Getting yourselves up for a SIX AM departure from a cozy RV park in Lee Vining, say what you like, is nontrivial. But We Did That. I think they call it an "Alpine GMT-3" start.

The team passed the entrance station in Ms. Daphne's Vehicle of Universal Terrain with only a few grumbles at the preceding car seemingly waiting for the "Go on Ahead" sign to change.

The approach was going great until, suddenly, the pavement ended and it seemed we were supposed to travel on a dirt trail. Still, the trail was manageable. Despite that, we decided to try a new, grassy, steep, wet and untried shortcut to the start of the route. Daphne: "This sucks; find another way." We followed.

It got easier, so team phylp, JoeyF, Daphne and self scrambled a bit on actual rock. Roping up, we "simoed" for a few minutes when a soloist blowing by told us that we were at the end of "pitch 8" on our Supertopo topo (which topo, apologies, did not help us at all).

Some more scrambing/climbing, and super fun "traversing" at the top secured the summit, after which began the crux descent of, and I am not exaggerating, hear me now, SEVEN MILLION miles, down to Tenaya Lake.

Then a dip in Tenaya with, let us say, fewer clothes than might pass muster with the Pope.


There have been worse days.