This is a short video I put together of a three day trip to Young Lake. We had intended to climb Conness but had to reassess our goal due to time, weather, and how much 10,000 ft was killing our modesto area cardiovascular system. I was sucking wind like a world of warcraft asthmatic running the track during phys ed. So we went up the peak to the south. This proved to be very adventurous. A lot of third class brush crashing, some fourth class talus/scree scrambling, and some fifth class slab with questionable gear. Small cams, shallow placements.

Harold and myself had intended to climb Conness on Saturday morning. The Ranger at the permit station had said that there was good weather forecasted after Friday. We got up later than intended to a gorgeous brisk morning. The ground was still covered in hail from the previous afternoon. We sighted our objective and started making our way out. We really underestimated the time it would take to cross from Young Lake to the west ridge of Conness. We popped out on a ridge and saw really how much farther we had to go and readjusted our plans.
Lucky we ended up at bout the 10,200 foot contour of the aforementioned peak or ridge system and decided to climb up and see what's what. A good portion was cutting up slope through shrubbery and talus and making our way to the rock bands. At about the 10,600 contour we reached our first rock band and roped up. There was a lot of fourth class with a move or two of fifth. Set an anchor and brought Harold up and set out again.
We reached more talus and shrubbery, unroped and continued making our way up. We encountered another rock band that looked low angle and slabby. We remained unroped and things got a little spicy. I would say it felt like 5.4 slab but casting off into the unknown and having a little bit of air underneath gets the heart rate up. So I slowly and very carefully made my way to a secure stance and suggested the next three pitches we should rope up. After calming my nerves down I launched out again.
The next three pitches were pretty uneventful. The gear was marginal but the climbing was secure and fun. We made our way a chimney and grooved rock.
We reached the top of the rock and bands and were sorely disappointed to see another 200 ft of scrambling to reach the summit. It was reaching our cut off time and clouds were starting to build. I didn't want to get caught in a storm making our way down and I really didn't want to walk back into camp in the dark. So we called it good and started making our way down.
It's not a lot of fun down scrambling on endless talus. I kept my climbing shoes on for better purchase most of the way. My toes did not like this in the least bit. In good time we arrived at a suitable point to don our hiking shoes. My toes reveled in the roominess of the generous camp four toe box. I was elated to be back on flat ground and spongy duff.

this is the video of the complete trip. It was a really good time.
https://vimeo.com/50550675