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.
The earliest known climb of Kinnerly Peak was conducted by Norman Clyde and his Sierra Club team in 1937. The standard approach to this peak ascends the northwest face from the south shore of Upper Kintla Lake.