Mount Williamson and Mount Tyndall
October 2018
A week previous, I found myself out in the Sierras to summit Mt. Langley, and White Mountain. bringing my California 14ers summit list to six. Now, I was back in Independence with both Anthony's and Noe to tackle Langley again, as well as Big Willie and Little Tilly. We didn't know it yet, but Jared would also be making a surprise visit.
Since I had just summited Langley, I joined the fellas about two-thirds of the way up, then scrambled off to another peak that looked pretty fun. I took the extra time to relax, soak in the surroundings, and write a couple letters.
We linked back up and descended quickly down Langley. Anthony B. was becoming increasingly opposed to the huge send up Tyndall and Williamson that awaited us the next day. He was pushing for alternate trips, but we had been dead set on these two peaks from the start, so we drove to the trailhead.
There, Anthony Ottati and I slept under the stars, while Noe and Anthony B. talked mysteriously in the car. The mystery was resolved at 3:00am when our alarms went off and Anthony B. and Noe told us they would be leaving for Yosemite instead of climbing with us. Fortunately, they got ahold of Jared that night, who happened to be bumming in the Sierras, and he was in the parking lot with his car. He offered to drive us home that night, so Anthony and I took off up the mountain.
We started with a savage 6,000 ft climb over 12 miles up a rough trail, not stopping for a single break. We were feeling great as we crested the saddle and saw the mountains looming in the distance. We began heading off-trail towards Williamson.
We both felt suboptimal as we approached Williamson via the tedious and tiring bowl. There were some other climbers who helped us route-find a bit, and we eventually started pushing up the steep class 3 face to summit. It was a slow going and tough push, ending with a technical crux towards the top. After the crux, an easy fifteen minute traverse had us at the summit, feeling pretty loopy...
Stoked on bagging Williamson, but feeling terrible, we crossed the bowl and got to the foot of Tyndall. Anthony said we should take a nap to rest up and then go for the summit. I knew I would not be able to climb if I slept, so I convinced him to get hyped up and start climbing immediately.
Once we hit the granite slabs, we started feeling great. The climb was unique and really fun, since it was more slabs and less scree than we were used to. We cranked up to the summit in only a few hours. What a view!
On the way back down, we ran into an old Graduate Instructor of mine from a course I took three years previously. He was stoked to see us, and we all charged down the mountain together. We shot the shit, reminisced on old times, and talked about our current state of affairs, it was an unlikely but much welcomed reunion.
We made it back to the cars pretty beaten up, but so amped on our most impressive day-long feat ever. Eight down, six to go...
Jared welcomed us heartily, and we set off back home after getting a good night's rest under the stars on some BLM land. On our drive back, we stopped by Lembert Dome to climb its beautiful granite face. Apparently it is a tradition for Jared to climb here every time he passes through, so now I suppose I'm also obligated. After a quick send up, we made our way back to the allegedly civilized life that is Berkeley...
