View from the west end of Tenaya lake - Stately Pleasure Dome, Mt. Conness, Pywiack, Medlicott, and Tenaya peaks

Tom Grundy's Tuolumne Meadows 2007 Page

I went on a whirlwind trip to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite in July of 2007 with Julie. We drove from Flagstaff, which was long and generally boring, especially on the way there, because Julie was still recovering from a long string of working nights. We stopped near Mammoth on the way, and continued on into the park the next morning.

I know a number of people in Tuolumne from my years of visiting, so it was nice to catch up with some of them, even if it was a brief trip. Ted is now working as a ranger (unfortunately I didn't get a photo of him in his full regalia), and I was glad to see Stacy (who I met climbing in Kentucky) is working on Tuolumne SAR this year. There weren't too many of last years SAR folks on again this year, but it was nice to see a few of them. Enough of that, we were there to take advantage of the rock and mountains.

After settling in, we bicycled and hiked and scrambled up Cathedral Peak. The approach and descent seems to take a long time, but it is always a fun romp up about 6 pitches of easy climbing (I've never actually used a rope on it) to a proper summit. We did have to wait a bit for some other parties though.

Julie climbs up Cathedral Peak

Julie climbs up "Lucky Streaks"

On the agenda for this day was "lucky streaks", a 6 pitch 5.10d climb up the west side of Fairview dome. We had a relaxed start, and there were 2 parties on the climb ahead of us, so we weren't in any rush anyway. Unfortunately, we didn't actually bring the rack up to the base of the climb, so one of us got to run back to the truck, drive back to camp, and return with the gear. The climbing on Lucky Streaks is pretty continous after the first pitch, and things felt a little sketchy in the afternoon sun. The foot jamming combined with semi-hanging belays meant our feet were really hurting by the time we topped out despite wearing "comfy" shoes.

Put the camera down and belay...
Julie climbs up "Lucky Streaks"

Julie on top of Fairview looking at
Cathedral Peak

After 2 days of climbing at altitude, we were both a bit tired, so Saturday things we started out even slower than usual. Eventually after a nap that left me completely groggy, we headed over to Puppy Dome. There we "warmed up" bouldering on the Machine World traverse before walking around the dome to "Do or Fly". I managed to lead it cleanly, despite some wailing and gnashing of teeth. I didn't really remember the beta, but I managed to come up with better beta for the 2 cruxes. I think the sport climbing I have been doing helped out. We were treated to a nice sunset from the top of the dome.

After all that climbing, we needed a break, so after the climbing ranger coffee in the parking lot, we headed to the May Lake trailhead (where the intrepid Tuolumne SAR team was off with the litter for a rescue). We hiked up to May Lake and watched the SAR team in action, then headed on up to the summit of Mount Hoffman. This peak is in the geographical center of the park, and not surprisingly featured a wonderful panoramic view. There is also a radio repeater and some aggressive marmots on the summit here. It wasn't too surprising to see plenty of other people on the trail on a Sunday. We followed that up with a swim in Tenaya lake. The water was cold, but the air and sun were warm. Once I actually got in, it was refreshing.

A sneaky marmot tries for Julie's lunch

Another marmot tries the "I'm cute" approach

I do have a weakness for reflection photos

Julie wades into Tenaya Lake

Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) Butterfly

Great spangled fritillary butterfly (Speyeria cybele)

After all that resting the day before, we were ready to step it up a notch. This meant "speed of life", a stout 2 pitch climb up above Ellery lake. When I say above, I mean above, maybe a thousand feet of talus hiking later, we were at a snow patch at the base of the climb (around 11,000 feet). The first pitch was a thin .10d, and the second was an enduro .11b which started out thin, then gradually widened to barely fists for me, before pinching back down again at the top. I huffed and puffed my way up it without falling despite thinking I was about to at least 4 times. It was definitely one of the prouder full-value pitches for me.

Hiking up above Ellery Lake

Julie checks the topo

I point up at Speed of life

Julie racks up

Julie coils the rope

Alpine flowers

Julie enjoys a picnic dinner

The final full day the slot canyon team (see Zion Canyons trip reports) was back together for the vertical slot canyon of "the yawn". While only rated 5.9, this 4 pitch climb has enough grunt work for most. A little rock-paper-scissors action had Anthony leading the crux pitch, so after waiting a bit to let the party ahead of us get out of the way, I started up the first pitch. Awkward is how I would describe it. It went nearly a full rope length up to 2 shallow ledges at the start of the real business, a yawning overhanging bombay flaring chimney. Ok, to be honest, only one side was overhanging, but it was still plenty intimidating, which Anthony reminded us repeatedly. The nice thing was that despite the ominous view, you could get a decent stance almost anywhere, and the pro was mostly pretty good (although the huge rack was frustrating to climb with, and we could have used more long slings than we had).

I seconded this pitch, and lowered down a bit to take some pictures of Julie struggling up. She lowered her pack down below her to get it out of the way (something I neglected to do, unfortunately I seem to have a fair bit of practice chimneying with my little pack on). Then Julie led the next pitch up a long dihedral with a hand to offwidth crack in the corner.

Julie and Anthony at the belay

Julie on the second pitch of the yawn

Julie on the Yawn

Julie on the Yawn

Julie looks for another hold

Julie smiles on the Yawn

Julie leads the 3rd pitch of the Yawn

Julie on the yawn

Anthony channels Elvis

I did the final scrambly pitch up to where we packed the ropes and began the hike back to the cars. We ended up hiking along the top of Medlicott dome to the South where we descended down the fishermans trail back below the dome and finally back to the cars. Julie and I headed back to Tenaya for another dip (much colder without the sun) and a spam-sushi picnic dinner.

Tom on top of the Yawn

Hiking along the top of Medlicott Dome

The view of Tenaya Lake and Half Dome

view of Tioga Pass

view of upper Gaylor Lake

On our last morning, we packed up, then stopped and hiked up above upper Gaylor lake before driving against some fierce headwinds back to Flagstaff. We stopped off in the Asian sector of Vegas for some delicious Chinese food and stocking up in an Asian grocery.

Gotta finish with a sunset - this one from the top of puppy dome

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