Sunnyside Bench
Rock Climbing– Yosemite National Park
Total Time: 6:00 (including waiting in line and hanging at the falls)
Distance: 3.0
Elevation Gain: 700′
Crux: 5.5
Pitches: 3
Protection: Light rack of cams to BD #3, single rope, long slings
Companions: Holly and Colin Pickles
Trailhead: Lower Yosemite Falls, full services
Sunnyside Bench is Yosemite Valley’s easiest multipitch route. Three easy pitches takes you to a brushy bench at the top of Lower Yosemite Valley, giving you a unique perspective of the Upper Falls overhead and the brink of the Lower Falls away from crowds and tourists. Despite my affinity for easy and moderate multipitches, I hadn’t ticked this one off the list, saving it for spring when the waterfalls would be flowing in full force. It was high on Colin’s to do list as well, so I saved it for when he was out visiting in the spring. We were camping in the Valley and took some time to set our tents up before heading to Sunnyside Bench, also giving the rock a chance to warm up a bit. We followed the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, crossing the bridge and leaving the trail at a well worn climbers trail less than 100 yards across the bridge.
There was a party waiting at the base of the class 3 scramble up to the first pitch, with two other parties ahead on route. It seems everyone had the same idea as us- the route was crowded and multiple parties hopped in line behind us with more than one hiking up, seeing the queue and heading to climb elsewhere. When it was our turn, we scrambled up to a large tree and start of the first pitch, rated fourth class.
I started up, the granite somewhat polished but with options for protection in the wider crack on the left down low as well as a thinner crack higher up. I quickly reach a higher tree and end of the short 90′ pitch, but the other parties ahead of us seemed to be linking the first two pitches together. So I continued past, moving right on the ledge and reaching a shallow class 3 – 4 ramp system up towards several manzanita. The party ahead of us was belay off a large tree so I built a gear anchor in a crack to bring up Holly and Colin. The views opened up dramatically from the belay, with Five Open Books on the other side of Yosemite Falls and Half Dome in view up the valley.
Once the party above us started up the next pitch, I moved the belay to the tree, making a bouldery move up to make room for any parties coming up behind us. The next pitch (third pitch by the Supertopo Guide) climbs through the tree then moves right at a large dead tree not far above. Here there are two options- a poorly protected 5.4 face or 5.5 wide crack.
The topo listed the face as “Fun!” so I opted for that option, finding a few small pins scars for cams at the trickiest moves. This led up to a short traverse on knobs to the right at another tree, following a low fifth class crack up to the final tree anchor. This was again occupied so I continued past, having just enough of my 60 meter rope to reach a large manzanita for an anchor on the sandy sloped ledge. Our second pitch was certainly more interesting and enjoyable than the first and I could see why this climb was recommended as a first Valley multipitch.
Although many parties unrope here, there were some fourth class slabs to be negotiated to reach the bench up above, and we stayed roped up for one more pitch as I left the manzanita. I’m not sure I placed any protection as I climbed up to a larger manzanita and well worn use trail above, but was still happy to have stayed tied in for the lower section. I brought up Holly and Colin and we coiled our ropes and changed into our approach shoes, leaving our gear at the tree to check out the falls and pools. The use trail hugged the slabs as it worked back towards the falls.
It was very easy to follow with one very short third class down climb to reach the grassy slopes above the brink of the Lower Falls. I was under the impression that you could easily get to the water, but between the spring time current and steep slabs covered in mist, we kept our distance from the pools.
Despite the climb being so crowded we had the spot to ourselves. It seemed crazy to me to climb the route and not visit this spot, but I wasn’t complaining about the three of us enjoying the view alone knowing there were throngs of tourists a few hundred feet below. We probably hung out there for over a half hour before heading back to our packs and starting the descent. We opted for the walk off over the rappel route, with someone mentioning that the upper anchors were in rough shape and would require us to get back down the fourth class slabs.
The trail was easier to follow than Supertopo implied, with all branch points quickly coming back together, hugging the cliff bands to the east in search of a weakness back down. We followed this trail for over half a mile until the cliffs gave way to steep forested slopes, the use trail dropping through duff and talus to the perimeter trail behind the stables. It was about a mile to get back to the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, cutting left to get back to the parking lot.
Between waiting in line to climb and hanging at the falls, it was surprisingly late in the day, and with two more days of planned cragging in the Valley, no one seemed particularly keen to get anymore climbing in for the day. So we found a spot along the Merced River to relax and enjoy the falls before heading to camp for the night for some climbing on the El Cap base routes the following day.
