Grizzly Peak 6222′, The Diving Board 7240′ and Liberty Cap 7076′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 9:00
Distance: 11.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 6000′
Crux: Class 4
Trailhead: Happy Isles, full services in Yosemite Valley
Due to a horrible fall fire season with the Valley closing due to smoke, I hadn’t had much a of chance to do some off trail scrambling in Yosemite Valley, much of my time spent climbing multipitch routes or cragging. One route that I had been saving for spring was a tour of the lesser summits west of Half Dome, specifically Grizzly Peak and the Diving Board. From the summit of Grizzly Peak, you could see Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls, Illiouette Falls and Yosemite Falls, 4/5 of the major valley waterfalls from a single summit. In fact it was the only summit in the park where you could see 4/5 of these waterfalls, with the obscure hike to Sierra Point being the only other “spot” in the park, although not actually a summit. Although class 3 by its easiest route, Grizzly Peak is infrequently climbed requiring a circuitous approach up to Little Yosemite Valley followed by a bushwack across ledges to reach the east ridge of Grizzly Peak to keep the difficulty that low. People who do climb Grizzly Peak typically take a more direct fourth class line from the west, either via the southwest ridge, exposed and often done with a rope, our the fourth class LeConte Gully, comparatively mellow and typically soloed. This was my objective as I left the parking area towards Happy Isles, the lot nearly empty on an early Wednesday morning. Grizzly Peak stood over 2,000′ directly above the trail, LeConte gully rising directly from the forested slopes below.
In an attempt to minimize bushwacking, I followed the abandoned trail to Sierra Point to start, scrambling up boulders and talus behind the “Rockpiles” sign before picking up a more defined trail above the rubble. When I reached the cliff bands above, I hugged the rocks to the left, the right use trail leading to Sierra Point. In general I stayed near the rock, only having to backtrack once when I found myself on top of a dead end ledge. I rounded the corner into LeConte gully proper and stared up at a mossy wet slab leading to the short class 4 step. Traction was poor with the running water, so I decided to check out the branch further left. This too was wet and mossy but looked mostly class 2-3, so I started up.
There was a spot or two of class 4, and I would read later that this was considered to be a more difficult option, but it never felt exposed or sketchy. This left branch led to a headwall with an easy class 3 ramp to lead me up to the upper gully where the two branches merged.
The crux of the day now behind me, it was mostly a class 2 slog up loose scree and duff up to the notch beneath Grizzly Peak, utilizing whatever rocks I could find buried in the sand to aid in traction. At the notch I took my first break of the day, already having climbed 2,000′ above the Valley.
The east ridge of Grizzly Peak is third class, although it look intimidating from the notch. I moved onto the sandier slopes on the south, finding a detached flake that I could squirm up behind to move up to the high tier, avoiding the sandy exposed slabs below.
Above the first obstacle, I was surprised to find the rest of the route was mostly class 2 up loose scree with plenty of trees an boulders along the slopes and very little scrambling. A short class three chimney brought me up to the summit block, which I was able to climbing by liebacking a 10′ crack next to a pine tree. I would find an easier class 2 option on the north side of the summit block, but the crack was unexposed and quite easy.
The views from the summit were outstanding with the Vernal, Nevada and Illiouette Falls thundering to the south, Yosemite Falls to the northwest, Glacier Point to the west and Half Dome to the east. A raven sat with me on the summit as I took pictures and took a decent break.
After a short snack I reversed the route back to the notch, starting the long slog up to the Diving Board. Those who are unfamiliar with the Valley assume that the Diving Board refers to the lip off the summit of Half Dome. That feature is sometimes called “the visor,” with the Diving Board actually referring to a fin of rock along the west shoulder of Half Dome above the Porcelain Wall and Tenaya Canyon. The lower portions of the cross country route between Grizzly Peak and the Diving Board was choked with manzanita, although there was evidence that other climbers had taken this route as a short cut to the Snake Dike and other routes on the southwest face of Half Dome. But the brush gave way to open slabs, and cross country travel quickly improved.
I reached the Diving Board shortly after 11 AM. The exposure off the edge was incredible, a straight drop almost all the way to the bottom of Tenaya Canyon. But the most impressive feature was a close up view of the northwest face of Half Dome, the closest I had ever been to the imposing face. I realized it was the same spot where Ansel Adams took his famous Monolith photo of Half Dome, althougth he had made this journey in the winter.
I had my early lunch at this pseudosummit, the clouds starting to build overhead with rain expected to start sometime in the afternoon. My only remaining goal for the day was to scout out Snake Dike, with plans to climb it in the coming weeks. I hugged the west face of Half Dome, passing a few less popular routes before reaching Snake Dike. It looked quite reasonable from below and I hope for the chance to get on it before it gets too warm in the Valley.
From the base of the route, I followed cairns down through the manzanita on surprisingly loose scree, weaving through slabs and cliff bands to a more defined use trail in the canyon between Half Dome and Mount Broderick. I have no idea if I had found the easiest ascent/descent option, but it seemed like there were alot of options that worked.
I followed the well defined use trail to Lost Lake and eyed the growing clouds in the sky. I still had plenty of daylight and was thoroughly enjoying the off trail romp. So I decided to add on Liberty Cap for one more summit on the day. I had scrambled up Liberty Cap about 7 years previously and remembered thoroughly enjoying both the route and view. I found a weakness in the northeast slabs of Liberty Cap and followed the slabs up to the class 2 weakness on the NE side.
The class 2 gully was brushier than I remember although had plenty of use trails weaving through the manzanita. It started sprinkling just as I topped out, and I ducked under a tree for a very short break and a few photos. From the top were great views of the Clark Range, including Mount Starr King, one of my more enjoyable adventures from the previous year.
The rain continued as I started back down the route. Luckily, it began to let up as I descended the steeper slabs, dropping towards Little Yosemite Valley and the JMT, nearly stepping on a pair of angry rattlesnakes huddled in a crack on my descent.
The rain restarted when I reached the JMT and I kicked it into a higher gear, passing hikers for the first time all day as I followed the trail past Nevada Falls. The winter closure was still in effect for the lower portion of the Mist Trail, so I needed to follow the JMT up to Clark Point before switching back down through the forest to the base of Vernal Falls.
I half jogged nearing the trailhead, ultimately getting back to the car about 9 hours after starting out. It had been a fantastic day scrambling above the Valley, and got me excited for the upcoming season of alpine adventures in the Sierras.