Traverse from South to North 5.7

 
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Matthes Crest


Tuolumne Meadows, California USA


Trip Report
Extended Cathedral Traverse, minus Cathedral
Tuesday July 9, 2013 8:42pm
Inspired by an Ed Hartouni post, I made an attempt at linking up all the Cathedral peaks from Tenaya to Unicorn on Saturday. Ran out of daylight before I could get to Cathedral and Eichorn but all in all, a fantastic day in the mountains, and my biggest solo day ever.

Some of the highlights:

Tenaya quiet in the morning light!
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Tenaya 5.4 Lieback ahead
Tenaya 5.4 Lieback ahead
Credit: Stevee B
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Beautiful view from North Tressider.
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Credit: Stevee B
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Exciting 4th class route on South Tressider (my best recollection of my route - don't take this one to the bank).
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Credit: Stevee B
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Delightful 3rd class on the east side of the north ridge of Columbia Finger - cuddly class 3.
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Columbia finger staircase
Columbia finger staircase
Credit: Stevee B
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Met several more Oakland climbers, at the base of Matthes and on the crest.
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Oakland climbers at the base of Matthes
Oakland climbers at the base of Matthes
Credit: Stevee B
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Oaktown reppin!
Oaktown reppin!
Credit: Stevee B
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Found some soloing companions and someone to take my picture without a timer.
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Credit: Stevee B
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Kristin heading north on Matthes.
Kristin heading north on Matthes.
Credit: Stevee B
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I feel naked without pants.
I feel naked without pants.
Credit: Stevee B
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Kristin and Zach showed up at just the right time. I was getting lonely! Company does wonders for the nerves.

Seeing all the sign-ins from old friends in the Echo Peaks summit registers. Lots of people doing the Cathedral-Matthes-Tenaya link-up these days!
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Hi Nicki!
Hi Nicki!
Credit: Stevee B
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I recently discovered the music of Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers - Nicki is married to Tim Bluhm, familiar to some as the lead singer for Mother Hips and to others as a prolific climber in the the Valley and Tuolumne in the late 1980s. Tim grew up in the house behind me in Manhattan Beach, and I'm always tickled to see crumbs from his trail. Tim was signed in at the Echo #4 summit log.

I used Mark Thomas & Steph Abegg's Echo peak sequence from just a few days ago. This was my third trip to the Echo Peaks and I thought this was a pretty solid outline. Thanks for putting it up Mark!

The always outstanding view at the deceptively tame 3rd class of Echo #3, as seen from Echo #4.
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Echo #3
Echo #3
Credit: Stevee B
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Trying to keep track of the Echo Peaks. Wasn't up to doing #9 alone - maybe next time.
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I'm running out of fingers.
I'm running out of fingers.
Credit: Stevee B
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Buddha on the first Echo Ridge summit.
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Om
Om
Credit: Stevee B
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Found a new, better route onto either Echo Ridge North or Cockscomb (things starting to blur together...) up and right with a good left foot and a right hand mantle. Unlocked the 4th class that had felt 5th on a previous visit.
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View from Echo Ridge
View from Echo Ridge
Credit: Stevee B
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The beautiful sunset from Unicorn.
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Cathedral
Cathedral
Credit: Stevee B
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Looking back up the gully that accesses the notch between the north and middle summits of Unicorn. I might call this one a questionable downclimb. Would recommend rappelling.
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Credit: Stevee B
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Traversed around the south side of Budd Lake back to the base of Cathedral Peak to catch the trail, due to dim memories of bushwhackiness going around the much shorter route, north of Budd Lake. Longer mileage but easy terrain.
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Credit: Stevee B
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Summary:
Tenaya Peak->Tressider North Arete-> Tressider South Arete-> Columbia Finger-> full Matthes Crest-> Echo Peaks 5/7/6/0/4/3/2/1/8 (no #9) -> Echo Ridge -> Cockscomb-> Unicorn Peak
Between 18-20 summits, depending on how you count Matthes and the Echos.

http://goldenincalescent.blogspot.com/2013/07/cathedral-traverse-minus-cathedral.html











  Trip Report Views: 3,652
Stevee B
About the Author
Stevee B is a climber né canyoneer from Oakland, CA.

Comments
RyanD

climber
  Jul 9, 2013 - 08:51pm PT
Boo ya!

Nice one, I've done a modified version of that traverse solo on my Bday last year & would love to get back & add a few more summits to it sometime. So much fun back there! Unicorn downclimb was interesting the way I ended up going as well.
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
  Jul 9, 2013 - 08:52pm PT
one simple word: Beauty!
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Jul 9, 2013 - 09:11pm PT
I remember a big step across coming back from unicorn.
TripCheq

Mountain climber
Pennsylvania
  Jul 10, 2013 - 11:26am PT
Great TR. My brother and I sniped a few of those last summer. Your photos make me want to go back and finish the traverse!
fat-n-sassy

Social climber
San Francity, CA
  Jul 10, 2013 - 12:57pm PT
Strong work!
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
  Jul 10, 2013 - 01:43pm PT
funny, I wasn't sure if I had a partner for climbing (I did) and was thinking about this trip for last weekend...

...glad you got on it and posted a TR!

inspiration!!
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
  Jul 10, 2013 - 01:50pm PT
Yeeehaaawww! This is a good one. Le_bruce turned me on to this possibility a few years ago, and someday we'll get back and do the linkup. We did Tenaya + part of Matthes before a migraine intervened. But we wimped out on Tressider and Columbia Finger, in hopes of making time later for Cathedral. I definitely would want to include those next time.

Great job!
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
  Jul 10, 2013 - 02:55pm PT
Rad mileage in the sky. Thanks for a fun report. I was tapped after just doing Matthes....yall linkupers are core.
clode

Trad climber
portland, or
  Jul 10, 2013 - 03:10pm PT
Beautiful photos! TFPU! BTW, you ARE naked without pants!
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
  Jul 10, 2013 - 03:20pm PT
Wow! Great work and an amazing day. Thanks for the pictures, report and inspiration.

John
Stevee B

Trad climber
Oakland, CA
Author's Reply  Jul 10, 2013 - 07:21pm PT
munge, I remembered the step-across being spicy from my previous trip too. Facing out and getting down real low seemed to un-spice it this time. Good holds down low on the Unicorn side.

The scrambles on the Tressiders and Columbia Finger are great fun. Like little Micro-Matthes, I encourage a visit.

The weekend prior we did a trail run loop from Lyell drainage to Voglesang high camp and got a good look at Fletcher and the North Arete of Vogelsang. I can imagine a two (or three?) day enchainment of the entire Cathedral Range. We a great Class 3 scramble on the NE face of Vogelsang, very scenic.

If anyone has done any fun routes on Johnson, Rafferty, or Florence, I'd love to hear about it.
McCfly

climber
  Jul 10, 2013 - 07:28pm PT
Pretty baller!
ruppell

climber
  Jul 10, 2013 - 08:58pm PT
Nicely done. Your not the only one who's skipped Echo 9. I was unable to find anything even close to 5.7 on it. I promised myself I'd go back with a partner and a rope to unlock it but that was 6 years ago. So many other things to do in the Meadows. lol
Easy Wind

Trad climber
Oakland, California
  Jul 11, 2013 - 03:23pm PT
Most excellent!
splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
  Jul 11, 2013 - 06:08pm PT
very nice. hoping to get out there this season.

U look like someone I know named breadbox. :)

hit me up when you need a partner Steve.

PJ
Texplorer

Trad climber
Sacramento
  Jul 12, 2013 - 02:31pm PT
Crazy! I did a similar linkup about 2 weeks ago in a 11 hour big day roundtrip from Tenaya Lake. I got 12 high points if you count the two towers on Matthes. Original plan was to also get Unicorn but I started cramping on Matthes. I would love to do this again and get Unicorn but soloing Eichorn is scary so that might be off the list. Here is my list of peaks and maybe I'll write up a trip report this weekend.

Tenaya Peak
Tressider North Peak
Tressider South Peak
Columbia Finger
Full Matthes South to North
Cockscomb
3x echo peaks
Cathedral
Eichorn

Tenaya Peak->Tressider North Arete-> Tressider South Arete-> Columbia Finger-> full Matthes Crest-> Echo Peaks 5/7/6/0/4/3/2/1/8 (no #9) -> Echo Ridge -> Cockscomb-> Unicorn Peak
Between 18-20 summits, depending on how you count Matthes and the Echos
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Jul 14, 2013 - 10:53am PT
Kool!
looks easy from here

climber
Santa Cruzish
  Jul 14, 2013 - 10:23pm PT
Heckuva day! Love the finger tallies for the Echo Peaks.
Risk

Mountain climber
Marooned, 855 miles from Tuolumne Meadows
  Jul 14, 2013 - 11:09pm PT
Really great!
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Matthes Crest - Traverse from South to North 5.7 - Tuolumne Meadows, California USA. Click to Enlarge
The Matthes Crest traverse starts at the south end (right) and follows the cockscomb north.
Photo: Greg Barnes
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