Matthes Crest (to North Summit)
August 24, 2008
Approach: The crux for this trip was definitely waking up and
getting to the start of the ridge. Thankfully we had gotten to sleep
at 9pm the night before, so waking up at 5:30am didn't feel so bad.
By the time we were in the parking lot it was 6:35am and we were
probably hiking 15 minutes later. As usual it was quite cold in the
morning (38 degF according to my car, or 3 degC) so it was hard to
leave the fleece in the car, but we did. 30 minutes later we were
hiking in tshirts. We went over the Echo peaks shoulder, attempting
to go by Budd Lake but instead took on a bit less direct approach.
No big deal, perhaps 10-15 mins wasted in cross country travel. Once
on top of the shoulder, it's only a further 30 mins to the notch at
the south end of the crest.
Climbing: There was a party halfway up gaining the ridge, and nobody
else!! Wow, we better take advantage and start. We quickly put on
our gear and I headed off quickly, as another party had just
arrived. I expected some thought-inspiring climbing, but I was glad
I was wearing my comfy approach shoes, because it was quite cruisy
and I put 2-3 pieces for the first 300 feet. We simulclimbed the
first two pitches until I got to a very large ledge and couldn't
resist setting up a belay in order to catch my breath. Then a very
short pitch gained the top of the ridge.
From there, the ridge is a 2nd/3rd class walk with a couple of 4th
and 5.2 sections - nothing too exciting. We stayed roped up and I
put a couple of pieces in these sections, but the rope was more
trouble than it was worth. Soon afterward, the south summit is
reached, and then the imposing North Summit. From a distance it
looks quite difficult, but once you get close it looks much easier.
There is a nice ledge there to also have lunch, which we did, and
chatted to an Australian couple for a while. They quickly went
ahead of us and I decided to finally put on my rock shoes and
enjoyed the short pitch to the top as well - a couple of moves for
which it was nice to be roped up, but otherwise pretty easy.
It was still quite early (just past noon) so I figured we should
continue on the rest of the ridge, but Wei had had enough exposure
by now and we rappelled. The rest is supposed to be even nicer than
the first part, so I'll be curious to check it out next time. We
were both quite happy with the day so far though, so all was good!
After rappelling, we started the long hike out - ugh. As we came
over the Echo shoulder and were about to descend toward Cathedral
Peak, Wei suddenly announced his rope had fallen off of his pack.
Surely it wasn't anywhere to be seen, so he hiked back to look for
it while I tried to nap in the shade. He had to go back almost all
the way to the start, ouch! But was happy to return with a rope on
his back. Another hour or so and we were back at the car, with the
second crux of the day about to come: the drive back to the Bay
Area. The end of another great weekend in Tuolumne!
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Easy climbing to gain the ridge |
Looking back at some peaks south of Matthes |
jumbled rocks before the top of the ridge |
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The views were pretty nice! |
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I was thinking of hand traversing this, but chickened out (easy sidewalk on the right in the picture) |
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Me with south & north summits in the background |
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Australians climbing to the north summit |
Me leading to the north summit |
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Australians continue the rest of the way |
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