Cathedral Peak / Matthes Crest conditions

Looking to climb Cathedral Peak, Matthes Crest and other Tuolumne peaks this coming week with the spring snow conditions. Anyone have some observations on current conditions? We're planning on snowshoes, etc. for the approach. Are GPS waypoints necessary for the approach? This is our first time in the Tuolumne area.

Thanks in advance.

You really should not need GPS way points, they are both pretty iconic features. You just follow the creek until you are getting to be almost below Cathedral, then headup and right to near the toe of the buttress. To get to Matthes, you go past Cathedral and continue towards the Echo peaks, (there are 9 different summits) continue around just right of these and contour around behind them until you see the Matthes Crest. It will be to your left out in front of you, hike along the right side of the formation until you can gain the far end of the crest.

As long as the routes are clear of snow this should be a great link up. Be cautious of the descent off of Cathedral though, it can be spooky for some even when dry.

might be a bit snowy yet. the routes themselves would be reletively free of snow. the approach might not be so nice. i don't know whats up there right now but had heard there was a lot of snow near the road.

Heh, they JUST opened the pass 2 weeks ago, there's going to be some pretty deep snow over that terrain.

I haven't been there yet, but similar elevations in other parts of the Sierra have a LOT of snow still.

As others have said, snowshoes yes, GPS not really. You may or may not sink right into the snow depending on the conditions. You may be able to walk relatively along the surface! You may sink in 2'.

Oh, and remember that when hiking with snowshoes, you're going to be much slower than just regular hiking. You're also going to be a lot more tired. Just include that in your plans.

We went up towards cathedral peak last weekend and the snow was solid enough to walk on (no snowshoes required). We had an axe each and were glad we brought them while attempting the first section of the cathedral traverse. There is alot of snow, probably four feet, but it is pretty packed down.

There are a few of us planning on doing Matthes Crest on Sunday. If we go I'll be sure to follow up with the conditions. Thanks for all the info guys.

i was back therir last week and the sunday the pass opened climbed some stuff on the pleasure dome around teneya lake . my opinion is its to early to do the cathedral and matthes crest hell of a lot of snow and the wet conditions on low angle sierra granite means lots of natural rock/snow slides. if it was me i would wait at least a couple more weeks for those peaks . plus the slog back their . dont want to be a downer. also the high country is prettier in the late summer

Thanks for the input. It's very very helpful. I'll look forward the obs from Matthes this weekend.

We did cathedral on opening weekend, here is the TR: http://www.justinsmountainblog.com/post/684457247/cathedral-peak-alpine-style

It wasn't too bad without snowshoes, but perhaps we got lucky with the fairly firm snow though. The crux was the descent, but you can rap/tension traverse around it.

Summitpost thread with conditions from 19-20 June here.

I think the thread you meant is here

The Budd Creek approach to Cathedral Peak was snow-free the first two miles, then snow-covered the last mile. The suncups on the last part of the approach are tedious. Bring gaiters if you don't want snow in your shoes. For the descent, we rapped due south off of the summit block (left of the person).

It took two full-length rappels (two ropes) to reach the bottom. Fast and easy. You'll see a piece of green webbing tied around a chockstone between the SE buttress and the summit block. For the second rap, downclimb 60 feet from the first rappel and you'll see a cordelette tied around a chockstone.


The snow was tedious enough to discourage us from hiking back to Matthes Crest later. We spent our time on snow-free approaches in Tuolumne and in Yosemite Valley.