of surprise we feel
when we encounter a lush meadow of firn and grass reminds us yet again that
most of California has a desert climate.
The alarm went of at 4am to give us ample time to cover the 600m of altitude gain to
the base of the route. Apart from the usual nausea and dizziness that are normal
parts of an early morning start the three hour approach went smoothly. 
The first couple of pitches was way easy. Catrin followed so fast she was panting when
she reached the belays. A steep corner with a roof to be turned provided some
exciting climbing. Slung chicken-heads told us that people had been up
this way before and bailed. This gave me some worries, but it turned out
that our route was climbable. A traverse at a quartzite-dike took us to the base
of a corner. The corner provided some nice 5.8 climbing and was probably the
hardest section on the climb. Some face-climbing took us to the "furrows".
Wind and water has shaped the granite into weird formations. It looks like the marks
left by an imaginary giant sharpening his claws against the rock. Stemming up inside
the furrows was easy but protecting it was harder. A couple of more pitches took us to the
base of the summit-block. I offered Catrin the honor of gaining the summit for us by
some easy 3rd class. Soon summit celebrations ensued and tormented toes where released
from their shoe-prisons. 
On the descent we met a climber checking out the approach for an attempt the
following day. He had a supertopo in his hand and asked us about the route.
Confidently I told him to ignore all topos and just follow his nose. However,
when I got back I consulted the Sierra-backcountry oracle Bruce "Brutus af Wyde"
Bindner. He was pretty sure we had climbed Charlotte's Web and not the "classic"
south-face route. So, it seems that I in good style made a good contribution
to the obligatory confusion which should surround Charlotte Dome.
Last Update 2002-12-16