Multi-pitch Climbing Northwest Buttress (5.5), Tenaya Peak, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
The Northwest Buttress of Tenaya Peak
Disclaimer: This climb involves rock climbing, which is inherently dangerous. This blog post does not include formal instruction of any kind. Please make sure you have the appropriate skills and knowledge before attempting this outing.
Tenaya Peak was one of my favorite routes that we climbed during our trip to Yosemite. We climbed the Northwest Buttress. Climbing Tenaya Peak is a 1400 ft multi-pitch trad climb that is rated at 5.5.
We set out from the trailhead a little after sunrise and began the approach. The approach trail was quite steep, but easy to follow. As we got higher, the “trail” disappeared and just became slab. We continued scrambling up the slab when it turned into what felt like class 3 terrain, but as it continued to steepen, we decided to stop, rope up, and begin simul-climbing.
With me in the lead, we did two long simul climbing pitches. The top of the second pitch was on a very large ledge that seemed like a perfect spot for a snack. After the snack, we had a scramble up to another ledge which is where we decided to start pitching everything out.
After 3 pitches, we found ourselves at the top of the ridge and scrambled up to the top of Tenaya Peak. Views were gorgeous in all directions and we could even see down into Yosemite Valley. Some clouds were developing so we didn’t linger long and began the descent.
There was a very well-defined trail that went down the southeast ridge. There was only one spot on the descent where we stopped to see which way to go - we found ourselves on slab and since you can’t see a “trail” on slab, we had to stop and figure out the route. After 30 seconds of looking around, we did find cairns that we were able to follow down to the bottom of the slab. The trail then appeared again and continued to descend through the woods.
We ultimately hit the Tenaya Lake Trail where we turned right and followed the trail back to the van.
When we hit the Tenaya Lake Trail, we came across two people sitting on the side of the trail that asked us if we had just descended from Tenaya. We said “yes.” Their response was that they had left to summit Tenaya at 7am the PREVIOUS day and they only just made it to that spot. They had been out for 34 hours. It sounds like they had made it to the top in a normal amount of time, but got horribly lost on the descent. They continued moving through the night as it was too cold to stop, which I suspect may have gotten them even more lost. We offered them some Snickers and they were very appreciative. I mention all of this to say that it is worth spending a few minutes to find the defined descent trail at the top of the peak and to stay on that trail until the bottom. Where there isn’t trail, there are cairns and at no point should you really be questioning which way to go.
Overall, this was one of my favorite multi-pitch climbs that I have done. The climbing was very enjoyable, the route finding was easy, and the views were terrific. It was a great day out int he mountains. It took us 6 hours and 15 minutes to go from car to car at a relaxed pace.
Stats: 3.5 miles, 2130 ft of elevation gain, 5-15 pitches, 0 rappels.
