[TR] Cathedral Pk; MMG traverse; (7/9/05-7/15/05)- SE Buttress 7/14/2005

[RichardKorry]

Climb: Cathedral Pk; MMG traverse; (7/9/05-7/15/05)-SE Buttress

 

Date of Climb: 7/14/2005

 

Trip Report:

As responsible parents, Chris and I don't get as much as we used to. In general we try to have one multi-day mountaineering trip per year. Sometimes the weather cooperates, sometimes it doesn't. This year

we decided to head to the Cathedral Peak area in the Pasayten Wilderness.

 

Neither of us had done much climbing this year so we were really just getting off the couch while attempting some challenging climbs. Cathedral Pk is a long way off (16 to 20 miles) from every trailhead on the US side. It is a bit closer from the Canadian side though.

 

I had done a recon day hike of the area with Susan Bolton in the early 1990s one rainy July 4th weekend. Susan and I, after being rained out of Squamish and Skaha, drove to the Centennial Trail trailhead on the Ashnola River in Cathedral Prov Park in BC and camped in a primitive campground. The next morning we crossed the river on a small foot bridge

and headed up Wall Creek, up over the Deacon, over the border, circumnavigated Cathedral Pk and headed out Cathedral Fork back to the Centennial Trail - 12 hours and 20 miles of trails, bushwacking, and hurdling hundreds of blow downs. We had lousy weather but we got peek-a-boo views of many peaks: Grimface, Macacbre, Matriarch, The Deacon and Cathedral.

 

So Chris and I agreed to go in and do some climbing in the area and checked Beckey and cascadeclimbers for beta. In particular, we received some excellent information plus pictures and a map from Darin Berdinka of Bellingham. Darin and his partner did a similar trip last year and wrote an excellent trip report on cascadeclimbers that provided us with lots of inspiration. Their beta on the return hike and their route, Pilgrimage To Mecca, proved excellent. Thanks Darin!

 

The weather wasn't looking so appetizing for our first day out, Sunday 7/9, so we decided to drive SR2 and try to go cragging somewhere to get some of the rust out. We ended up at Castle Rock where Chris discovered that his harness was not in his duffle. Duoh! We drove over to Der Sportsman in nearby Leavenworth where Chris purchased 20 feet of 1"

webbing for his retro harness and we were back in business.

 

We started in the lower cliffs and climbed a 5.6 chimney and Catapult, a really nice 5.8 crack. We then climbed Century, a 5.8 face climb protected by old pins. This is a nice climb which used to get 3 stars but the pins are all but useless at this point and should be removed or replaced. We then packed up and drove up US 97 to the Canadian border. After being asked a few questions we continued, bought some fresh food at a grocery store and headed for the trailhead. We drove through the beautiful Similkameen Valley to Keremeos. The valley appeared to consist primarily of organic farm/orchard/vineyards, quite a contrast to the US side. We crossed the Similkameen River and drove the 42km to the trail head - most of which was gravel road. We missed the foot bridge in the dark and kept driving. The road used to end 1km past the footbridge but BC logging has pushed it to within shouting distance of the border. We realized our mistake and headed back. Turns out the old bridge was lost in a flood a few years back and a new super-industrial version replaced it. The campground no longer exists either, replaced by clear cuts.

 

We headed out on Monday and followed the Centennial Trail and then Wall Creek trail for 4 hours to a beautiful meadow filled with flowers. The trail appeared to be pretty well maintained for not being an official trail. Someone had done a lot of work cutting down all the blowdowns. In some of the very wet and boggy areas someone had lined trees up into a

makeshift boardwalk. Nonetheless, we found it a very wet trail; a real surprise for the Okanagan. There were many flowers along the trail which was a nice bonus. The campsite was one of the most scenic I've been in: a flat area with trees for shade, nearby stream, flowers everywhere, a giant boulder to play on, great views all around. Only the thousands of mosquitos made it less than ideal. We set up camp, ate lunch and then headed up towards Grimface, just above us.

 

We climbed the 1200' to just below the col and began to read the descriptions of the multi-pitch routes on Grimface's SW Face trying to match that with the reality we saw. We never did fully match up description to reality and decided to play around on some other cliff that would better fit our available time. Unfortunately, the rock to the west in the notch was less than stellar (i.e. it actually fell apart as

you pulled on it) so we declared victory and headed back down.

 

The next morning we headed up to do the traverse of Matriarch-Macacbre-Grimface. This route isn't very technical (~5.5-5.6?) on nice solid rock. It consists primarily of ridge walking and doing short raps into knotches and climbing back out. Overall it was an excellent day with lots of fun, great views and no mosquitos! We finished it in 5

hours and headed back down to camp. While in camp, an older man hiked by and stopped to ask us what we had climbed. He turned out to be Bob Cuthbert, one of the pioneers of climbing in the area. We invited Bob for tea and cookies after dinner and spent a few hours listening to his tales of

climbing in the area and learning a lot about the history of the Park and valley. It was a very enjoyable time. Bob comes to Wall Ck every year to get the kinks out before heading out to the Canadian Rockies.

 

On Wednesday morning we followed a fine trail to the head of Wall Creek and onto col between The Deacon and Matriarch. We followed the ridge all the way up to be just NW of the summit of The Deacon. From there we scoped out the rest of the route around the NW part of Cathedral Peak. We hiked through bogs, open forests and larch to Uppper Cathedral

Lake in about 4 hours swatting at mosquitos the entire time. We continued to see many different types of wild flowers. We made camp just east of the lake away from a large party of boisterous boy scouts.

 

We then headed up a route we found on cascadeclimbers, Ka'aba Buttress of Amphitheatre Peak. The start of the route was literally a few hundred yards from our tent. The route, called "Pilgrimage to Mecca", was described as 4 pitches (5.7,5.9,5.8+,5.8) with solid rock and at least one 4 star pitch. The rock is pretty solid but there are loose blocks

that one has to be very careful of. The weather was cool (50s) and overcast and we were in the shadows the whole climb while a very cold wind blew constantly. Chris led every pitch and consequently I got so cold my hands and feet went completely numb and I began to have some involuntary

shivers even tho I was wearing all the clothes I had. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy some of the finer pitches as I tried to climb as quickly as possible to ward off hyperthermia. It was probably the coldest rock climb I can remember doing. It's a very nice route and should improve as it sees more traffic.

 

Thursday we got headed up SE Buttress of Cathedral, III 5.9. We used some beta from cascadeclimbers to climb a nice 5.9 crack off the ground (A1 Canadian variation in Beckey). The steep, rentless cracks were broken up periodically with grass benches and steps. In general the climbing was excellent but it was definitely at the edge of what Chris

could lead and I could follow. We skipped the 5.9 offwidth on the headwall and took a very nice 5.7 variation to the right (marked with a cairn). The Beckey topo implies this is a chimney but it's mostly a dihedral with maybe two chimney moves. The summit register was replaced in 2004 so we couldn't peruse history. However, the SE Buttress was done

3 times last year with perhaps 10 total parties summitting last year. This year only one person had seen the summit. Definitely not The Tooth. Getting off Cathedral is definitely not a gimme. There is a 3 foot chasm w/ 1000' drop below that you have to take the leap of faith onto a table sized block. Chris did it without a problem but I asked and received a belay. The rest of the descent was still very interesting. I think the West Ridge would be a fun ascent route.

 

The next morning we headed back to our car using Darin's map and beta. We retraced our steps onto the flank of the Deacon and then stayed high through scottish moor-like terrain. Wonderful wildflowers were in bloom everywhere.

We saw two deer running along a ridge which was magical. Eventually we headed down the ridge, crossed Wall Creek, found "Cowboy camp" and the Wall Ck trail. We crossed the mighty footbridge 5 hours after we left camp just

as it started to rain. What a fine trip!

 

The country was beautiful and we didn't run into anyone except Bob Cuthbert. The flowers were fabulous and we had good weather when we needed it. I'd recommend approaching Cathedral via Wall Creek. Although that approach takes a lot longer to drive to the trailhead, its beautiful country with very little signs of human impact. The eastside bushwacking was doable with careful route finding. The rock is generally

very solid although lesser done routes appear to have more loose blocks. If you are in the area and are looking for an excellent day hike, going in Wall Ck, up to the Deacon and then returning via our exit route would be a fabulous trip.

 

 

Gear Notes:

- Double 9s (a single rope would work fine)

- Full rack with extra big cams or hexs

- Extra full length slings

- Bug dope! We used an eucalyptus based version (Off! brand) that worked well but was very water soluble which meant you needed to reapply when you sweated or washed your dishes.

 

 

Approach Notes:

Wall Creek: good shape but very soggy w/ LOTS of mosquitos.

 

Non-trail hiking: generally pretty open terrain but many boggy areas.

 

Getting from Cathedral Lake to Wall Ck: Skirt western edge of Cathedral Pk and head up open southern slopes of the Deacon. Traverse west along high ridge Stay high above little hanging valley. As you terrain drops down, startl looking for old cattle trail generally north of small creek. Eventually drop down along nose of ridge (very obvious trail) to Wall Ck. Cross creek and you should be at "Cowboy camp".

[ivan]

sounds like a great trip - way to get a bunch of shit down on the few days outta lock-down!

[mvs]

Nice! I'm going to be at Cathedral Lakes Prov. Park next week (Mon-Sat morning) with my fambly. Anybody want to come meet me to do 1-2 of these climbs? I can bring rack and rope to the lodge. PM me if innerested.

[klenke]

"This year only one person had seen the summit [of Cathedral]."

 

You must be referring to me. July 2, 2005. Strange that no one has been up there since then.

[RichardKorry]

I was surprised that noone else had been there but since there isn't any class 2 way up I guess it shouldn't be that surprising.

Did you climb any other of the Top 100 on that trip?

[klenke]

On that trip I climbed, in order: Border Ridge, Cathedral, Amphitheater, Bald, Amos, Andrew, Peepsight, Freds, Van, and Sheep.

[Juan]

Good job Richard and Chris. Beautiful area up there. Fun to be an old man and have an excuse to do moderates, eh? Gotta love it.

 

John Sharp