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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 27, 2007 - 08:50pm PT
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So I decided on a solo daytrip to the meadows yesterday. Easy climbing. North Face of Eichorn Pinnacle followed by the Cathedral Peak summit were on the agenda, and maybe others if conditions permitted.
As I start the hike I look up. Oh my, I wonder if I could find granite to climb a little closer? Too hard for today though...
In a few minutes I glimpse my destination:
Looking around, this one shows conditions on the NW Butt of Tenaya Peak. That would have been a fun way start the approach to the Eichorn Pinnacle. And it looks climbable. The snow streak below the roof midway would push you into doing a friction traverse under the roof. Not exactly hard (at least if everything is dry) but not my choice for a solo. If I'd only worn my brown pants...
And looking back towards Tenaya Lake:
Here's a waterfall, as I follow the Lower Cathedral Lake spillway up:
At this point there were granite slabs to the left of the stream, dirt hiking on the right. If I were backpacking I'd be on the right of the stream here to avoid this crux of the hike. Yes it's slick-as-snot where it's shiny. My approach shoes have stealth rubber, else I would have changed to rock shoes.
Getting somewhere now. Here's where the water exits Lower Cathedral Lake.
And the lake itself. It took me an hour to reach here from the car, and it wasn't a fast pace. I stopped to take lots of pix, and even to delete a lot of old ones from the camera when it filled up. This is a least twice as fast as I could have gotten here on the John Muir Trail at the same pace.
I'm already on Cathedral Peak, and I think into the approach to the pinnacle at this point. the usual way seems to be 3rd class slabs, but I had done plenty of slab hiking, and chose a 4th and some 5th class route to the pinnacle. The crux of that approach was a little harder than the crux of the north face.
My way up doesn't look popular. In 2 separate places I found no-longer-attached-to-anything rap slings with biners. One was an ancient rusty Liberty biner. This stuff had been there a long time!
There was a party of 4 above me. Leader was at the 1st belay when I got there, and the first follower was traversing to it from the side (on belay). The leader was taking 3 beginners out which seems really cool. I think he picked a great route for it.
The move off the belay was committing, and looked improbable for a solo. The rest of the short North Face was fun too. A stellar route for an onsight solo.
I signed the summit register. The only one I got that day. I had forgotten that the Cathedral Peak summit register & associated bolts were removed.
Looked around and took more pix. Here you can see the north & south summits of Matthes Crest past some of the Echo Peaks.
Rapped off the Summit with a long 6.5mm cord, a DMM Bugette, and a long sling for a harness. Used a leg wrap too to add friction, although I've rapped this way without. The bulk of my pack was the rap cord, and it's tempting to leave it behind, but this is one easy route that I'd rather rap than solo downclimb.
From the base of the pinnacle I made my way along the summit ridge to the true Summit. From my perspective here, it looked like the summit block is the skinny spire in the middle. Looked harder than I wanted to climb. The actual summit is the farthest peak.
Looking back at Eichorn Pinnacle.
I was thinking about climbing Coxcomb & the Unicorn afterwards, maybe traversing from the echo peaks. After descending the scree slope on the east of cat peak, I walked towards the echo peaks ridge to scope it out a little closer, but I decided against because of the snow.
Here is the Coxcomb from cat peak. See the cornice on the ridge to the west.
And the Unicorn:
One of many marmots by the base of the SE Butt of cat peak:
After I decided not to climb further, I hiked down the budd creek trail, eventually going to tenaya lake for a nap, before the drive home. By the lake there was beautiful warm sun, and just enough breeze to keep the mosquitos away. Heaven on earth?
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Standing Strong
Trad climber
lucky under lucky sky
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May 27, 2007 - 09:06pm PT
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it sounds like you had a gorgeous day. i'm glad to read of it, thank you! the meadows are so pretty at this time of year. it really is a wonderful haven up there. i wish i could see more of the pics but i'm on a dial a ride, so i'm looking forward to viewing them when i'm on a faster connection.
cheerio,
t*r
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Varied locales along the time and space continuum
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May 28, 2007 - 01:07am PT
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Thanks! Beautiful photos and I enjoyed the narrative.
Fletch
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piquaclimber
Trad climber
Durango
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May 28, 2007 - 11:00am PT
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Very nice!
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Gary Carpenter
climber
SF Bay Area
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May 28, 2007 - 12:50pm PT
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David:
Great photos!!
That's my favorite approach to Cathedral Lakes.
See you Thursday.
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 28, 2007 - 03:33pm PT
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Thanks all!
Welcome back t*r!
Gary, I really appreciate the suggestion. Ever since I camped at the lake with my daughter a few years ago, and noticed how far we had hiked, relative to our distance from the highway, I thought about a more direct approach. How did your climb go?
Here's a shot of cat peak from the south. The angle looks off based on the trees. I tried rotating the image a few degrees but it was disorienting. For anyone who hasn't see Cathedral Peak from that side. Eichorn Pinnacle is to the left.
I also included one of Budd Lake with the Coxcomb above. A lot of snow to cross on the usual approach to Matthes Crest or the Echo Peaks.
John Muir wrote:
...the wonderful mountain called Cathedral Peak is in sight. From every point of view it shows marked individuality. It is a majestic temple of one stone, hewn from living rock, and adorned with spires and pinnacles in regular cathedral style. The dwarf pines on the roof look like mosses. I hope some time to climb it to say my prayers and hear the stone sermons.
And later (after doing the first ascent):
This I may say is the first time I have been at church in
California
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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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May 28, 2007 - 08:31pm PT
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Nicely done!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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May 28, 2007 - 08:38pm PT
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nice report David... love wandering around back there anytime for any reason
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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May 28, 2007 - 10:23pm PT
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Thanks David,
Great report. I went that way when my younger son was sixteen. We were in a light rain and we started up slabs to the left way to early. We ended up in these steep deep diagonal troughs, maybe 10 feet across and 15 feet deep. Super cool. We got to the ridge a long way from Cathedral but we just kept going and fooling around. Never did make it to the peak but what a great day. It's just wonderful back there.
Zander
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ikellen
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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May 28, 2007 - 11:01pm PT
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How is the snow situation on the standard climbers approach to the SE Buttress? Want to go solo this route this season.
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L
climber
A small kayak on a very big ocean
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May 28, 2007 - 11:50pm PT
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Whoa David! What an excellent TR! Those photos made me homesick for mountains like you wouldn't believe. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us!
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2007 - 12:18pm PT
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ikellen,
Essentially no snow along the usual approach to the SE Buttress.
zander,
Did you guys veer off around the dome between Medlicott Dome and the creek? Everywhere you look there's stuff to explore.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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May 29, 2007 - 03:00pm PT
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Congrats on a spectacular aventure David, and thanks for sharing it with us.
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| Messages 1 - 13 of total 13 in this topic |
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