Half Dome – First Solo Ascent to the Summit

Eric Beck was the First Solo Climber to Summit Half Dome Peak, a Grade VI Climb in Yosemite National Park

I know exactly nothing about this kind of climbing…but Eric’s story, and the photos, are amazing and inspiring. Whether you’re a climber or not, this is an epic, historic tale!

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Half Dome is a granite peak in  Yosemite National Park, California. It’s named for its distinct shape – one side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half.

The summit is 4,737 feet above the valley floor (total elevation 8846 feet).

Previous Ascents of Half Dome

The first technical ascent of the sheer vertical face of Half Dome was in July 1957, via the Regular Northwest Face route, pioneered by Royal Robbins, Mike Sherrick, and Jerry Gallwas. Their five day adventure was the first Grade VI climb in the United States. From then until he made his solo ascent in 1966, Eric estimates that there were 40 or 50 group climbs of Half Dome.

Eric – First Solo Ascent of Half Dome

Suz sez: As I mentioned, I know nothing about climbing; if you, like I, find some of the following un-understandable – have no fear – I have interjected bracketed comments of explanation along the way, and will explain toward the end of the article (or, Eric will – I emailed him about 1,000 times for more info!). Note: the photos below are from more recent climbs…there are none of Eric’s, as he was by himself.

Half Dome Solo Ascent – NW Face, July 1966, written by Eric Beck:

In good shape and climbing well, I wanted to climb the face of Half Dome. Jeff Foott and I had planned to do it, but then I heard he is bogged down in school and not in shape for it. I start thinking about with whom else I might do it. This wasn’t leading anywhere and a little voice whispered, “Solo it”.

But…time passed and the voice became more insistent. I was ready. Much of the climbing was not that hard. I had done some self-belayed soloing and it was not too tricky. There were good bivouac ledges along the way. Gradually, I became convinced that I would be able to pull this off.

Jerry, a friend visiting from San Diego, provided the impetus to schedule it. He agreed to help me carry all the equipment up to the base of the wall, a fair amount of work. Two ropes, a full set of hardware, food for three days which did not require cooking, and 6 quarts of water.

Only Jeff (pictured above) and the patriarch of Camp 4, Chuck Pratt, knew I was climbing Half Dome.

Half Dome – First Solo Ascent: Day 1

In the evening, Jerry and I had a heated and somewhat bitter debate on the Vietnam War. In the morning as it was getting light, I felt very lonely at the base of the giant wall, with the summit overhangs seeming infinitely far away. Rather than think about the predicament I had gotten myself into, I just climbed, which proved to be straightforward, telling myself that in the beginning it would be easy to go down. The climbing was going well, and by midafternoon I was up 7 pitches, but the summit overhangs weren’t any closer. [Pitches = units of a climb, no more than a rope length, but usually stopping at a ledge to rest.]

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So far, the climbing was all in the big corner at the left side of the face. From here the route headed up and right onto the more sheer  part of the wall. I had to tell myself, “You are doing fine,” and continue. After a few more pitches, I was at the Robbins traverse (Royal Robbins was part of the first ascent team). Here, Royal had done a pendulum [yep, just what it sounds like…swinging on a rope!] to reach a crack system that extended 800 feet upward. I had been worried about this, but it proved to be easy. With a rope across, I descended to what would be my home for the evening, a spacious if somewhat rocky ledge. It was comforting to see Jeff flashing his light down at Mirror Lake at the time of the Firefall.

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Here’s a measure of how times have changed. Maybe four years ago, the entire Robbins Traverse, including my bivvy ledge, fell off. The next party up there found nothing matching the route description, so they phoned a friend who had just climbed it. They gradually figured out what had happened and went down. Another way has subsequently been found through this section.

Half Dome – First Solo Ascent: Day 2

The climbing on the second day went straight up through a flake system, often in chimneys, cracks big enough to get your entire body into. There was one I was not looking forward to, the Psyche Flake. It is 60 feet high and just resting on a ledge.   Everyone said, “You won’t like it, but just do it. Your weight is negligible in comparison.” Yes, it wasn’t hard. Also, there were holes in it; I could look through them out to the Valley. The following winter, it fell off!  The only spot where I felt any actual concern was in this section. I was in a chimney, not too hard, but it was overhanging and also converging, and I was almost 20 feet above my last piton.   Fortunately, one more move and, lo, there was a fixed piton which I eagerly clipped into.

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The short 30 foot pitch up to the Big Sandy Ledge was technically the hardest I did on the route, at 5.8. I couldn’t use direct aid because the crack was too wide for any of my pitons. It went okay, though. 

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It is late afternoon and it is now warm. The sun hits the face at 2:30 midsummer. I am delighted in my progress and also the thought that I will be enjoying the best ledge on the route that evening, the Big Sandy. Above were the three zigzag pitches, almost all direct aid – time consuming, but not very hard. I decided to get as much of these done as possible in the remaining light. When I got back to Big Sandy, I had done 2½ of the 3 zigzags. Once again it was nice to see Jeff down at Mirror Lake.  

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Half Dome – First Solo Ascent: Day 3

I ascend the fixed ropes and quickly climb the last half pitch up to the start of the “Thank God Ledge,” which led due left for 50 feet. So named because it allowed the first ascent party to bypass the huge summit overhangs, now only a few hundred feet above. I had resolved to walk this, but the resolve vanished and after one move I was on my knees. [Suz interjects: I completely understand! Check the pics!]

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Half Dome’s Summit Pitch

The first ascent party had reported using ¾ inch pitons here.  I was using 1½ inch ones – hmmmmm. Being a traverse pitch, I had to climb this 3 times.  Also, I had to lower the pack down and it was the only time it got caught. I prussiked* down to free it. Here, the full exposure of the wall hits you. Much of the way the climbing was in corners or chimneys, but now it was just a smooth wall to the ground.  Two more pitches with one having the only tricky aid on the route and I was at the summit pitch, the easiest on the route. I climbed it methodically, placing plenty of pitons, not wanting anything to go wrong. The rock at this point is superb and mottled colorful green lichen. I put in an extra good anchor and descended for the last time. Rather than haul the pack, I wore it coming back up the climbing rope, now much diminished in weight.

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After the Summit

I had a lot of food left over, some of which I gave to hikers who had come up the Cables. Incidentally, the Cables Route** is not a small project. The round trip up Half Dome using the Cables Route is 16 miles with 4800 feet of elevation gain. One person, also from Berkeley, was tickled when I gave him a can of tuna from the Northside Coop where he usually shopped.

I got everything together and packed up, went down to the camp from 3 nights ago and switched into my hiking shoes, for which my feet were grateful. Jim Bridwell and some friends met me at Happy Isles campground, congratulating me and said it was the best thing anyone had done in quite a while. There was a very nice party in Camp 4 where wine flowed freely.  

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Eric’s Epilogue

Jerry hiked up the Cables to the top of Half Dome, and then over to Clouds Rest where he spent a night. He then hiked out to Tenaya Lake and hitchhiked back to the Yosemite Valley.

Jeff Foott would go on to do the first one day ascent of Half Dome with Steve Roper, author of the first Yosemite climbers guide. Jeff became an excellent wildlife photographer.  His film on the lions of Torres del Paine (Chile) was featured in the PBS series, The Living Edens. Jeff also did something really smart: in the 60s, he bought 5 acres in Jackson Hole, where he now lives.

Half Dome Stats

*From Eric: Prussiking is a technique for ascending a fixed rope. The prussik knot has the property that when you pull on it, it locks – but when you release the tension, you can slide it easily. We use two prussiks and and attach a sling to each, one for each foot. We then raise one foot, then the other, similar to a stair stepper. In today’s world these have been totally supplanted by jumars, mechanical clamps which have the same property; they slide easily when not loaded.  Jumars are fast, the only limiting factor is getting out of breath. In modern day wall climbing, the second always follows on jumars.

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Many thanks to Eric for sharing his epic tale, and congratulations!

Climbing Half Dome Today

Currently, Half Dome may be summited in several different ways. There are over a dozen climbing routes up Half Dome’s vertical northwest face. Other technical routes ascend the south face and the west shoulder.

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Although the first ascent by Robbins, Sherrick, and Gallwas took five days, most ascents now are accomplished in two. Eric’s solo climb took 3 days. The NW route has now been free climbed (meaning, no ropes!) several times in a few hours’ time.

Alex Honnold amazingly made an un-roped ascent in 2 hours 50 minutes. For more on Alex, check out this trailer of the film, “Free Solo”, about his ascent of El Capitan, by National Geographic. The film can be streamed on Disney+; it was astonishing, and made my palms sweat!

The Cables Route up Half Dome may be used by Hikers to reach the Summit

**There’s also a way up for those who are not technical climbers. Thousands of hikers reach the summit of Half Dome each year by following the Cables Route, an 8.5 mile trail from the valley floor. After a rigorous 2 mile approach, including several hundred feet of granite stairs, the final pitch up the peak’s steep east face is ascended with the aid of a pair of post-mounted steel cables. These were constructed in 1919, close to the original Anderson route.

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It is really steep, and potentially slippery, here at the end where you use the cables:

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There are Web Cams that display different areas of Half Dome – Daily updating time-lapse movies of Half Dome

Are you inspired? I’ve only driven casually through Yosemite without really exploring much; I think I need to go back there – not that I’ll be doing any climbing! If you have suggestions about what not to miss there, please let me know.

I hiked up a 14-er in Colorado, Mt. Sneffels, several years ago with a group of Girl Scouts; nothing like this. Have you climbed a mountain? And if you have any questions for Eric, fire away…

~Pin for Later~

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