Matthes Crest Traverse - III 5.7

After an amazing May on the rock in Yosemite I decided to keep the momentum rolling into this summer. I reviewed my High Sierra tick list and one climb glaringly stuck out...Matthes Crest.
A little background on where and what Matthes Crest is. No tourist has laid eyes on Crest as it can not be seen from the Tioga Pass road. In fact the only time I'd seen it before was during the summer of '12 when Russ and I were hiking the John Muir Trail. On our second day we crested Sunrise Meadow and began the climb up the trail to Cathedral Pass. I spied an incredible knife edge ridge in the distance. Without even consulting a map I knew it was the one and only Matthes Crest.

"The traverse of Matthes Crest is probably the best climb of its type in the Sierra." - The Good, The Great, and the Awesome - Peter Croft
"Matthes Crest is a true knife-edge ridge and unlike most ridges, it is not a low point between peaks, but a completely independent formation." - SuperTopo High Sierra Climbing
"This is a classic climb." - R.J. Secor.

Out of nowhere I get an email from my normal climbing partner Ivy informing me she had bailed on her summer job in Alaska and was back in California hungry to climb. And like that, it was game on.
Matthes sits a solid 6 miles away from the Cathedral Lakes trail head in Tuolumne Meadows, 3 of that in on trail and last 3 cross country. However, due to the routes length and mostly class 3 - 4 ridge line, most parties choose pack the rope back up and solo the ridge until more technical terrain is reached. Most reports I've read indicated that Matthes car to car was a LONG day and that was assuming that most of the route was soloed. Ivy indicated to me she was interested in a bivy the night before to take the edge of the approach and to beat any other parties to the route. I agreed, and it was decided to go as light as possible skipping a tent and other luxury camping items.

Tuesday July 1st 2014:
We rallied at the Cathedral Lakes trail head 5:00 PM. A quick check of gear and we were off on the Budd Lake/Cathedral Peak climbers trail. As expected, the mosquitoes were intense and got only worse as the sun set. We cruised by Budd Lake and tankard water for our bivy around 8 PM. I chatted briefly with a backpacker who reminded me of a bee charmer with all the mosquitoes swarming around.

The cross country hike above Budd Lake was easy and we enjoyed the sunset on the upper Tuolumne drainage and Cathedral Peak. Around 9 PM we ran out of daylight and we're done hiking for the day. I'd never bivied without a bivy sack before but the temps were so mild I just threw my pad and sleeping bag down and enjoyed the stars over my head, plus a few mosquitoes.

Wednesday July 2nd 2014:
The following morning I awoke at 6 AM and did my normal back country routine which happens to be my normal at home routine: Brew Coffee. We ditched our backpacking bags and just geared up for the climb. Our morning approach took us only an hour to reach the base of the southern end of Matthes.

A little more about the Matthes Crest traverse. MOST parties travel the crest south to north and then bail of the North Tower (high point). The climbing on the second (Northern) section of the ridge is slightly more difficult and much more wilder. While the first half generally climbs up, the second half half trends downward and involves tricky sections of exposed down-climbing which is much slower.

Ivy had her heart set on the complete traverse and we chatted before hand what was in store on the second half. My research showed that though the climbing was good, it was better north to south, in other words, in an upward direction. We talked about the downward traverse and how time consuming the climbing can be. It was decided that upon reaching the North Tower we would evaluate the time/weather/ourselves to complete traverse.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

We reached the base of the route about 8:15 AM and within a few more minutes I launched up on lead. I had already proclaimed that I would lead all pitches of the ridge to the North Tower and Ivy agreed to lead everything after that if we decided to continue. The southern end of Matthes consists of 3 pitches to gain the top of the ridge line. Most topo's were in agreeance there were many options -  all in the low 5th class region.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

Once on top of the ridge, we pack our ropes and began to solo mostly 3rd to 4th class terrain. However the exposure was pretty intense. In fact the most 3rd class exposure I'd seen had been on Mt. Russell's East Ridge, this however was a true knife edge dropping over several hundred feet on both sides.

After about 30 minutes of EXCELLENT movement across phenomenal white granite we came to our first impasse on the ridge called "The Fin". We roped up but instead of belaying we decided on simul-climbing together with just two pieces of protection between us and about 50' of rope. The Fin could be bypassed via a 5.6 ramp system on the west side.

Photo Credit: Mark Thomas

Once on top of the Fin we packed the ropes up again and switched back to solo climbing along the 3rd class ridge working our way over to the South Tower. However every couple hundred feet or so we would encounter small impasses that would require some creative work to get around.

We finally approached the South Tower and after consulting the topo, "Do Not Rappel, hard not to get ropes stuck." So our option was to bypass the south tower via a 5.2 down climb on the eastern side of the ridge to the notch between the two towers. This proved to be not a problem and there soon after we were at the notch taking a break.

One last roped pitch to the summit of the North Tower. This pitch was rated 5.7 with a slanting hand crack according to the topo. I had read multiple accounts online of the "difficulty of this supposed 5.7 crack."

I ended up resting on gear to get through it. I found it to be short but extremely technical and very burly! However once I mustered past it, I was off through the chimney then the summit of the North Tower!

I belayed Ivy up to the summit. Photos were taken and we began to discuss plans to continue the complete traverse. It was a little after 1 PM and the weather was solid (warm but with a nice breeze). We swapped roles and she took the sharp end of the rope while I belayed. As I watched her disappear in a downward direction I knew that following I would assume a lot more risk than in a typical following situation. We completed two pitches of downward climbing with ratings somewhere around .7 to .8 down climbs. Our pace slowed and my enthusiasm for the climb died. After several spicy down climbs I decided I'd had enough of this. I don't think I was the first person to have that idea. Right at our location to bail was a giant rat's nest of webbing from other climbers throwing in the towel. We tied both ropes together to get full 60 meter rappels and after two rappels we were on the ground.

Our walk back to where we bivy the night before to grab our backpack was slow. It was pretty obvious we had bonked from a big climb and all day sun. I grabbed a quick snack of salami and crackers with a change of socks. After that we packed up and made the 6 mile trek back into mosquito land to the car. We arrived at our cars at 8:00 PM making for a long but extremely rewarding day!

I've had a few days to rethink the complete traverse and what I might do different next time if I go back. I do want to see "The Wave" which is a section of cool looking rock on the northern half. However, if I would do the traverse again I would go from North to South and then bail at the notch. I think the ridge is best experienced in both directions from an upward viewpoint.

Stats:

27 hour car to car.

12 miles round trip.

2,300 feet of gain.

8.0 half ropes.

.5-3" cams + small stoppers.

Lots of slings.