Climbing Hoffman's Thumb (5.6) – Rare Tuolumne Ascent with Beta & GoPro POV

Chris, Mike, and I set out to climb the Regular Route (5.6) on Hoffman’s Thumb—a spire on the south ridge of Mount Hoffman in Tuolumne, Yosemite. It’s a novelty climb, with just a few ascents each year, so I wanted to document the experience since there’s so little beta out there. Hopefully this video helps anyone curious about giving it a go.

My thoughts as a climber:

Honestly, I hadn’t been that excited about hiking all that way for a single pitch. But the approach was gorgeous, the climbing itself was fun, and in the end I was really glad we did it. It’s definitely doable for beginner trad climbers looking for something adventurous and unique. For faster hikers, the whole outing is totally doable in about 6 hours or less.

Useful beta we found (watch the video for visuals):
• Start: To reach the route, head counter-clockwise around the pinnacle. You’ll find a traverse that looks sketchy at first but is actually the correct way to access the climb.
• Summit: At the top we found fresh tat (from a group in 2025 as they wrote in the book up there), which made rappelling straightforward.
• Vibe: Standing on the top and the hike up weirdly reminded me of the Dolomites—it was gorgeous!
• Extras: We lucked out and had a group on the ground snap some photos of us on the route. Plus, much of this video is raw GoPro POV, so if you just want some relaxing climbing footage, it’s all here.

If you’ve climbed Hoffman’s Thumb or are thinking about it, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And if this kind of video is helpful, supporting the channel goes a long way toward making more content like this possible :)

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