Tuolumne- Oz, Gram, Hobbit Book, Polly Dome

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August 7, 2026

Oz is one of the ultra classic moderate climbs of Tuolumne, ascending a series of sporty moves to an aesthetic clean corner on the west face of Drug Dome. From the top of this corner, Oz continues up left while Gram continues dead right horizontally under a huge roof. It is really popular and recommended to link these two routes in this fashion.

After topping out the summit of Drug Dome after Gram, it looked easy to continue up to the base of Mariuolumne Dome to the start of Hobbit Book, a classic easy route which followed a prominent left-facing corner. We would simul this route.

Routes climbed

Name	Grade (YDS)	# Pitches	Quality (1-5)	Type
Oz (first 3 pitches)	5.10d	3	5	trad
Gram	5.10d	2	5	trad
Hobbit Book	5.7	4	4	trad

Peaks/Formations climbed

Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
Drug Dome	9,340 ft	20 ft	37.86418, -119.42192
Mariuolumne Dome	9,973 ft	473 ft	37.86149, -119.42194
Polly Dome	9,802 ft	1,123 ft	37.85436, -119.44982

Gear

- 60m rope

- cams: triples 0.5-0.75, doubles 0.2-0.4, 1-2, single 3, optional 4

- 11 alpine draws

Stats for Oz, Gram, Hobbit Book combo

2.3 miles

1,460 ft gain/loss

Stats for Polly Dome

3 miles

1,300 ft gain/loss 

Approach
Getting to the base of Drug Dome took less than 10 minutes. From a paved parking area on the side of the road, we could see the distinct pitch 3 corner which indicated the correct dome. We took an obvious trail through the trees to the base of pitch 1 of Oz

Oz pitch 1 (5.10a, 120 ft)

A thin flake (crux move right off the ground) led to a small roof which I climbed over and then a leftward traverse on large easy ledges. I belayed at a bolted anchor.   

Oz pitch 2 (5.10d, 140 ft)

Approximately eight bolts led up and left on this amazing and sporty pitch. There were several balancy moves with slopey holds. Andrew climbed past a bolted anchor and set up a gear belay on the next large ledge with had better alignment with the pitch 3 corner above. 

Oz pitch 3 (5.10c, 130 ft)

This was a mouth watering pitch, climbing the obvious corner above. Even though the corner was overhung, there were plenty of opportunities to stem outward on either side to rest. I belayed at bolts at the conclusion of this corner. The fourth pitch of Oz headed out left from here on more bolts, while Gram headed dead right under the huge roof. 

Gram pitch 1 (5.10d, 100 ft)

Andrew made a few strenuous moves up right, then continued traversing horizontally right under the giant roof making sure to avoid several clumps of bat and bird poo. There were either decent hands or decent feet but not both. This pitch ended at a bolted belay.

Gram pitch 2 (5.10c, 130 ft)

I continued right under the roof with techy but significantly less pumpy moves than the previous pitch. At the end of the roof, I built an optional belay to reduce rope drag and belayed Andrew over before climbing straight up on some chickenheads on runout but easy terrain over to the summit of Drug Dome. I built a belay right below the summit.

We unroped and spent less than 10 minutes walking over to the base of Hobbit Book. A huge dihedral which made up the meat of the route was visible from parts of Drug Dome. Upon reaching the base of Hobbit Book, we roped up and got ready for simuling. Andrew, who was following, tied a kiwi coil and shortened the rope to 35m. We were able to simul the route in one long pitch. 

Hobbit Book pitch 1 (5.6, 90 ft)

I headed up an easy corner and traversed slightly right where it ended, into the start of a second corner which jogged left. 

Hobbit Book pitch 2 (5.7, 130 ft)

I continued up and left into another corner and followed it to a small ledge where the corner curved slightly more left. There was a party belaying here and I climbed past them. 

Hobbit Book pitch 3 (5.7, 120 ft)

The corner headed straight up and widened. I climbed about 10 ft up and then broke left onto some large yellowish patina jugs. These were great fun as I stepped up them and eventually back into the corner as they ended. 

Hobbit Book pitch 4 (5.7, 120 ft) 

I continued up the corner (with generally hand sized cracks in it) to the summit.

looking down from somewhere on pitch 4

summit

Descent

From the top of Mariuolumne Dome we headed northeast down some slabs to the gully between Mariolumne and Lamb Dome, then descended west down this gully, following weak climber trails and performing some light bushwhacking. Soon we intersected the approach trail for Gram/Oz and followed this back to the car.

It was just after noon, but there was an obvious thunderstorm approaching so we drove out to Olmstead Point to eat lunch and watch the storm roll through. After the rain stopped, we drove back east to a small picnic area northeast of Polly Dome. Since there was still a good deal of daylight, we decided to saunter up to Polly Dome and watch the sunset from up there. 

 

Polly Dome

From the picnic area we headed west through the woods to intersect Polly Dome's northeast ridge, then followed it southwest for just under a mile until we were standing just east of the summit where a large blocky wall barred further immediate progress west without technical climbing. We were able to get around this by doing an arcing traverse around south and over to the west side of the summit where we headed back east on easy slabs. 

We reached the summit with over an hour of daylight left and remained there into sunset, photographing the changing light on Half dome below and the Cathedral Range above. After sunset we reversed our route back down.