As June turned to July the existing sierra snowpack dramatically shrank, but I was still as determined as ever to get out into the mountains. I had recently bought SuperTopo’s guidebook on climbing in the High Sierra and quickly became intimidated by the possibilities the range provided. There was endless climbing potential just as there was for skiing and a huge amount of it was easy scrambling to low 5th class terrain. In my typical fashion, my first thought was to start at the beginning and tick off the 3rd and 4th class routes. So I started mapping out some possible routes on OnX backcountry just as I had done for ski touring in the previous months. One common trait was clear from the get-go: the high sierras require big and burly approaches through mixed alpine terrain. If I were to tick off some of these scrambling classics, I’d have to be committed both on a long drive in and a very long day out in the mountains. Once I accepted this fate I got back to researching route beta until I stumped across a way to ease the pain. What if we took advantage of a mega approach by linking more than one route? The sierras are known for massive linkups and traverses, so why don’t we follow suit? So the next day I messaged the usual crew and pitched what I thought was just within our limits of endurance in the mountains: a linkup of Mt. Russell’s East Ridge, Mt. Whitney’s Mountaineering Route, and Mt. Muir’s scramble from the Whitney Crest Trail. I wasn’t sure if this would be possible, but it certainly sparked the inspiration I was looking for and began a ~month long journey of big climbing days in preparation.
The first step of my training plan came by surprise. My friend Joe invited me last minute to join two others on a trip out to Yosemite Valley. I hadn’t been since I was a teenager, but felt obligated to take any opportunity to go as a bay area resident. The goal was a big scramble and bushwhack to try and summit the three Cathedral rocks that towered prominently in front of Bridwell Falls. I got a link to a route description that claimed the whole trek was 4th class, but I had a feeling we might find ourselves in pretty sporty terrain. Luckily, two of the guys in our group were strong trad leaders & we carried some rope and rappel gear in case things got hairy. Soon enough, I picked up Joe in the Easy Bay and headed off towards the valley. That night we arrived at a campsite just passed Groveland and found the two others in our group already fast asleep in their tents for the night. It was ~10 pm and the schedule wakeup was regrettably 4:30 AM. This would sort of set the tone for the month, but doesn’t really change the painful wakeup each time. So we setup the tent, tried to get some sleep, and were greeted soon after by our partners in the morning. Good thing we did get up early, because the next morning I foolishly left my phone at the campsite and had to circle back at 5 am to retrieve it before we started off. Regardless, getting to the valley the second time I felt much more awake and took in the gigantic walls of granite that enclosed the valley like skyscrapers would in NYC. Even the three cathedral rocks standing 2000 ft tall in front of the trailhead were dwarfed by their older brother El Capitan dominating the meadow below. Its incredibly inspiring to be in this place with the knowledge of its unique formation and rich climbing history across the last century. I was excited to start that journey for myself in the valley, even if it paled in comparison to what was possible.
By the time we started again, it was about 6 am and we had a short hike to the start of the gully between middle and lower cathedral rock. We cruised through this section and made it to the base of the route. First up was Gunsight to lower cathedral, which was the normal descent for the adjacent routes and had some fixed lines running through the crux sections. For the majority of this section, I avoided pulling on rope and got through the steeper sections without too much trouble. Behind us loomed El Capitan, framed perfectly by the ‘gunsight’ of the gully. Frequent ledges made resting easy and it wasn’t long until we reached the true crux at the top of the route. My more experienced friends opted to solo the ‘5.4’ ish terrain most directly ahead, but I opted to use fixed ropes on a slabby section to its right. Really this section felt pretty exposed too and I hadn’t used rope hand over hand before in this manner. Regardless I was glad to have the option and met the rest of the group at the top. Getting to the top of lower cathedral was pretty easy from here. We bushwhacked a bit and made our way through easy scrambly terrain until making it to the summit proper. This was the first peak of the day and it presented a spectacular view of El Capitan and the valley ahead. To our right loomed middle cathedral, which was the largest of the cathedral formations and was quite a bit higher than where we were.
After a short break we were off again, this time traversing behind the rocks and into the valley upstream of Bridwell Falls. We were lucky to have the whole place to ourselves, which felt pretty unreal for such an iconic destination. However, the path to Middle Cathedral proved to be a mix of heavy bushwhacking and endless slabby scrambling. We all took turns ‘leading’ the way as route-finding was pretty straightforward. I also through of this as great practice for getting comfortable in alpine terrain as I could choose how difficult or exposed the climbing felt. After this initial section came a huge slab that carried us several hundred feat and into the supper section of the rock. Looking behind us were breathtaking views of the valley, which seemed like a tiny hidden corridor compared to the main drainage in front of us. Before we summitted, there was still a good amount of extraneous route finding through manzanitas. When we finally made it through we were back to the incredible view of Yosemite valley and onto our second snack break. Our group was feeling pretty tired at this point, as we climbed most of the elevation for the day and still had one peak to go. One member of the group, Shereen, was debating whether or not to skip the last rock as she had just come off of a huge vacation and was pretty wiped from the trek so far. We looked at Upper Cathedral, which was far closer in comparison than our hike to Middle from Lower and decided to push on.
The last rock did not come easy, we were met with tons of bushwhacking again and a few more steep scrambly sections. The most memorable of these we named ‘bush crux’, which was a short and steep section that both felt insecure and was littered with mazanitas. I followed my fried Tyler up this section and made it through by trying to focus on just the climbing as much as I could. I tried to avoid pulling on branches, but still had to muscle my way through some thick brush before exiting onto the final ramp towards the summit. Shereen had some more difficulty and Tyler was able to step in at the end to offer a helping hand. Finally after this section we were able to cruise up and tag the summit, even through we were pretty wiped it was nice to know the rest would all be downhill. So we quickly fueled back up and made our way down the final gully between Upper Cathedral and the Cathedral spires. The view of these spires was incredible: we could see them towering in front of the valley and even saw a pair of climbers impossibly making their way up its regular route. What was less inspiring was the descent, which required some hairy downclimbing in a large chimney. I was pretty mentally fatigued and got held up in a downclimbing stem move. It took some faith in a juggy but awkward undercling to kick out one foot to the opposite side of the chimney and finish off the crux. I committed to the move, but only after a minute or two of indecisiveness and feeling mentally fatigued from all the exposure of the day. Regardless we all wound up completing this without any major issues and started our was down the gully and back to the trailhead. Even through it was all downhill and was relatively short, there was still about 1600 ft of descent to go and it felt pretty endless. After maybe an hour or so, we finally made it back to the trailhead close to 9 hours after our start. It wasn’t the fastest climb, but given our relative lack of experience and three big summits I felt pretty good about the day. What made it was better was making our way towards the Merced river for some post climb beers and a much needed cool off. This was my favorite part of the day, as we could sit in the river with some drinks at the perfect temperature and look at the giant granite walls which encircled us in all directions. That night I drove back to the Bay Area and got ready for the next weekend of big climbing adventures.
After a week of work I was back off traveling to climb. This time I flew out to LA to visit some friends, discuss objectives, and get some more practice in with our Sierra crew. Our friend Matt had some good experience hiking and moving around the mountain in bigger terrain, but never went climbing in true alpine terrain or with ropes longer than one pitch. So the night before we chatted strategy on our Whitney/Russell/Muir linkup and decided to test out some skills back at Tahquitz for the following day. This wouldn’t be so easy as I had a flight at 7pm that next day and would have to make a quick day of climbing to get there on time. Fittingly I woke up at 4:30 for the 2nd week in a row and joined Trevor and Matt on the ~2 hour drive out to Idyllwild. It was my fifth time getting out there to climb, so we blitzed to the trailhead and made our way on the steep trail without much of a delay. Temps were still relatively cool for the summer so we knew it would be a crowded day. As we made our way to the route, we saw another group just racking up below the ‘Trough’. If we had gotten there 10 mins earlier we would have been the first up for the day, but still figured having other people generally helps to go slow and steady.
Despite the Trough being the easiest route up Tahquitz, it was still the first time for me climbing in a group of three and the first time I would lead pitch 2. Last go around it was only myself and Trevor so we planned to lead the opposite pitches this go around. Fortunately for me, I could rest and take the belay for pitch 1. This pitch was a total cruise, but still took a while due to the traffic ahead. We all made it up relatively easily except for some hiccups making sure I had the right ropes left clipped to protect Matt’s climb behind me towards the end of the pitch. Without these last few pieces of gear, Matt could fall and pendulum over quite a bit as the route traversed over. It was the other group that pointed this out to me and I couldn’t help but feel some extra pressure making sure we knew what we were doing in front of a more experienced group. Trevor who lead the route also had some issues setting up the first anchor and I spent a while adjusting its position while the other group made their way through the next pitch.
Soon enough I found myself back on the sharp end of the rope and knew that the delay from the other group was cutting into our time budget for the day. Feeling the pressure, I slowly made my way up the new pitch. The previous time we were here Trevor took quite a while to lead this, but I figured it was all 5.4 and I could cruise past. Turns out it definitely warranted the longer effort. The crux of the route was a bulge with few holds and an insecure mantle. There was a single piton for protection, but it was below the mantle above and I did not want it to trust it for a fall. As I explored options, my legs shook below me and I knew I needed to maintain composure. Matt and Trevor were belaying below and had a good line of sight on me getting through this section. Slowly I pulled out a small cam and placed it above me in a small seam. I considered pulling on it to get through the crux, but instead tried to hover over it as I brought my right foot up high. Carefully I committed to the step and finally got over the mantle. It didn’t feel very clean, but I was glad to have made it through the worst of the lead for the day. I was feeling relieved for the rest of the pitch and got a few more fun moves before the finish. One was a layback on a flake to get past a mini bulge while the other was an easy but exposed roof to finish off the pitch. I shared the belay with the other group, who were considering climbing ‘Piton Pooper’ to the left of us when I found that I had over-cammed and lost a #1 red C4. This was a bit sad, but I shrugged it off and soon after both Matt & Trevor arrived for the final pitch.
For timing reasons, I also lead the last pitch up the Trough. This was the easiest of the three but also the longest. I cruised past most of it, being careful to not loose any more gear and to climb a little smoother than before. This part was a great bonus for me and I even linked the last mini pitch to save some extra time. After making an easy anchor on a large tree near the summit, I delegated TR belaying to Matt and took a mini break for myself. We were coming up on our allotted time for the day so I tried to hope for the best and focus on making an efficient exit. Trevor quickly followed and we summitted right after a mini slab finish. At this point we briefly celebrated at the top and finally got to change out of our climbing shoes for the friction descent. This part was pretty straightforward and we blitzed for the exit to Lunch rock and the steep climbing path below. Before I knew it we were back to the car for our most efficient day at Tahquitz yet. Opting to skip any meal on the way, we quickly drove right to LAX in hopes of making my flight. On the way we were feeling great and thinking about the week ahead. Soon we would all be making our way to the Sierra for a true test of our endurance and climbing skillset. Both days out so far combined would not even match the total vertical feet climbed or distance traveled for the planned linkup. I felt ready to take it on, but also had to idea what we were getting ourselves into at the time. For the story of our epic adventure up Mt. Russel’s East Ridge, Mt. Whitney’s Mountaineering Route, and the last summit tag of Mt. Muir, I would recommend reading Trevor’s account: https://tbondi.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/triple-14er-russell-whitney-and-muir-in-a-day/
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