|
Tenaya Peak, Columbia Finger 20 August 2005 Map Thumbnails
Just a one night, one day shot at Tuolumne this weekend, but we got an amazing quality day out of it. Chari and I drove up to Harden Flat Friday night and camped in Super Secret Site No. 203. It’s amazing how many places are out there where one can camp the night for free . . . but that’s the way it should be when it comes to “public” lands. Just before 7 am we were back on the road and through Yosemite’s western entrance. We had our breakfast at Tenaya Lake while several other climbing teams did the same. Looked like it was going to be a crowded day on the route. I buried our gear loop and cams in my pack and slung the rope onto my back, and we were off.
Hiking up to the toe of the buttress was a chilly, wet affair as our light hiking shoes knocked the frost off the plants. Soon I was wet through the socks, and cold! We made our way up some steep slopes following a light use trail. At many points it was only bent grass to follow. Soon enough, we came to the 4th class ramps, “wet” as advertised in the SuperTopo. We could see several teams ahead of us getting bunched up at a belay station, so we knew we were in for a treat. Somewhere along the way, our approach turned into the climb. We reached the belay station at the top of the first pitch when I recognized where we were on the topo. Well, it did say 4th and 3rd class, so why pitch it out? We caught up with two teams at the base of the 4th pitch, still in our approach shoes, rope and gear still on my back. The first team was pitching it out, the second team respectfully soloed past them. Chari and I talked it over, and we decided to continue with our solo, but at least we’ll put our rock shoes on.
We continued up to the base of the 7th pitch (I was still able to track the features on the topo to this point) when we caught up with four groups. One was at the top of the 7th pitch, two teams were on the pitch on separate lines, and we had caught the solo climbing team, who was now roping up. We elected to continue soloing for now and skipped past the lower three teams. One team lost an Alien that refused to come out of the crack; how painful! A nut, fine, but an Alien? Argh! At the same time, one of the teams below found the mouthpiece of my Camelback. I think they pocketed it and I assumed I could get it back at the top.
After the 7th pitch, we took a line to the left of the standard route since a team was pitching it out. Our crack went for a ways, and then kinda went away. We were on a low slope slab with good friction, but only a hairline crack with the occasional finger cam provided purchase for hands. It was slightly heady, but not bad. At this point, we really lost track of what pitch was where. For the most part, we just chose the easiest, cleanest way. I got up into a crack system that didn’t look any good, and all the lichen told me that this was not the highway everyone used. A slightly scary traverse later and I was back en route. I was still trying to figure out what pitch we were on --- high on the 8th pitch? Low on the 9th? --- when I recognized the blocks of the 13th pitch. Jeez, we were almost done!
We carefully negotiated a traverse on the blocks and I saw the unmistakable 4th class traverse to the ridge. This is the standard route, but I checked out some of the other options above us. Last weekend Mike and Tanja had climbed this and taken the 5.8 hand crack to finish. The crack looked about 5 ft long, and I decided not to bother. We took a 4th class route to the right and poof! we were on the summit. It was only when we looked down from the summit that we realized how much faster soloing the route was. The teams we had passed at the 7th pitch were probably still around the 9th. We were still amazed we had soloed the route! We had no intention of doing so when we started, but when we walked up the first 3 pitches, we just decided to keep moving. I’d love to try it again without the rope and gear for extra weight. Views from Tenaya are prime: Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Starr King, the Clark range, Hoffman and Tuolumne Peaks, Conness and the rest of northern Yosemite, and Matthes Crest.
Since the other teams were so far down, I figured I could jet out to Tresidder Peak, except I couldn’t remember if it was the peak on the left or the right. Chari told me she would wait for the team with my mouthpiece while I went on my jaunt. I told her I’d try to keep it to an hour. Off I went, bearing for the peak on the right, which looked more interesting from that viewpoint. As I came around it, the peak on the left looked much better, but much stiffer than I was about to attack on my own. It looked like a mini-Cathedral, very cool, and worth a visit some other time. On I cruised to the blocks of the peak on the right, and the summit proved to be a good deal of fun. Thoroughly 3rd class moves with 3rd class exposure brought be around the west, south, and finally the east side of the main block before I got to the top. Amazing views of Cathedral and Echo Peaks, not to mention getting that much closer to Matthes Crest. I found out later that my little blocky peak did indeed have a name: Columbia Finger.
I got back to Chari on Tenaya after 80 minutes, and the other teams still hadn’t made it to the top. Hmmm, well, we gave then 30 more minutes, still no show, and we headed off. The descent of Tenaya really isn’t all the fun. The first portion, a descent of the ridge to the west, is no big deal. The return traverse over boulders, steeply sloped woods and slabs is interminable. It took longer then the ascent, but we eventually reached the beach of Tenaya Lake.
Gorgeous day, with almost no clouds, the exception to our trips this summer!
--matt
|
