Power Dome - Hannaramic

It was Wesley's last weekend in California before, so we wanted to climb something big. With all the fires and smoke, going to Courtright Reservoir seemed like our best bet. We headed out at the crack of dawn, and set our sights on climbing Power Dome, am impressive 700 foot tall steep slab. I have actually never climbed it before, so I was psyched to give a go.

As we racked up in the parking lot, we were joined by Dave Fries and Paul, local Fresno climbers who were holding their annual climbing festival.  

We followed them, and rappelled into the gorge which gets you to the base of Power Dome

Paul and Dave -- into the gorge!!

 

Approach slabs

We had planned to climb the classic "A little Nukey", but Dave and Paul also wanted to climb it.

Dave leading "A Little Nukey"

 I also had in the back of my mind another route - Hannaramic, a sustained 5.10 route nearby. So we launched up it instead. Wesley took a good couple cracks at leading the very tough first pitch, but being new to run-out slab opted to make a strategic retreat. Me, being a slab-o-phile, took the lead for the whole climb. The route was excellent, sustained difficult 5.10 slab climbing ... sooo much fun!

Wes making a good effort on the tricky featureless first pitch

 

Are there holds here?

Having fun!

We pretty much kept pace with Dave and Paul, so were climbing side-by-side the entire time. Pretty fun to have casual chats with other climbers at a nearby belay and snap pictures of each other!

Dave and Paul on "A Little Nukey"

 

Me and Wes

We topped out, - high fives all around! Dave and Paul invited us back to their campsite for some excellent home brew! How gracious of them!

Victory!

 It was great climbing with Wesley, hopefully I will meet up with again some year.