UKH

Heading to Yosemite for the first time and aware that my crack climbing needs much improvement. Been to Millstone a bit but just wondering what other UK crags and routes folk would recommend I visit to improve my technique?

Not been but a mate tells me a good start is top roping some of the classics at Cookie Cliff to get used to the style. Factor in a good spanking then set your sights on leading some of the longer routes.

Laps of the cracks at millstone will do you well. Or I've heard fairhead is about as close as you can get in the UK.

Also we have an 'Americas the beautiful pass' and a big wall guide book from our trip earlier this year and were planning to sell it on to any climbers heading out if you would be interested.

Grond on the Cromlech!

You may want to target low friction / polished rock / open cracks, whatever the size. 

Once there, it may be a good idea to plan to spend a day on short routes (1 pitch), as rehearsal / discovery for specific climbing styles : cracks (by size), chimneys, on this specific rock. We did not do that, and regretted a bit in hindsight. 

(plus if you plan some aid climbing : specific training will definitely make a very big difference, as 2x 3x overall speed improvements are easily attained compared to just knowing the principles and applying them on the spot -- this we did and did not regret : do repeats with a stopwatch, you will surprise yourself)

In my experience the cracks there are pretty fair. It's polished slab work I'd advise practicing (graded at least a grade stiffer). A good example of what I mean is South Crack on Stately  Pleasure Dome at Tuolumne: the 5.8 crack is sustained UK VS 4b but the very bold crux slab is 5.7 R and I'd say E1 4c. Another there is The Boltway where the polished 5.8 slab is HVS 5b in my view.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105840361/south-crack

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105840361/south-crack

I couldn't have put it better, one way or another you can find a way up a crack but if you're not confident to run it out on slabs some great routes are likely to be off limits.

Goodrich pinnacle right on Glacier Point Apron is another one that I would highlight, pure joy if you like slabs

That one is lovely and not too scary. Harry Daley is another memorable but friendly neighbour. In contrast on anither occasion I tried one of The Goblet 5.6 routes for an easy day (whacked out after El Cap) and found it terrifying for the grade... I carefully dug out an RP slot.

Mileage - get lots and lots of mileage in and practice moving fast and prepare for climbing in blocks.

We found that not much actually prepared us for the style of Yosemite granite.

But being fast and efficient as a team paid dividends.

I can't suggest anything, but the thing that struck me about Yosemite cracks is that there was no escaping the crack climbing - over here there's invariably a hold in the crack or outside it, whereas there there was the crack, the whole crack and nothing but the crack.  The rock is also fairly smooth like Sennen granite is low down, but has smaller crystals than there or Dartmoor.

Only a day?! 
 

For the OP: Curbar has a good selection of awkward cracks that are good practice. Ramshaw is also excellent. Fairhead is the closest we have to US style crack climbing in the U.K. In general you want to be full body fit, including your legs. It’s very burly climbing, unless you’re going slab climbing in Tuolomne. Get yourself a double rack of cams and prepare to be humiliated at first, particularly on the wider cracks which are excruciatingly technical.  

I vividly remember the pitch to the base of the final chimney as the scariest that I did out there because it is the only one that I lost my footing on.

I slid down the slab for about 6 feet and  as I braced myself for a big swing across the slab I came to halt stood bolt upright on my toes holding the rope in my right hand ready to start running into the swing!

Could be worse....there is a 5.9 slab at Indian Cove, JT, that I backed off leading and that I couldn't even work on a tight tr. JT has more sandbags than any other place I've climbed in the US but also some of the most compelling climbing. However, there are some friendly areas,  there like the 4 pitch crack climbs on Lost Horse Wall.

In the main I find the YDS system has worked well for me and I lead consistently  harder on average than I do in the UK. Climbing 5.9 slabs that are equivalent to but not labelled E2 5c sure helps.

If you're planning on anything more than a single day long practise the hauling etc until it has long ago become incredibly boring. We did around hundred meters worth in a local quarry and wished we'd done 4 times that when we found ourselves faffing forever between pitches. Same for setting up a portaledge - 5 times hanging from a pullup bar at home will NOT prepare you for doing it after 12hrs of hard climbing in the hot sun hahahaha!

Agree 100% on the slab points above! On the leaning tower I ended up using my haul line and some cams as a grappling hook round the fixed line above just before the ledge as I just could not commit to it otherwise

Top rope these until your arms fall off then go back and do it some more 

Carls Wark Crack (E2 5c)

Medusa and 

Cabbage Crack (E4 6a)

I remember lead aiding those pitches - pretty spicy at times! The big ledge was a relief for sure.

Another good tip is too  improve your bank balance and buy more cams or borrow as many as you can from your mates.....

I remember on Cookie cliff taking one long look at some of the crack lines and thinking...no way have I got enough cams. So I stepped back from the abyss and knocked 2 grades off at first and worked my way up from there.Its a bit of a shock when you first see them.

At least people also  have jamming gloves now.

Ardmair and Staffin Slip.

At least a day ! It all depends on how many days the OP intends to stay in total. 

Going straight to the classic multipitches is absolutely possible, and is good reward too, even when one has to struggle a bit more than expected based on the grades , but my point was, dedicating at least a day (and possible more of course) to work on specific climbing styles on this rock, in the non-committing environment of single pitch routes can be a great plus for subsequent MP (where you don't have time to work the technique -- of course, some improvements happen also by just doing routes) 

Only my 2 cents really, based on a retrospective regret. 

Funny...I never found that. I'd agree that's needed for some Indian Creek cracks that take one size pro for the whole pitch but for Valley and Tuolumne climbs I alwys just use my standard UK multi-pitch rack (only douboed camelot 2, 3 and 4s... and two sets of different nuts). I'm certainly not strong enough to climb hard carrying some of the recommended  racks from Supertopo.

I did Moby Dick which is not hard by any means (in the scheme of things - I found it fairly uphill) and I was very glad I’d borrowed a large cam, taking my rack to three of the largest size. It’s quite wide for quite a long way! A more confident climber with lots of fist crack experience would be fine with just two, but I am not that climber. 
 

And whilst I agree that slabs on California granite can be hard, I personally wouldn’t train too much for them, as it’s not a style we U.K. climbers are totally deficient in. 
 

I’d also throw in a bunch of sport climbing as it gets you fit.

Seek out the offwidths and funky chimneys. Unless you begin to get into these, they will end up being the crux of routes regardless of the technical grade once you arrive in Yosemite. 
And try to find “The Crack Climbers Handbook: Jamming with Finesse” by Kent Pease. The thing about learning to jam is that the technique bit is often hidden from you inside the crack, so unless you’re learning from someone who is both proficient AND really good at explaining what they’re up to it can remain a bit baffling. This book makes it all a bit easier with great illustrations and descriptions. 

I never had double set of cams.  Just 1 of each. I set of up I think Reeds pinnacle with my wife looking nervous. After a short period I realised this was not a good idea.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Some useful tips and insights. 

⬆️ This.

Best to brace yourself for a week or two of getting spanked when you get out there before hitting your stride. 

Depends what you're going to climb. There's a lot of crack climbs, yes, but there's also a lot of big, big slabs which are beautiful if a little exposed (50-60m run out does exist).

I found at Yosemite that the cracks were not like anything I'd experienced in the UK. A lot of the glacier-polished stuff in Yosemite has the crack, and everything else on the face has a polish like glass... there's not the small holds or undulations you commonly get in the UK. So I'd be tempted - if you wish to concentrate on cracks - climb any UK crack but artificially restrict yourself to *just* the crack - no face holds. This may help... It took me a good couple of weeks to get used to Yosemite rock, to be honest.

All 4 lorry park cracks in a day is the best US training i've found. 

The big corner is great for the full body experience.

Interesting you should say this. I was lucky enough once to spend a weekend climbing with Jim Donini, a Yosemite crack-climbing veteran. His main tips for crack climbing were (1) don't try to be clever with holds outside the crack: just climb the crack, and (2) try to maintain upward momentum.

Absolutely not this. The quintessential crack which can be cheated by bridging, drop-knees, palming etc. I suppose you could use it for training crack-only, but then it would still be steeper and shorter than Yosemite cracks.

Wasn’t Bob Hope a traditional suggestion? Also steeper and shorter, of course, but then everything is.

What was that grit E2 they were lapping at the beginning of Blood Sweat and Bagels? You sort of fellt it might not turn out well at that point.

jcm

Some UK-based training suggestions in Duncan’s NIAD guide:

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,24442.0.html

In addition those Brimham wide cracks probably aren’t bad preparation, but will be fairly straightforward compared to Yosemite.

I believe Duncan’s main recommendation is to work on a building site all winter.

jcm

Insanity, of course, was the BSB E2. I can’t believe it took me so long to remember that. On that form you’d say that was another one which won’t work.

jcm

I'll go with that; it's worked pretty well for him!

I’d add Cornish granite routes into your training mix. 

Never been to the USA, let alone Yosemite, but how do the slabs there compare to Glen Etive ? Would a few routes at Etive be useful training for Yosemite?

I’m not convinced that slab climbing is something the typical British climber needs to practice that much. In Tuolomne we decided to try a 5.11 slab, on a top rope as the first bolt was at 40ft-ish. It was smooth and mostly holdless, just padding up dimples. We both did it first go. On another trip I climbed with a Brit resident in California who took me up a 10a offwidth. It was desperately technical and I had to pull on some gear to get through the crux. 

Doing laps on any width of crack you find hard, but especially the wider ones, would seem a far better use of one’s time to me. Even then, I suspect you’d be as well getting as fit and strong as possible and just spending a week or two on the Valley crack climbing circuit when you arrive. (Assuming you can do the basics of crack climbing.) 

That's the opposite of my experience.... I always had to work very hard on Yosemite 5.10a slab (they nearly always felt hard UK 5c to me)  but could do a couple of 5.10b offwidths I tried (which were not desperately technical: you just needed standard skills, big pro and the usual physicality). Having said that it was made clear to me there are a few infamous old school offwidth sandbags in the park. As someone who mainly onsighted trad that to me was the crucial factor, 5.9R might be something like 4 Pebble Slab (or even something like Hairless Heart at Joshua Tree). For more talented headpointers maybe it's different.

A humorous anecdote to illustrate this:  I always recommend the 5.7 Left Water Crack on Lembert for its unique 'chinmey style' moves....udging up a serious of rounded cup features shaped like a bath tipped up on its end.... a few friends of mine backed off the glacier polished approach slab.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105931711/left-water-crack

To help my trad head game on US granite I was certainly glad for my time spent at Etive and for slab bouldering on grit and in Font.

As Lynn and I climbed Joshua Tree trad a lot we always re-orientated for requirements by top roping a few lower range 5.10 slabs at the start of any trip. Still, Lynn did all the hardest slab leads.

Is this perhaps some form of nominative determinism (or even determined nominativism)?

I will say that my choice of moniker for UKC was motivated by a desire to do the route in question and to have my conscience prodded until I had done so. Plus its a great name.

Me too!

Clearly it’s horses for courses. Perhaps worth pointing out that Joshua Tree is 500 miles from Yosemite and is a different type of rock, so perhaps not totally relevant? (And it does have hard, bold slab climbing.)

Better than US slabs where there's no escaping the holdless slab climbing!

Both are SW US granite! 500 miles seems not so far out there.... we were snowed out of Lover's Leap one October (even further than Yosemite) and ended up comfortable at Joshua Tree the following day (looked at Red Rocks but it was wet)

I agree it's horses for courses and acknowledge many Brits are pretty good on slabs thanks to bouldering but crap at basic wide crack skills (avoiding such routes?). I guess my key message is you need to work any weaknesses if you plan to do long multi-pitch out there (or maybe climb with someone such that each covers the skill gaps of the other). Typical 5.9R slab feels like E3 5c to me and needs the right head game, 5.9 offwidth is a safe struggle that might humiliate and completely exhaust (anything from HVS upwards depending on sandbag status), typical 5.9 crack is grit HVS.

I wondered if someone would say that. I was always a little bit podgy and was facinated by wide cracks so it was mainly a friendly climber's joke on that combination. In my prime I was best bouldering gradewise at slab and overhangs but always OK on wide crack. Crimpy vertical walls were my main weakness (that I worked in indoor training for US trips).

May I recommend Quicksilver and Freewheeling on Middle Cathedral? No cracks, not really slabs, just brilliant face-climbing with spaced pro. I liked the slab routes on the Apron but would have thought they would have been tamed a bit by modern rubber - we had EBs at best in the seventies - although the runouts will still be a bit scary...

I love that we've gone 44 replies and suggestions without anyone asking what grade you are climbing or what grade you are aspiring! Not much use recommending E3s and 7as if Dan is leading Severe. 

For practicing hand jams, Herford's Crack (HVS 5a) is the best I've come across in the UK (as you pretty much have to use the crack for both hands and feet the whole way). Though as above, if you're leading E5 then this will be a pointless suggestion. 

I'd have said its pretty obvious he is leading at least E2

I might be being dense but why is it obvious the OP is climbing at least E2? My friend went to Yosemite to climb a couple years ago when operating at about HVS. Routes at Millstone start at Dif and you can do loads in the VS/HVS range. Have I missed something obvious? 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/clogwyn_mawr_cwmglas-10172/fear_of...

For the quintessential off width / squeeze chimney experience. Take at least 2 x #5 and 2x #6 cams. 

The other thread... HVS leaders tackling big walls there need to have aid logistics completely wired and just wouldn't have Half Dome Regular NW Face as a first big wall.

Oh okay so we are all just making that assumption blindly. Thought I'd missed something somewhere! 

Friends of mine got rescued from the abseils after Royal Arches (a very tempting HS in UK terms) on a first visit. Yosemite can be harsh on people 'winging it'. It's an amazing place to climb but I'd advise all new climbing visitors to read this:

http://www.bluebison.net/yosar/alive.htm

Millstone - Peak District 

can’t go wrong 

While everyone focuses on cracks, from my brief experience Yosemite is surprisingly like slate climbing in lots of places. I think it's the lowest friction granite I've ever encountered. 

How about Brimham's Brutaliser? >;<()

Do we even talk about things like that in polite company?

What routes are you hoping to climb in Yosemite (or at least what grade). When are you going, how long. Tuolumne or the valley?

the uk has some excellent hvs cracks that are very similar to Yosemite cracks. 

Going to the valley, get some wide practice, there’s something wide on most classic routes. Tuolumne?  Different beast, slabs are your friend. 
good luck it is the best.