Matthes Crest Traverse - South to North 

My lovely partner and I were just there yesterday (May 20, 2013) and the approach culminates in a couple hundred feet of steep (45-50 deg?) snow that is icy and sketchy in the morning. Alpine axe and or crampons highly recommended. Descent gully at the notch has an even steeper section of snow that cannot be passed by a single rope rappel.

Hey Jordan, nice write up!

I was thinking about adding this myself, because I was in the group of three that you guys passed. Awesome day out there! You guys were flyin'.

Only a couple things I'd add:
I think the second half of the traverse is significantly harder. more 5th class, and most of it is downclimbing. I do feel however, that you can protect it pretty well for the follower, you just have to be thoughtful and put in a piece after you do a downclimb move.

Because it was more technical, I placed more gear on the 2nd half, which meant we had to stop and tag gear more, which slowed us down. But, I think the better climbing is on the second half, and you're missing out if you rap halfway.

Finally, we started our day by simuling up Tenaya peak and then going cross country to Matthes, I would highly recommend this! More climbing (easy) and you get to tag another summit.

Our rack was 12 nuts and 6 cams, buncha slings. it was 7 cams but my friend dropped one. Oops!

We did the fast and light approach. Our rack was two OP link cams (used only 1 once), a set of nuts, a bunch of slings and a 7 mil twin rope doubled over. Tim climbs super fast so I was running to keep up.

We backpacked in for a more leisurely ascent. You can also check out other climbs on the way in and out, like the Echo Peaks.

One of the most memorable climbs I have done. We did it North to South. There was some very exposed and tricky downclimbing involved, checking in at least 5.8 maybe 5.9. Anyway it was intense and I felt like there was a real possibilty to get the chop. The grade of the climb is really irrelevant. This climb is an abosulte thing of beauty. I have a Patagonia poster framed in my living room of this climb that Bird Lew signed for me. I look at it everyday and smile remembering what was one of the best days I've had in my life.

Without a doubt a gem of the high Sierra.

Really fun, unique climb on quality rock in a pleasant setting. Strongly recommend continuing past the north summit and finishing the ridge. If you're soloing or moving quickly otherwise, an obvious addition to the day is Cathedral Peak, right on the way back to the trailhead.

+1 on doing the full traverse

+2 on doing the full traverse.

Really how could you only do 1/2 of this awesome thing?

Did this route way back in the late 1990s and it still remains one of my fondest memories of a day in the mountains. It's a big day, but we simul-climbed most of the route and it was a cruise. There is one section of the ridge where (no kidding) you are grabbing the crest with both hands (it's just a couple of inches wide) while traversing with your feet on knobs. Magical.

I soloed the last 2 towers for the first time yesterday. Most people bail off left where you can almost walk-off (reports of a 5.8 downclimb). I found one section of exposed 5.7 with some hollow sounding flakes on the last tower but no 5.8.

It would be a shame to rappel at the North Summit, as the best climbing/exposure is on the second half! The very last (northernmost) tower on the ridge proved to be a bit of a challenge - a deceptive 4th class foot traverse along a ledge on the west side dead-ends just 20' shy of the route's finish. I found a few bail anchors here. One can ascend a steep (5.8+?) corner to gain the top of the tower, and then walkoff, or maybe retrace your steps and find an easier way. I'd agree that most of the cruxes on the second half involved downclimbing cracks and/or knobs.