July 30th, 2017
From the moment I first saw a photo of the massive granite formation overlooking gorgeous glacial lakes, I have wanted to climb Temple Crag. Alan and I had already requested Monday off to take our engagement photos in the evening, so it was the perfect time to head into the eastern Sierras to conquer the climb over the weekend. We drove to Lone Pine on Friday night to camp under the Milky Way and wake up early to snag overnight permits.
Cover image: Melanie steps across a chasm high on the ridge of Temple Crag
On Saturday morning Alan dropped me off at the ranger station to queue for permits and returned with coffee and a berry tart. Great start! Despite drawing #1 in the permit lottery, we didn’t get overnight permits to hike out of Big Pine. Our hearts were set on this climb (Venusian Blind, 5.7), so we decided to get an alpine start the next morning and do the climb in a day.
This is how we spent our Sunday:
3:00 am
We departed the car with a rope, climbing gear, ice axes, microspikes, and plenty of snacks. Oh, and headlamps. ABC (Always Bring a headlamp). That morning Venus shone brightly to the east – a good omen for the day.
7:00 am
The sun came up! So far, we hiked 6 miles, traversed a talus field, and climbed a steep snowfield to arrive at the base of the climb. We scrambled up onto the rock and started up the left most arête of Temple Crag. The first two pitches were easy 3rd or 4th class, so by the time we roped up we had already gained some altitude and we were already getting some awesome views. And the view only got better as we climbed higher. At a belay, we eat our shamelessly purchased uncrustables pb&js for lunch. I’m not sure how they normally taste, but at roughly 700 feet up, they were delicious.
The climbing is fun, the weather is perfect, the granite is awesome, the views are sweet, and the company is great – what more could one ask for on an alpine adventure!
4:15 pm
After 15 pitches of climbing, (including one pitch which has a 4 foot gap) we topped out! Some storm clouds had rolled in, and it was raining on nearby peaks, so we decided to head out rather than walk to the true summit of Temple Crag. It is important to save something for next time, right?
We followed cairns and rappelled into Contact Pass before breaking out our ice axes again for Alan’s favorite part: glissading. We made it down the snowfield in record time, with giggles and “woos” all around.
7:15 pm
We got our final view of Temple Crag before the hiked out and marveled at our day’s work. We realized that “real” dinner was achievable at this point, so we jogged a bit on the way back to the car.
8:40 pm
After breaking out our headlamps for the last 15 minutes of the hike, we arrived at the car! We were stoked!! 17 hours and 40 minutes car to car for our first big alpine climb! We rushed to Mountain Rambler Brewery to enjoy a pint of Venusian Blonde and a victory feast!
