A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

This route is a wild, improbable and varied climb. When I dragged my friend up for the first ascent, I had a fantastic day of climbing. At the same time I may have convinced him to never climb an “adventure” route with me again. Be prepared for a wild ride. There is a lot of traversing on this route, thus both leader and follower need to be ready for the sharp end.

All bolts were drilled by hand, 3/8" stainless. All anchors (except the first optional belay) are bolted.

Pitch 1: Traditional Prelude 5.7 150’ Climb the arching, low angled crack placing gear, then traverse left along a dike to the base of the perched boulder and a comfy stance. You can build a gear anchor here with a bomber #1 cam and a tipped out #6 cam. Or skip this belay and link into pitch 2, watching for rope drag.

Pitch 2: Staccato Step-Up 5.8 50’ A fun short pitch climbing around the right side of the boulder. Use the #5 and #6 to work your way up and around a chalkstone to a bolt. Do a creative move to get on top of the boulder to the anchor.

Pitch 3: Diminuendo 5.10+ or 5.7 A0 60’ Make an exposed step onto the slab and dance left past 2 bolts. Then down climb slightly left to another bolt and straight down to the anchor. Given that this route is not 100% free, I recommend lowering past this tricky down climb once you clip the fixed biners. The follower must stay clipped in to the fixed biners and top-rope the down climb.

Pitch 4: Tempo Traverse 5.10 A0 120’ Look straight left across an improbable traverse. See the topo photo for what gear to bring, or at least make sure to bring the #5 cam and the #6 nut. I find this pitch to be phenomenal in that there are JUST enough features to make it climbable in a sea of blank rock. It’s mostly balancy 5.7/5.8 with a few 5.10 moves. Following is a bit scarier than leading this pitch. The last 2 bolts have not been freed. Just pull on draws through those bolts to the anchor.

Pitch 5: Crescendo 5.10+ 70’ When I first hiked to Harmonica Dome, I bushwhacked and scrambled up the valley to the south and popped out on the ridge directly facing the dome. The view is striking and that is where the beta photos are taken from. Unfortunately, the standard approach does not afford nearly as stunning a perspective. The moment I stepped onto the ridge, the slightly diagonal dike slashing the dome as if the scar of an ancient sword wound stood out as THE obvious feature to climb. This would be a king line on a king rock. Well as you have learned by now, accessing this dike is an adventure - and a worthwhile one in its own right - but this pitch… this is the money pitch. This pitch is why this bizarre route exists. At this point the gear is done so grab a few quickdraw and lead this pitch. If the bolts look a little spaced out, believe me, they are exactly where they need to be. No more, no less. If you get scared, do one more move and you’ll be smiling.

From the anchor do a tricky move from a small pocket to a big pocket and jugs to the first bolt. The crux uses a streak of beautiful quartz and some creative stemming. The hard moves are well protected. Above the crux, be prepared to smile with nearly every move.

Pitch 6: Outro 5.9 150’ From the pod, make one 5.9 move then follow the dike as it slowly eases to walking. Finish in another pod with a small tree and a bolted anchor. This pitch is runout on easy terrain with just enough protection right where you need it. From the final anchor, walk to the summit.

See Descent info below.

APPROACH

From the Goose Creek Trailhead, follow the trail down and cross a small creek. Immediately after the creek at a fork, turn right to follow the Goose Creek trail for about 10 minutes. You’ll come to a bridge crossing the creek. You have 2 options here:

1. The “standard” approach is to not cross the bridge. Instead take the left trail that continues NW along the left side of the creek. A little more than a mile from the bridge (that you didn’t cross) the trail turns left up the valley in which Harmonica Dome resides. This option has a less enjoyable trail as it traverses a steep hillside and involves a short down scramble (easy, but harder if there is any snow or ice).


2. Option 2 (my preference) is a more enjoyable trail and involves an easy creek crossing (provided the creek is not partially frozen). For this option, take the bridge across to the right side of the creek and follow the main Goose Creek trail. After about 3/4 mile (not exact), you’ll come to a fork with a sign for the Goose Creek trail pointing  to the right. Instead, continue straight past the sign on an unnamed trail. In about 1,000’ there is an unmarked fork. Take the narrower trail down and left paralleling the creek for another ~1/2 mile. Wade across the creek (less than knee deep for a 5’11” person), where the other trail turns left up the valley to Harmonica Dome. If the creek is totally frozen over you can walk across the ice, but if it’s partially frozen it will be difficult.


When you get close to the dome, you’ll see the massive dihedral through the trees. When it seems most logical, leave the trail and head straight towards the dome between big boulders. At the slab, turn right and do a bit of bushwhacking past the huge dihedral and around to the base of the long arching crack. Total approach time: 60-90 minutes depending on pace.

DESCENT

From the boulder and tree strewn summit dome, walk north and find a gap that you can cross with a couple small hops. Turn left and find a cool “bowl”, where several water grooves converge. Descend into the bowl, past the “balanced boulder”, and find the subtle entrance into the woods where a trail should become obvious quickly. Take the trail through the woods around the west side of the dome, back down to the base. Descent from top to base of route is 15-20 minutes.

Alternate Descent

You can also walk down below the arch towards the Organ Pipe and find a short scramble using a dead tree to get to the base of the Organ Pipe. Walk around the east side of the tower then descend back down to the base of the route. This descent is shorter distance but with a short scramble. It does take you around the Organ Pipe which is a very cool feature. I believe I spotted a piton and some bolts on the tower but I’m not sure.

• Single rack of cams to #2. Double up on 0.5-#2 for comfort.
• A #5 and a #6 cam. There is no off-width climbing, but the #5 has 2 useful placements, and the #6 reduces a 10’ runout on 5.8 balancy terrain.
• A #6 green BD Nut - a very specific piece needed on the p4 traverse.
• Optional: A #3 cam, a few small cams or some additional nuts. Not recommended unless you really want to sew up the easy 5.7 first pitch. These are all useless after p1 and just add extra weight.
• 12 alpine draws.
• A 70m rope (in case you need to bail).