Tuolumne Meadows

Encyclopedia : T : TU : TUO : Tuolumne Meadows

Looking west over Tuolumne Meadows, from high on Lembert Dome

Tuolumne Meadows is a gentle, dome-studded meadowy section of the Tuolumne River, in the eastern section of Yosemite National Park. Its approximate location is [37°52.5′N 119°21′W]. Its approximate elevation is 8619 feet (2627 m).

Tuolumne Meadows has a good view of the Cathedral Range (in the background of the image, looking south), Lembert Dome and Mount Dana (to the north). Camping is available at the Tuolumne Meadows campground (reservations recommended). Excellent hiking and rock climbing are accessible from Tuolumne Meadows, which tends to be less crowded than Yosemite Valley. The John Muir Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail run through Tuolumne Meadows. Downstream (flowing to the right (western) side of the image), the Tuolumne River cascades over Waterwheel Falls, near Glen Aulin, eventually pooling at Hetch Hetchy.

A placid autumn Tuolumne River seen at the upper end of the meadows.

The mountains of the Sierra near the meadows have some permanent snowfields: in the summer they are mostly free of snow. The roads to the meadows are generally free of snow from June through October. The park rangers will know conditions in the meadows.

Rock climbing

A number of the domes are clustered at the upper end of Tenaya Lake.

In contrast to the big walls of Yosemite Valley, climbing at Tuolumne generally consists of short- to medium-length routes on eleven major domes and a number of minor ones, stretching from the Stately Pleasure Dome above Tenaya Lake to Lembert Dome on the east side of the Meadows. Since the area is all at a high elevation, the climbing season is mainly limited to June, July, and August.

The rock is granite porphyrite, a very hard form of granite. It has a tendency for exfoliation when exposed to the harsh Sierra winters, thus producing the distinctive dome shapes. The resulting climbing includes both face and crack routes, the former often runout due to limited numbers of bolts, and the latter frequently following very thin cracks. The local ethic is to limit the placement of bolts on new routes and to forbid the addition of bolts to existing routes, resulting in distances of 40 feet (12 m) or more between bolts.

These climbers on Pywiack Dome appear to be on the classic Dike Route.

The major domes include:

Stately Pleasure Dome
Polly Dome
Daff Dome
Pothole Dome
Lembert Dome
Fairview Dome
Mariolumne Dome
Medlicott Dome
Pywiack Dome
Tenaya Peak

In addition, the peaks of the nearby Cathedral Range, such as Mount Conness and Cathedral Peak, are traditionally considered part of the climbing area.

External maps

[Maps and aerial photos] Coordinates: [37.875° -119.35°]
* Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
* Topographic map from [TopoZone]
* Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
* Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]

Reference

Don Reid and Chris Falkenstein, Rock Climbs of Tuolumne Meadows (Denver: Chockstone Press, 1986, ISBN 0-934641-01-3)

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.