Sierras 2007
Cathedral Peak
Cathedral Peak
My first view of Cathedral Peak was on a trip to Tuolumne with my friend Tom Pypker. We were sussing out bad-ass routes like Northwest Books (5.6) when I saw a pointy horn of granite to the south, a ways away from the road. It impressed me enough that I took a photo of it. Then a lightning storm rolled in, filled us with fear, soaked us with rain, and we ran away.
Although I can no longer seem to find the photo of it, Cathedral Peak has been on my ever evolving list of "Things That Must Be Climbed."
Roger nears the summit blocks, Budd Lake belowRoger Lininigton and I have been climbing partners off and on for ten years now. He and I made some sort of pact when he left Vancouver that we would meet up each year to do some sort of road trip. It seemed natural, since he now lives in Santa Cruz, that we visit the Sierra Nevadas.
Planning to do a three day raid of Tuolmne area routes, we arrived on a hot, late Friday night in August. As one might expect, all the campgrounds were full. Weren't we overjoyed then to discover that Yosemite Creek Campground still had vacancies.
It was with a sinking feeling that I drove down a sinewy road that deteriorated in proportion to its length until, finally, after a 25 minutes of punishing the newest car I've ever owned, we scraped into a primative campground. I don't recommend this. We enjoyed a quick beer and hit the sack.
My mom bought me these. Really.We got an uber-early start so I could have time to pick an outfit. Incredibly, grinding up the trail in the car didn't seem as bad as on the way down.
It was fun to drive through an area that I had not visited for some time--seeing and remembering things that impressed me last time and noticing new shit that had completely passed me by. Driving like this, I felt slightly unlucky to round a corner at what felt like 90 mph to just whizz by a park ranger heading the other way. He wavered and flipped on the cherries. I slowed down, but kept driving to see if he would turn around and give chase.
By the time we arrived at what we was the pull-out for Cathedral Peak I guessed we were home free. I settled with the purple lycra and sequins that my Mom found in a Salvation Army. She sent them in the mail to me all the way from Toronto! My Dad, it is rumoured, has a hard time understanding this.
Eichorn Pinnacle from Cathedral PeakI just see it as an unusual example of a parent's unconditional love.
Despite a healthy number of cars in the pull-out, we passed only one party on the way to Cathedral. The two burrittos I had the day before were the only thing that slowed us down. As I cast my gastro-intestinal albatross off in quiet of the morning forest, some way along the trail, I wondered; is there is some typical distance in from a trailhead where one is more likely than any other place to shit? If so, losing the trail at this point should be avoided at all costs.We arrived at the base of the route to find a couple from Colorado halway up one of the first pitch alternatives. We made a race of it, linking together this and that and following no particular line.
Obligatory summit posingThe route was fun enough--no feautres of real note, but tons of funky, featured granite to tip-toe up.
Somehow, despite route choices and ease of movement, I lacerated my finger and managed to find the only chimney on the route in which to suitably mash my camera. At the convergence of all variations, we made a sheepish albeit legitamite passage around the other party and cast ourselves upon the summit block.We tagged Eichorn Pinnacle via a short downclimb, easy traverse, and some easy but super exposed climbing. A great and early first day. We grabbed our gear and fled the gaggle that had formed at the base.
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