The first recorded ascent of Kinnerly Peak was made by a Sierra Club party led by the noted mountaineer Norman Clyde, in 1937. The standard climbing route ascends the northwest face, starting from the south shore of Upper Kintla Lake.
In 1937, Norman Clyde guided a Sierra Club party that first climbed Kinnerly Peak. Typically, climbers ascend the northwest face starting at the southern part of Upper Kintla Lake.