Tenaya Peak
Ascent of Tenaya Peak (Northwest Buttress, II, 5.5), with Simon Wacziarg, August 20, 2019.
Timeline:
August 20, 2019. We left Mammoth at 7:40 and got delayed after the entrance to Yosemite National Park by road construction. We started from the parking lot at the northeastern end of Tenaya Lake at 9:09 and made our way slowly up some benches toward the base of Tenaya Peak's Northwest Buttress. We were at the base of the climb at 10:10 and met two Canadian brothers who arrived shortly after us. I offered to let them pass us whenever they wanted but they never caught up – they belayed every pitch whereas we simulclimbed the whole route. There was another party ahead of us and we slowly closed the gap with them over the course of the climb. The climb was uneventful and we exited the route through the standard class 4 airy traverse on the left. We were on the summit at 13:50, took in the incredible views in all directions (it was a particularly clear and crisp day), chatted with the first party, had lunch, signed the summit register, and generally enjoyed good times. We stayed on the summit for an hour and then descended the Southwest Ridge to where steep slabs and a hike through the forest took us back to the trail that skirts the southeastern side of Tenaya Lake. We were back at the car at 16:30. We stopped at the Tuolumne Meadows store for some ice cream on the return and were back home in Mammoth at 18:00.
I climbed this route in approach shoes and we brought a short (30m) 8mm rope for the simulclimb. This was the right gear for this route. What I had not remembered properly from my previous time up the route in 2003 was that it is a long route – about 14 pitches if you pitch it all out. The descent was longer than I remembered as well. But all in all, we had a fantastic time. (A 7:21 hour day, 2.8 miles, 2,100 feet of elevation gain).