Cottage Cheese

Although rated 5.10a by Don Reid's guide, this nice two pitch crack route on the southwest corner of West Cottage Dome seems harder to us compared to other routes in Tuolumne.

Pitch one is a very nice finger crack with some hands and liebacks, sustained 5.10- that ends on a nice ledge. Move the belay left about 20 feet on the ledge and climb the super physical corner/roof with bomber hand jams. The crux is in the first 15 feet followed by a short, easy offwidth and then some 5.7ish hand crack climbing. Despite great jams, lots of large holds around and great protection, this second pitch seemed really hard!

This route is on the southwest corner of West Cottage Dome. It starts on a ledge reached by moderate climbing that probably should be roped or belay lower than Reid's guide shows. The first pitch is the right crack of two dihedrals. Easy down climbing off the east then down through the notch west between Daff Dome and West Cottage. The descent should take about 15 minutes.

Stoppers to 3" cams. Extra stoppers to 1" for the first pitch. P1 belay thin to 1", P2 belay has lots of options for gear belay.