Spark Notes: Mount Hoffman to Tuolumne Peak, and Unicorn Peak
I landed at SFO on a flight from Hong Kong at 10:30pm on Friday. After a couple hours more work, my jetlag was still fully in effect and I very much felt like an escape. I had (apparently) planned well two weeks previously because the car was already packed for any weekend camping/climbing. So, at 1:00am on Saturday I hit the road and headed west, stopping at about 4:00 to bivy in the back of the Forester at the Hardin Flat turnoff.
Since I had no partner, and my head for climbing is usually poor when jetlagged, I looked forward to a weekend of hiking and scrambling. My itinerary on Saturday was a little like this trip report from legendary Sierra scrambler Bob Burd. I took a slightly different route up Mount Hoffman, closer to the South Face, but with a detour up a short cliff band and then slabs that made the route closer to a 4+/5- scramble, but with solid holds and only a little wetness. I did find the same ridge between Hoffman and Tuolumne, though, which was the high point of the day. The views all around were fantastic, and the rock was mostly clear. North facing gullies still had snow, but there was plenty of dry rock to stick to.
Using the non-climbing weekend for exploration, I visited the "9000 ft bivy" outside the park's east entrance for the first time on Saturday night. Definitely recommended if the Tuolumne campground is full or you prefer to drive 20 minutes rather than pay $20 for camping. A full day, and lack of rest, let me fall asleep by 10, but I was still up for sunrise on Sunday.
The plan was a quick hike and then back to SF for the afternoon. Unicorn Peak was a perfect objective, and only took me 3.5 hours car-to-car. The bugs around Lake Elizabeth ate me alive, but once away from the water the weather was perfect: sunny with still a slight chill in the air. The summit ridge had breathtaking exposure that got my heart rate going. Described by Secor as class 4, it definitely felt more like easy class 5, but I guess that's what old school ratings mean. Definitely fun climbing and mostly solid holds, again with great views of the high country to the north and south.
I'll be back to China in just a couple more weeks, so I hope to get at least a day, maybe two, of climbing in before then.
I landed at SFO on a flight from Hong Kong at 10:30pm on Friday. After a couple hours more work, my jetlag was still fully in effect and I very much felt like an escape. I had (apparently) planned well two weeks previously because the car was already packed for any weekend camping/climbing. So, at 1:00am on Saturday I hit the road and headed west, stopping at about 4:00 to bivy in the back of the Forester at the Hardin Flat turnoff.
Since I had no partner, and my head for climbing is usually poor when jetlagged, I looked forward to a weekend of hiking and scrambling. My itinerary on Saturday was a little like this trip report from legendary Sierra scrambler Bob Burd. I took a slightly different route up Mount Hoffman, closer to the South Face, but with a detour up a short cliff band and then slabs that made the route closer to a 4+/5- scramble, but with solid holds and only a little wetness. I did find the same ridge between Hoffman and Tuolumne, though, which was the high point of the day. The views all around were fantastic, and the rock was mostly clear. North facing gullies still had snow, but there was plenty of dry rock to stick to.
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| May Lake and the southern Yosemite high country |
The plan was a quick hike and then back to SF for the afternoon. Unicorn Peak was a perfect objective, and only took me 3.5 hours car-to-car. The bugs around Lake Elizabeth ate me alive, but once away from the water the weather was perfect: sunny with still a slight chill in the air. The summit ridge had breathtaking exposure that got my heart rate going. Described by Secor as class 4, it definitely felt more like easy class 5, but I guess that's what old school ratings mean. Definitely fun climbing and mostly solid holds, again with great views of the high country to the north and south.
I'll be back to China in just a couple more weeks, so I hope to get at least a day, maybe two, of climbing in before then.
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