Trip: Matthes Crest - South to North Traverse

Date: 7/8/2007

Trip Report:
After the Darwin/Mendel trip on Saturday, we opted for a variation in the type of climbing and chose the Matthes Crest for some rock - setting out at 6:45 am. The approach and depproach (a little under 6 miles via Budd Lake) were, not surprisingly, the best parts of the climb for me in terms of efficiency as we did it in 1 hour, 55 minutes on the way in and 1 hour, 30 minutes on the way out. My rock climbing skills leave a lot to be desired, however, and we spent much time on the crest negotiating a few moves that were tricky for me. Nonetheless, the route was fun with exhilarating exposure in a fantastic setting. The roundtrip was 9.5 hours.


Cathedral Peak on the gorgeous approach.


Echo Peaks from below the Matthes Crest.


The beginning of the traverse after two pitches to reach the crest from the base.


Steven scrambling the crest.


Me on the crest. Photos above and below by Steven Sheets.




Further along the crest.


The south (foreground) and north summits.


Notice the climber near the top.




We were glad to meet another party because having two ropes makes the rappel logistics way easier (we only brought one rope).


Matthes Crest from the bench on the western slope of Echo Peaks.


Gear Notes:
Selection of small/medium cams.

Approach Notes:
Approach via the Budd Lake use trail and then skirt around the western side of Echo Peaks on a beautiful meadowy bench to the basin below Matthes. This approach worked really well.

Thanks for the beautiful photos and trip reports from the Sierras. Please keep it up!

I concur! I really want to go down and spend sometime there.

Me three. It is a beautiful area, especially for those that like sun and rock more than snow and glacier.

Hey, great trip and photos, if you go back it is really worth the extra time to do the whole traverse. Continue beyond the rap station and keep heading out the ridge until it peeters out or you are no longer having fun. There are some spectacular pitches on the second half, including the "Granite Wave" pitch.

Great photos.....thanks for sharing.

There are some fun scrambles in the Echo Rocks. One of my best days ever, although no technical climbing, was in that area. My bro and I were camped about 8 miles down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. We hiked back to the road, repacked a little, drove down the road a bit, then hiked in to upper Cathedral Lake. It was still early afternoon, so I headed up to the plateau above the lake. I had no idea what I was doing but ended up scrambling up the descent route for Cathedral, descended, crossed the plateau to the Echo Rocks, then scrambled up 3 of the summits (class 3 and 4, maybe a little low 5th). Finally back down to the lake w/ plenty of daylight left. One full, fun day. Went back up Cathedral the next morning w/ my bro before heading out of the Park.

Last weekend I went and soloed up to the north summit
pitch with my buddy, and then roped up for the 5.8 down climbing off the North Summit. Didn't bring enough water on route. We figure if you roped it out it would be over 23 full pitches. Over a mile of climbing. The first part is blissful and the second exciting. We found it most efficient to short rope it. Round trip: 10 hours including a little post climb safety meeting in the meadow.

Nice report and pics. Hey Brian. My foots broken! How'd the other pics still come out? Email them to me when you get a chance. especially the one of me breaking my foot.