Gradually but seriously I’d been pushing my trad climbing game. I’d learned the basic skills of placing gear, building anchors, and managing the logistics of long routes a couple of years ago, but it was in the spring with Evan that I had begun perfecting them. Our end of summer coup-de-grace, however, involved none of that. The Tuolomne Triple, climbing Tenaya Peak, Mathess Crest, and Cathedral Peak back-to-back would be about suffering through the hiking then climbing fast despite our fatigue.

The psyche for a 5am wakeup the morning of dissipated as soon our alarms went off, but my 5:30 we had rolled into the car and were snacking while driving to Tenaya Lake. At 6:30 we were hiking through the reverse twilight, at 7:30 climbing through the sunrise, and at 8:30 beginning our hike down from Tenaya. Four miles, a false destination, and a horrid uphill slog later we started up the southern tip of Mathess. So far the backcountry hiking had taken longer than the climbing.

We had brought a short rope and some gear, and I honestly expected to tie in at some point, but we cruised through the most difficult parts of the day solo, our harnesses sitting comfortably, but unused, on our hips. We snapped some more photos on our phones once we reached the midway summit of the ridge, relaxed because the end of the day seemed in sight. Of course it was only hours later we could say we were done, having done the second half of the Crest, climbed Cathedral peak, and done another two stretches of hiking to boot. Amazingly, because we climbed it solo, overtaking everyone else as was our right, we were actually the second party to finish Cathedral that day.

The next morning we could barely move, but somehow found the motivation to climb Higher Cathedral Spire, a short but classic and easy route in the Valley. I took my phone out on the summit to snap some photos and noticed a web of cracks. It had been in my pocket, like it almost is when I'm climbing, but I guess it got knocked while the screen was facing out, not in. It didn't stop me from taking the photo that is my current wallpaper, and in a way it was only fair my phone was hurting too.