Where: Sierra Nevada, California
When: July 2005
Partners: Ryan McPhee
Route: North Rib (Class 3)
Mileage/Gain: 21/8,700
Mount Tyndall is one of California's fourteeners. It is buried in the Sierra Nevada above Shepherd Pass near Mount Williamson, California's third high peak. Ryan McPhee, still new into town from his life-long home in Washington, wanted to have an introduction to the Sierra, so I offered to do Tyndall with him.
Hiking up the long and hot Shepherd Pass Trail, we set camp at the pass. Rising early the next morning, we quickly made it to the base of the mountain and climbed the North Rib toward the summit. The North Rib doesn't look like much from its base, but it's a reasonably enjoyable route. Once atop the rib, one scrambles to the crest, then hangs a left for the summit.
Arriving much earlier than we'd anticipated, we found ourselves shivering in the chill of the pre-dawn summit. We stayed only a few minutes, during which I signed "Ernesto Guevara" in the register, then we dropped back down the rib and to our camp at the pass. Breaking camp, we hiked out to civilization, or, our car at the end of the bumpy dirt road to the trailhead.
*Photos courtesy of Rick Kent
Mount Tyndall (14,018 feet)
