Cathedral Peak (13,943 ft) by Brian Schultz Monday October 1, 2001
We had doubts about being able to climb Cathedral Peak when we planned it a month ago because of weather concerns and climbing conditions in the month of October. After my interesting climb on Mt Lincoln, I drove over Independence Pass last night and stopped at the top to enjoy the moonlit evening for a few minutes before meeting Tim in Aspen. I might have been one of the last ones to do so because the pass was officially closing October 1(today) and that meant a long drive around Glenwood Springs to get back to Leadville.
We got up early and drove the Castle Creek road to the trailhead, the same one I started from seven years ago when I successfully climbed my first peak, Electric Pass Peak- a thirteener next to Cathedral Peak. We began at 6:45 with the trail to ourselves and set a moderately fast pace to ward off the early morning chill. It took about a half hour for my blistered heels to feel comfortable, otherwise the trail was easy with just one steep area of switchbacks before reaching Cathedral Lake at 8:15. The scenic lake is a popular destination for many non-climbers and we took a long break before hiking around it and up steep terrain on the north end.
The rock filled basin above it had a nice worn trail in it with cairns marking the route and it led us right to the base of the gully that would take us to Cathedral's south ridge. I thought Conundrum and North Massive had steep scree but this daunting gully put them to shame. After ascending the initial rubble, we climbed up the left side and had to reach for solid rock to hang onto while trying to keep our feet from slipping on the loose stuff. It was awkward and scary, and a fall meant a tumble down the 500 foot gully with nothing to grab hold of. I didn't like it and couldn't get my mind off how difficult the downclimb would be later.
At 10:30 we made it to the top of the gully and stopped for a rest- a huge relief but we weren't done yet. The route up the ridge was cairned and very similar to South Maroon, with zigzagging about on loose, rotten rock- very typical Elk climbing. After several pauses along the way to make sure we were on track, we scrambled onto the summit at 11:02. What a great accomplishment to conquer this one! If only we didn't have such dark clouds hovering around.
But as usual, the views were incredible. Castle Peak had recently been snowed on and I enjoyed seeing it from here after climbing it in August. Tim walked over to the other end of Cathedral's summit, totally caught up in summit bliss. Not me. I wanted to get down before it started raining or snowing but Tim wasn't too worried about the weather and we ended up staying until 11:34. His thermometer measured a mild 40 degrees on top.
Climbing down the ridge was easier than the ascent and we stopped at the gully to "consider our future", as Gerry Roach would say. Tim had an idea that turned out to be a good one. Because we both had trekking poles he thought we could side-step right down the middle of it and he went first to try it. It worked great and after 50 feet he pulled to the side so I could go. Without the poles for balance it would've been a near impossible task and we alternated descending until reaching the lower part of the gully where we then boot skied to the bottom. That part was fun!
We quickly hiked through the basin and took a break on a comfortable grassy overlook above the lake. Half an hour later we started down and intentionally took a short bushwhack to catch the main trail. We met two people coming from the lake and after talking with them briefly continued down the trail and reached our cars at 2:37.
This was a tough climb and, for a thirteener, I'd rate it right up there with some of the harder fourteeners. The weather never turned on us- all in all a good day.
Trailhead to summit- 4 hours 17 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 3 hours 3 minutes
Total time- 7 hours 52 minutes (including all breaks)