Scrambles About Yosemite 



133 



bottom of the gorge, using a rope to get over the one bad place 

 at the upper fall. This, however, would involve swimming 

 the pool at its foot. It seems very difficult to get up past this 

 fall without the aid of a rope previously fixed from above, so 

 even at times of low water the complete passage of the inner 

 gorge in this direction is, to say the least, a difficult under- 

 taking. Its upper end may be avoided by climbing out and 

 along the ledge on the east, or, as Foster seems to have done, 

 by passing around a ledge to the west. As I have said, the 

 gorge can be avoided entirely by ascending the transverse 

 parapet at the lower entrance and keeping on the slopes of 

 Clouds Rest all the way. Needless to say, this is the only 

 way at times of high water. The other difficulty at the great 

 upper fall is really not a difficulty at all if one follows, as we 

 did, Foster's route, and uses rubber-soled shoes. In passing 

 through the canon, unless one has been through it before, 

 much time will be lost in hunting a route. Knowing exactly 

 how to go, it would be easy to make it clear through from 

 Snow Creek to Lake Tenaya in a day, and down in even less 

 time. 



After loafing about camp a few days, Hutchinson and I 

 decided to take one more good climb before returning to 

 civilization. We chose the ridge south of Half Dome as one 

 which promised an interesting climb, .as well as one which 

 would furnish unique views of the Valley. On the morning 

 of July 26th we got off at six o'clock, taking nothing but 

 lunch. We went up the Vernal Fall trail to the place where 

 the footpath to Sierra Point turns off, and then up this latter 

 to the base of the western precipice of Grizzly Point. Here 

 the trail turns to the right around the base of Grizzly Point 

 toward the Merced Canon. We worked off to the left and 

 soon reached a rugged chimney or chute which divides Grizzly 

 Point from the massive buttress of Half Dome. From the 

 Valley floor, a thousand feet below, this looked easy to nego- 

 tiate, but closer acquaintance proved this to be far from true. 

 To go up this chute to the saddle north of Grizzly is no easy 

 task. It is straight rock-climbing all the way. In one place 

 we went up under a huge flat slab of granite for twenty feet. 

 By zigzagging back and forth across the chute, we finally 



