Cathedral Peak/Eichorn and Matthes Crest in a Day

My climbing partner and I are looking to do a one-day link-up of Cathedral Peak/Eichorn Pinnacle and at least 2/3's of the South to North Matthes Crest traverse. I'm looking for any advice on what order we should do the link-up and what is the best way to get to each climb.

Thanks
Charles

I would go Matthes South to North (the full traverse) then cross over the echo peak saddle direct to Cathedral peak up and over to Eichorn. Head to your furthest point first and work your way back to the road.

We're planning the same for the weekend. Any idea if the snow has cleared for the descent?

Ask Brad Gobright. He just did that this weekend. Well, to be more specific, he did:

Third Pillar of Dana
OZ into Hobbit Book
Matthes Crest
Cathedral Peak
Eichorn Pinnacle

So something like 4000' of climbing, solo, almost 1/2 of it clocking in at solid 5.10, all in about 12 hours....

wsperry wrote:I would go Matthes South to North (the full traverse) then cross over the echo peak saddle direct to Cathedral peak up and over to Eichorn. Head to your furthest point first and work your way back to the road.

yep, I second that.

Consider doing the North half of Matthes Crest out and back (from the North). Because it has better climbing (and less approach time) than the South half.
. (also lots of parties run out of time and energy on the South half and never get to climb the better North).

Also there's lots of other fun things to link up around there:
Cathedral Range enchainments

Ken

Though it sounds longer (and is a bit) I'd consider going up Tenaya Peak, over to Mathes Crest, then finish on Cathedral/Eichorn. You can either return down the drainage to Tenaya Lake (where you'd park) or simply hike out to the meadows and catch a shuttle back to the lake. Tenaya is a great warm up that can be done 90-100% solo safely. Makes for an awesome loop with more varied terrain and without much more time than you're considering. Two cents. enjoy!

Does anyone know if the snow patch on Tenaya has shed, or is it still there? Thanks!

One more bump for the matthes crest question -- anyone know the snow conditions on the descent?

Thank you for the detailed condition report! I'll likely bring some micro spikes as insurance as well.

We climbed Cathedral Peak last Saturday (06/25/2016) and here view from the top (Budd Lake in the middle). It should give you an idea how much snow is still there:

Snow is no big deal.

We did the full Tenaya-Matthes-Cathedral link up on Sunday. If you bail halfway on Matthes there is a snow patch you will have to cross to get off. More reason (along with the better climbing) to do the full ridge.

Cool. I did cathedral two weeks ago and there wasn't much snow, only a couple of spots (we descended the backside to the cathedral lakes trail after Eichorn). This past weekend i found myself crossing some snow wearing sandals coming down from Marioulumne, which was a bit exciting but overall safe :)

Looks like doing the full ridge will be mostly clear of snow, so that's nice.

Tenaya Peak trip report from Sunday.
mountainproject.com/v/bear-…

Sheets, what time did you start up Tenaya on Sunday? I had the entire upper snow bank fall on my head as I was soloing it around 11 on Sunday.

I was with Karsten, who replied to your post on Sunday. We started at 5:40 am. Below is the photo o the route when we started. I assume the avalanche came from the higher snow patch in the photo? It seems like we were well to the right of that patch for most of our climb.

Jon H wrote:Ask Brad Gobright. He just did that this weekend. Well, to be more specific, he did: Third Pillar of Dana OZ into Hobbit Book Matthes Crest Cathedral Peak Eichorn Pinnacle So something like 4000' of climbing, solo, almost 1/2 of it clocking in at solid 5.10, all in about 12 hours....

Brad had a gnarly Yosemite trip. I think he climbed El Cap 10 times.

That fin above you is what my girlfriend ducked under. I was on the slab about 70 ft above and yes, that second pile of snow it what fell on me.