Having nothing better to do over the 3 to 4 days of early September, a couple friends and I decided to head up the Shepherd Pass trail. This is Chuck's write up of the trip, along with his pictures. Bill
Pudgy Old Guys Climb Mt Tyndall
A few years back, Bill and I made two separate attempts on Mt Tyndall (elev 14,018),
and were turned back both times by choosing too dangerous a route (making it up as
we went along) and running out of time. There are no trails up this peak, only routes.
Published route descriptions were a little on the vague and ambiguous side, and we
came within 50yds of the summit on one outing, only to be skunked by vertical walls
we hadn't been able to discern from below, and were not equipped for, as in a rope.
(Hauling a heavy climbing rope up Shepherd Canyon is not a happy thought, though
we've seen kayaks being humped up the switchbacks)
The approach starts at 6300' in the desert outside Independence, then continues
11 miles up hot, arid canyons to Shepherd Pass (elev 12,000') where Tyndall becomes
visible for the first time, standing above the pass, about a mile south. It is visible from
hwy 395,also, but if you blink, it will be hidden by intervening peaks as you cruise up or down
Owens Valley.
Tyndall always seemed like a peak we should do, since we now had a lot invested in it,
and because its a fourteener. Plus - the rise of the Internet made route descriptions abundant.
The route we'd been trying has been done, but no one I've talked to, that made it, liked it much!
Fast forward to Sept '08 - Bill, Chuck and Jim are older, heavier, grumpier, etc etc.
Ahh but the desire still burned! We needed a hike, had four days, and Bill talked me into
using the time for an old fat guy's approach march to Tyndall (my terminology, not his)
- and it didn't take much talking.
Armed with that desire, a lot of "muscle memory" from our younger years, and what can
only be described as stark, raw denial, we took off on a Friday morning. By Sunday afternoon,
Bill and I stood atop the scree giant; a longstanding score was settled, and two old friends
felt like they always have in the thin air and sunlight, after a good climb. These moments are
timeless.
Jim went on this gig purely to get some Sierra hiking in - he was content to stay at the
10,400' level, a beautiful piece of the Sierra, amongst tall pines and the rushing waters of
Shepherd Creek, called Anvil Camp, and read his new copy of
"The Origin of Species" by old Chuck Darwin. Bill and I continued on up to the Pass,
and a camp a mile further, at the base of Tyndall, at the 12,400' level. Here we spent a
24 degree night, but managed to stay toasty in our jackets, sleeping bags and bivouac
sacks. A 9-to-5 summit day ensued, and then, with only two hours of light left, we managed
to pack up and bomb back down the pass to Jim at Anvil Camp. Next day, Monday, the three of us
slogged the 8.5 mi back to the car, and had a coupla beers! (warm - the ice had melted)
(its OK, it was dark beer)
Both in our local mountains and the Sierras, getting to 10,000' is either a matter of driving there
or hiking a couple miles from a high trailhead. Shepherd Pass Trail plays with your emotions for
8 1/2 miles before getting there. This is the East Side, you're not supposed to have to wait that
long! It makes you think : This is one of the reasons people groan or widen their eyes when
you mention this trail.
Turns out our brains didn't write any checks our legs (and lungs) couldn't cash, but
prices have quadrupled! This trip has been done in a total of 18 hrs, by thin young guys,
but thats OK, we had a blast anyway. My photo log of the adventure:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567025960TNGfJM?vhost=outdoorsI still consider the subsequent downclimb of Tyndall to be the worst part of the trip, for me, anyway.
In a former time, I would have seen it as just another part of the adventure, but somehow this time I just didn't
enjoy dealing with slippery footing for an hour and a half, while trying not to envision broken ankles, head trauma,
or dislodging some monster of a rock that would roll down and crash into Bill. It was tense going, more
so than the climb, and I took no pics. I've been on this kind of thing before, but never enjoyed it less.
I relied on that muscle memory, and just took it easy. Bill thought the 500' loss/gain in the middle of the
trip was the worst part. Each to his own. There are many more pics of the trail out, but they
can be shared at another time.
THE END
