We headed our from our campsite in Wright Lakes basin over Rockwell Pass, a straightforward cross-country pass that cuts off a lot of distance to Shepherd Pass compared to going back to the JMT.

We eventually found a use trail and followed it all the way to the pass.

Approaching the pass. This side is a bit easier than the other side.

Looking back on Wright Lakes basin.

David heading down the north side of the pass.

Heading towards Shepherd Pass

Looking back on Rockwell Pass

Looking across towards Tyndall Creek. It's where we came down the JMT several days back.

Shepherd Pass ahead

Something about this meadowy stuff felt like the Fireswamp. Keeping our eyes open for R.O.U.S.

I've never hiked up this way, it's quite pretty. And the trail is nice and easy.

Old trail, new trail.

Finally I got a peek at the route we'll be taking up Tyndall. It doesn't look quite as steep from here. We'll take the rib that runs up the slabby slopes left to right.

Looking back down the trail to Shepherd Pass and Rockwell Pass (low point to the left of the little point in the middle of the shot)

Approaching the pass. We veer right off the trail to find a campsite at the nearby lake.

We found a great campsite out of sight of other people and the trail. It was a bit protected from the wind and had this great view of Tyndall!

There's even a little snow left up here.

After setting up camp we head towards Tyndall. A small use trail rises from the lake but it fades to nothing pretty quickly. Our route will be the rib that's running up the middle of the face ahead of us.

Looking West towards the Kern Ridge. We saw a coyote hopping across the dirt a few hundred feet away but he disappeared out of sight before I could get a pic.

Looking back on our Lake.

Tyndall ahead. First we have a pile of talus to slog through to get to the base of the rib. Then we'll figure it out.

Talus at the bottom of the Rib. From here, I can't tell if we should stick to the talus on the right side of the rib or move to the slabbier stuff on the rib proper.

Climbing up the talus. Easy going down here.

A look at the rib and talus.

We end up naturally sticking to the right side of the rib for a while. Lots of sandy use trails through the rock and it's not too steep yet.

Looking across the face of Tyndall. Not the steep part yet.

And looking back down the talus.

At certain points the sandy loose stuff gives way to some solid slabby stuff. I was back and forth between the two types of terrain for most of the climb and descent. You can see the slick sandy stuff at the bottom.

Tyndall slabs.

Tyndall slabs. And getting a bit steeper.

David working his way up. Our camp lake in the distance. You can see how there is loose dirt/use trail combined with talus and slab. There is a lot of loose stuff so we just picked our way up carefully. I wore a helmet, David didn't. I was glad to have it.

Looking across the face again - it's steeper now.

Here's where it starts getting tricky. There are several chutes/notches up there that look like they lead to the summit ridge. I was certain we were aiming for the right one from what I remembered in pictures, but my altitude addled brain was wrong. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Taking a breather.

Slabs on the way to the ridge. Still positive I'm aiming for the proper notch.

Just below the notch. I was excited.

Nice view, eh?

Our Lake at Shepherd Pass and an almost dry tarn down below.

After ascending a notch with a really fun class 3+ vertical scramble at the top, I realized I was in the wrong place. On the other side the peak dropped away to nothing - there was no way this was the 'class 2 chute'. So we descended until we could find a place to traverse left to the other chutes to see if we could find the right one.

WRONG. Don't go up there.

This is the steep and loose stuff we had to traverse across. Nice solid slabs with intermediate loose dirt and rocks.

Finally at the top of the proper (class 2) chute. Yay!

The rest of the climb is a simple boulder scramble to the summit.

Looking back down on our lake again. It's fun to see it get smaller and smaller.

Looking back down the north ridge and west slope of Tyndall from shortly after the point where we popped out from the north rib.