Unicorn Peak 10,823′
Sierra Nevada– Rock Climbing
Total Time: 6:00
Distance: 8.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 3000′
Crux: Class 4
Pitches: 1
Protection: Cams BD 0.5-2. Sling anchors.
Trailhead: Elizabeth Lakes, full services in Tuolumne
Companions: Shelby Kincaid
One of the more striking summits above Tuolumne Meadows in Unicorn Peak. When viewed from the north, the sweeping granite slopes rise sharply to the spire-like summit like the horn of its mythical namesake. In actuality, it has three distinct summits, the southern and middle summits rated class 3, with the northern summit and high point rated old school Sierra class 4. Although it was high on my to do list, it wasn’t a summit I was looking to solo, and I was unsure if the approach was a scree slog to subject a partner to. So I was quite pleased when Shelby, an AZ climber spending the summer in Yosemite, suggested we link up and climb Unicorn via the standard class 4 route. I met Shelby in the Tuolumne Grill parking lot and after sorting gear, we moved our cars to the Lembert Dome Picnic Area.
I had only done one big climb out of Tuolumne this year, a long day climbing Mount Lyell and Mount Maclure, and the Tuolumne Meadows campground was closed at that time. I was under the impression it was still closed due to COVID, but was we walked through to find the Elizabeth Lake trailhead, we found it to be very much open, adding a little extra distance to our day. We cut through the backpackers campground and into the forest, eventually hitting the JMT and turning right, reaching the junction with the Elizabeth Lake trail in a few minutes. It was my first experience on the trail as it slowly gained elevation over about a mile and a half to Elizabeth Lake. Unicorn Peak was directly across to the west, and we took a short break and game planned the approach.
It looked like virtually any option would probably work, but the slopes to the north of the lake were a bit lower angle and looked to be more slab than scree. There was minimal bushwacking to gain the slabs, and the cross country approach was far more enjoyable than I expected, with only a little bit of loose rock just below the broad saddle between the named summit of Unicorn Peak to the north and the unofficially named Mount Althuski to the south.
We stayed east of the ridgeline, traversing through some small pine trees to the impressive three horned summit.
From just below the south summit, we scrambled over to the notch between the middle and north summits and I pulled out a rope for the short summit pitch. The pitch was straight forward enough, scrambling the ridgeline keeping west of the crest at any major difficulties, although I did mistakenly downclimbed an early chimney feature misreading the beta and thinking I needed to work out around a ledge.
The crux was just after an ancient bolt (typical old school Sierra fourth class) with an exposed hand traverse beneath an overhanging block for which I was very glad to have a rope. The pitch was about 100′ and I slung a summit block for an anchor to bring up Shelby, the two of us enjoying the outstanding views across Tuolumne Meadows, with Cockcomb to the south, Matthes Crest (Shelby’s conquest a few days prior) to the southwest, Cathedral Peak to the west, Mount Hoffman to the northwest, Tuolumne Meadows to the north, Mount Conness to the northeast, Mount Dana to the east, and Mount Ritter and Banner to the southeast.
The climb far exceeded expectations, to the relatively tame alpine approach and interesting summit pitch. We stayed on the summit for about 20 minutes before Shelby down-led the pitch and I followed. Although I had been hoping to tag Cockscomb as well, Shelby was understandably still wiped from her Tenaya- Matthes Crest link up. So we started down the eastern slabs, taking a more direct line towards Lake Elizabeth and getting back to the lakeshore only about 30 minutes from coiling up the rope.
Fluffy clouds were building over over Unicorn as we took one final break at the lake before heading back down the trail. We reached our cars at about 1:30 PM and parted ways, Shelby heading back into the Valley for work the next day. I didn’t have enough time for any ambitious objectives, and decided to scramble up Puppy Dome for a bonus summit and check out the swimming hole on the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River before heading back home for the evening.
