Tenaya Peak

With Joshua Massey. Fun climb, mostly solo. The exit blocks on the right are a good finish to otherwise casual terrain. You will come to a ledge, which forks. You can take the 4th class walk-off to the left, or go about 10 feet right and then go straight up. If you choose the latter, you will have to surmount 3 cruxes: the first is about 25 feet up, and involves a dirty finger crack in a right facing corner, with thin ledges for feet. This took me two tries in my guide almighty approach shoes. The key is the proper hand sequence so that you can walk feet up far enough to make a right handed move for a big jug. The second is an easy but slightly awkward 5.5 mantle at the top of this section. You then go for a walk across a huge ledge, bearing slightly left, which is where the 5.8 crack is. Lichens etc. Bring 2 or 3 2-3 inch pro. Once over the crest, scramble right to the summit. We were in a hurry, and didn't have time to look for the route onto the Main Ledge that cuts across the lower part of the peak, so on a guide's advice, we took a lower angle traverse through the woods back to the parking lot. Not a lot of fun, chunky talus with brambles and swampy ground in between the blocks. This climb is a great intro for folks who want to have a couple of "technical tools" (skills) on their belt for easy peak-bagging, or who are moving up from top roping/gym to multi-pitch. There is lots of slab exposure, and the challenge of deciding when and where to pitch it out on this easy but exposed terrain in a pretty benign setting can't be beat.