We've been wanting to do this one for a long time. It was a lot of fun, albeit
very easy. Of course, we simul-climbed extensively, so we did the whole thing
in just four pitches, taking about four hours. We did pass one party on the
way up, a Dutch couple who had been in the valley for about a month. They
weren't moving too slowly, but they were hardly simul-climbing at all, so they
were definitely moving slower than us and the party behind us, an older couple
on their first trip to Yosemite. Of course, the fastest one on the route was
the free soloist who cruised by all six of us in his approach shoes. He passed
me just as I was finishing the route, and I chatted with him a bit. He had
stashed some water and shoes at the top of Washington Column for his hike down
from a planned ascent of Astroman, but he'd had to bail on that route due to
slow crowds. Now he was on his way back up to retrieve his stuff. I guess if
you can cruise up Astroman, then free soloing the Royal Arches in approach
shoes is a walk in the park. Aaron and I reached the summit around noon, and
ate lunch in a nice little clearing in the woods. Having always heard that the
hike down North Dome Gully was unpleasant and possibly treacherous, we chose
to rappel down. Next time, I'll probably do the hike. We rapped with the Dutch
couple, and after three hours, 10 or 11 raps, and countless rope snags and
tangles, we finally reached the ground. The other couple who had climbed up
behind us hiked down, and we ran into them in the parking lot... they had
gotten down well before us!