Ryan and I picked up fish tacos at the Whoa Nelli Deli and headed up Tioga Pass road and camped. We didn't see any bears but were treated to fellow campers with an amazing talent for goat and sheep imitations well into the night. If it wasn't for their laughing (a bleating unto its own) in between goat calls you'd swear you were at Farmer John's for the summer. Happy Independence Day!
Dawn arrived and the "people who talked to goats" left to go get lattes (and hay I presume). With the entertainment gone we headed down the road to the Cathedral Lakes trailhead.
The hike was nice but warmed up fast. Cathedral Peak through the trees.
We got to the base of the Southeast buttress got gear together and Ryan led the route nicely. The first pitch was slabby and not too steep and there was a nice crack from the slabs up to the first anchor.
Start of the route
Ryan picked an interesting line to start the second pitch and it was a bit steeper but fun. Eventually we got to a chimney barely wide enough for a marmot on Slim Fast. Ryan made it through and continued up. My turn came and it was a thrash-fest getting into the chimney. The approach shoes, food, water, etc. in the backpack just wouldn't cooperate so with a bleat that would scare a bighorn I moshed my way into the chimney and from there it was on to more fun climbing.
The chimney
After a few more pitches we neared the summit. Ryan picked another nice crack up to the point right under the summit blocks. After that it was a couple of short moves onto the summit. With only room for two people we took our photos of the 360 degree stunning vistas.
Climbers on the Pinnacle
The descent was uneventful following a ledge system that headed toward the Pinnacle we eventually headed back right and down a rocky trail. That led us back to the start of the route and the main trail.
We headed out of Yosemite and down to the South Lake trailhead. Another nice evening with a bright moon. Lots of JMT and PCT hikers arrived during the night and the trailhead was busy in the morning.
Taking our time we hit the trail around 8am setting a steady but easy pace. The Bishop Pass trail is beautiful. Many lakes and streams. With lakes and streams you get what? Right, mossies! Like a ton of bricks. Clouds of them in places. Hey, I like inhaling insects as much as the next guy but I had an energy bar that morning so didn't want to be bloated for dinner.
One of many lakes along the Bishop Pass trail
Ryan along the trail
We stopped at a meadow to watch a momma grouse and her chicks. She gave us a nasty look. If we'd been goats we'd surely be dead.
Momma grouse and babies
The last rocky section before Bishop Pass gave way to endless views to the west and nice close ups of Mt. Agassiz.
Mt. Agassiz
A cool breeze hit us at the pass as we left the trail and headed south across slabs toward Thunderbolt Pass. A marmot or two sprinted across the alpine grasses. Who knew something so stout could move that fast? On several boulders they left little piles to mark their territory or to find their way back to wherever. What if Hansel and Gretel had done that? The rangers would've fined them for no wag bags.
Thunderbolt Pass ahead
Mt. Winchell and the Winchell Col dominated the view to our left (east) and Thunderbolt Pass in front up large boulder fields. To our right (west) was the vast Dusy Basin with some nice lakes.
We stopped at Thunderbolt Pass around 2pm and found several good camp spots just on the south side of the pass. We dropped packs and kicked back in the incredibly warm and mild weather (over 12k feet).
Camp
Just to our left was Southwest Chute #1 up Thunderbolt Peak. Beyond that was the jaw dropping ridgeline we'd climb tomorrow. Although we had a snow patch near our camp we didn't have a lot of fuel. We needed to find running water and melt the snow for food. That turned out to be tricky. The north side of Bishop Pass (the way we came up) had a large snow field and we could hear lots of running water under the rocks. The problem was there were snow and ice patches blocking the water. Little ice tubes funneled the water deeper into the rocks. In a couple of places we could see running water but the rocks were too close together. We couldn't reach it. Finally we found a place where we could lean over...wayyyy over, and get to the water. Tying a cord to the lid of a Nalgene bottle I dove into the "well". Success! Grunting and scrambling out of the hole, I held up a full Nalgene bottle. After a few more plunges into the rocks we had our bladders and bottles filled and took a leisurely stroll back to camp side-stepping the marmot pies on the rocks.
During the afternoon a solo day hiker stopped and talked. He had day hiked Thunderbolt from Bishop Pass and gave a thumbs up on conditions. Later, we spotted a group of 3 trudging through the moraine from the south. They had done a day hike from Bishop Pass over Winchell Col to Polemonium and gave thumbs up to the climbing conditions.
Sunset on the western Palisades
We took sunset photos, made dinner and got the packs ready for the climb tomorrow. We hung our food off the ground and went to sleep. Dreaming of giant, sprinting marmots I had no idea of what time it was but I woke up to a slight skittering noise on the rocks. Looked up but nothing there. Tried the headlamp, nothing. Within seconds of dozing off there was the noise again, this time louder. Headlamp on, I see a plump gray critter with a rat tail hopping back to its hiding place in the rock. Freakin pika! We had stored the food so I figured we had spilled something. Again back to sleep and again more noise. This time the headlamp caught two big black eyes staring back at me while licking a titanium spoon. And all these years I thought only the higher function animals used utensils. That pika not only used a spoon but apologized for belching after they finished. So who is higher functioning here? The one with manners and uses a spoon or the knucklehead who forgot to put the bowl and spoon into the hanging food bag?
The pre-dawn alarm sounded and we made oatmeal, a last pack check, put all food (and utensils) into the hanger and headed to Southwest Chute #1 around 5:30am. After a slog we got to the huge chock stones that block the chute. Heading up some rock we took a ramp that headed right to bypass the chock stones. Then up some more rock and back left to regain the main chute. At the top of the chute is another large rock you climb under and are treated to morning sunshine over the Palisade Glacier; an incredible view.
Morning light on the Palisade Glacier
From there we climbed the last bit to the summit and the cool summit block just after 8am. We took turns on the summit block and Rick and Marty arrived just before 9am. They had day hiked from Bishop Pass.
Most of the notes below are from TRs from Rick, Marty and Ryan.
Joining in the fun Rick and Marty took hero shots on the summit block.
Marty soloing the Thunderbolt summit block
Me not soloing the Thunderbolt summit block
After packing up on Thunderbolt we headed south-ish along the ridge to Starlight.
Starlight our next destination
We got to the base of Starlight ~10:30. Marty led the Starlight summit block and set a TR. After everyone got their summit hero photo we headed back down and round the corner towards North Pal ~11:20.
Got milk? Rick pointing out the Starlight summit block
Ryan on the Milk Bottle
Rick gets a hero shot
Starlight to North Pal looks relatively short, but takes a surprising amount of time and involves one short rap to cross a deep chasm. We got to North Pal summit ~12:45.
Rap station between Starlight and North Pal
North Pal summit
North Pal summit
After some snacks, we decided to use the LeConte route to bypass the standard U-notch chimney and got to the U-notch just before 2pm.
Ryan ready to rap
From the U-notch, we headed up a short crack system to the SW to reach the western arête of Polemonium. A short class 4 scramble up the arête puts us on the summit of Polemonium at ~2:20pm.
Polemonium summit
We exited the Polemonium summit down the airy eastern arête then across the secret ledges to the edge of the Polemonium-Sill plateau. There was an amazing penitentes snow field near the Polemonium edge to the plateau. It took us about 1 hour to cross the plateau and get to Mt Sill (~3:45).
Penitentes snow field
Group shot on Sill
From Sill's summit, we headed down the southern scree slope into a valley system that eventually (long slog through moraine and a snow field) led down to Potluck Pass.
Heading down from Sill
Cross a long snow field
Potluck Pass didn't have an obvious start or path up the sizable headwall, but luckily we found the start and followed the series of trail ducks up and over the series of ledges to get to the southern end of the massive moraine field that covers the base of the western side of the Palisades.
Rick considers routes over the pass
Rather than cross the entire moraine field, we decide to head down into the Palisade Lake basin and then back up some diagonal slab systems that put us closer to T-bolt Pass. Rick and Marty went ahead and were at T-bolt Pass ~8pm . We said goodbye from a distance, got back to camp, made hot soup and hit the hay. Although Ryan and I had a long day (15 hours), Rick and Marty had an even longer day (21 hours) doing it car-to-car. I give those guys some props for doing it that way.
The long way back to camp
I agree with Rick and think exiting Sill and going back to Polemonium and the western U-notch chute would be faster than the Potluck Pass route. Summit register boxes were on Starlight and Polemonium. Summit register canister was on North Palisade. No summit registers could be found on T-bolt or Sill. There were plenty of airy, exposed climbs along the ridge. Some steep, some traversing. Chimneys, slabs, blocks, cracks, and scrambles. All on great Sierra rock.
A fantastic few days in the mountains with great company. Yosemite to the Palisades under sun-drenched skies. It doesn't get any better.
More pics here:
Thunderbolt to Sill:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308...2012/?start=allCathedral Peak:
http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/WPSMB/w6%20Cathedral%20Peak%2007-05-2012/?start=all
