Route: cathedral lake Posted On: 2020-08-11, By: tdawg012 Info: gully is snow free. dirt is hard-packed but last 20ft is somewhat moist from melted snow I assume. partially clinging to either side of gully helps going up. going down takes some effort (unless you care to pad up and slide, weeee!). snow+crampons is a much better option as we know |
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Route: south gully Posted On: 2020-07-30, By: sstratta Info: In case anyone wants to slog up this nasty gully in summer conditions, here is what it's like. It's possible to get around the snow at the top on climber's left without an axe. The gully is just as dangerous as all the books/websites describe in terms of rockfall, but it works. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2020-06-21, By: CheapCigarMan Info: Couloir is in excellent condition. Hard snow on the ascent, softer on the descent. The cathedral below the couloir reminded me of Pyramid's amphitheater. The old miner's trail is a super nice trail through the rock. It can be found north of the lake then goes west. I camped at the lake, walked down to the northeast section of the lake, crossed the creek, then up the rocky slope to find it. It is well marked with cairns. The scramble to the summit wasn't as straightforward as I had imagined. The couloir is rounded out at the top making it easy to begin your descent. I found this steep couloir to be the easiest of the three steep couloirs I've done (North on Pacific, Refrigerator, and Cathedral). |
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Route: Pearl Couloir Posted On: 2020-06-07, By: jjust Info: The standard route couloir and the Pearl Couloir should be in for a bit yet. The trail is dry to Cathedral Lake and slightly beyond. https://www.jamesjusthiking.com/2020-trip-reports/cathedral-peak |
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Route: Pearl Couloir Posted On: 2020-05-31, By: Grover Info: Two images of the Pearl Couloir as I passed by today during a hike up Leahy Peak. |
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Route: Cathedral Lake Posted On: 2020-05-16, By: angry Info: From th to ~11,500, some completely dry stretches with intermittent snow patches. Continuous snow from 11,500 to top of couloir. Booted from th all the way to 13K. Did not use flotation as the snow was supportive entire way. Crampons up couloir to gain ridge which consisted of old avy debris. Ridge to summit was dry. Was able to glissade portions of the descent, no signs of instability. Booted all the way back to th. Snow was still in good condition on the way out despite the warming temps, again no flotation. Fantastic conditions today. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2020-05-15, By: supranihilest Info: The first couple of miles on the trail are patchy dirt/mud/snow. The snow in the morning was locked up hard as a rock, in the afternoon it was posthole city. Above treeline the snow was getting bad, while up high it was still pretty solid. The couloir to the ridge was full of frozen debris from wet slides. It was, once again, solid as a rock. The summit ridge is loose, as expected. On the descent the snow in the couloir was softening up, but still pretty icy. I would be VERY wary the next few days with the high predicted heat. Snowshoes were not needed on the ascent but were useful on the descent; crampons and an axe are mandatory for the couloir; we did not wear them for the summit ridge. Fair warning, we basically destroyed the snow on the trail so if anyone goes up after us you'll have your work cut out for you. Last photo is of the Pearl Couloir which has a giant cornice on top and is full of avy debris. |
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Route: Couloir Posted On: 2020-05-12, By: Grover Info: A view of the east face of Cathedral Peak, seen from Star Peak |
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Route: Standard Posted On: 2019-08-26, By: kmikwilliams Info: Snow holding upper part of the gully. Scrambled on rock to avoid upper section. Spikes helpful on the loose dirt. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2019-07-14, By: LivingOnTheEdge Info: Gully still in. Summer snow conditions. Hit the bottom of the couloir at sunrise around 5:45am. Hard snow for most of it, a few front pointing spots and occasionally difficult to get a good axe placement. Sun was hitting the top 15ft of the couloir by the time we topped out. Route to the summit was clear of snow and about as loose as expected. At the top of the gully again around 8:45am but didn't begin descending until about 9:15am as we were waiting for another gentleman to top out before descending. Snow as falling apart at that time. One or two inches of soft unsupportive slush on top of a hard layer. Kicking steps going back down was difficult and tedious; it would have been very difficult to arrest a fall in those conditions. After about 2/3rds of the couloir, we were finally able to plunge step the bottom and walk over to a spot with clear runout to glissade the rest. If I could do it again, I'd try to be descending no later than 8am. Snow would be soft enough to kick into but still supportive. I have plenty of pics of conditions if needed. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2019-07-08, By: 4thPlaceAtFieldDay Info: Did the South Ridge route on 7/7/19. This route is in excellent shape right now. The trail has been cleared through the avy debris. There is some snow in the basin above Cathedral Lake prior to reaching the couloir. The couloir is continuous and plenty wide. There is a faint bootpack on the left side of the couloir. After reaching the top of the couloir, the ridge is snow-free to the summit. Did not need snowshoes. Crampons and axe are necessary. Pics to come. |
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Route: From Cathedral Lake Posted On: 2019-06-27, By: BobbyFinn Info: The trail is mostly snow free to above the head wall, then it's mostly snow. There's a big avy with a lot of debris that obscures the trail pretty low. It's obvious when you get to it. You want to try to go about 20 yards further up the trail (or the general direction of the trail since you won't see it) then make a sharp right to ascend a grassy slope with some aspens on it. You'll find the trail on that slope. The snow below and around the lake was mostly supportive without flotation in the morning. After 10:30/11 am the snow is less supportive - was glad to have snow shoes then. We didn't climb the peak, but here are a couple photos from the lake. |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2019-06-12, By: madadraw1 Info: No reports before I went. Read that snow started at 10K at Castle/Conundrum. NOT true here!!! Lugged my skis on my back and waded through tons of avy carnage in the dark in my ski boots. Didn't start skinning until the lake, 12K. Maybe around 11.8-11.9K there is intermittent snow on the trail that further slows things up. The couloir had 2-3 large gouges the entire length from glissading (some areas gouged over a foot), so left my skis at the base of couloir. The ridge is almost 100% free of snow and I was not prepared to hike it in ski boots w/ crampons. Short of summit by 200 ft and then getting too hot. Fortunately, the snow all around looked stable at 11AM w/o avy's. I wanted to be descending by 10:30 to play it safe. Long story short, leave the skis at home. Not worth it. Despite a VERY slow go, I still took 9.75 hours when I had estimated 10 hours. Probably could get this done in 8 hours w/ a clear trail and hiking boots/light pack. Avy debris on trail not going anywhere soon. I ran into one worker chopping with an axe mid-day. I'll be back next year (w/ hiking boots!). |
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Route: South Ridge Posted On: 2019-06-11, By: Bailey Tyson Info: Alert! Cathedral Lake Trail wiped out due to large avalanche debris field. Approximately 1 mile in. Will be tough to navigate in the dark. Tons of snow up high. Persistent wet slide activity requires an early start and a hard freeze the night before. We had great climbing conditions, but we camped at 12,000 feet and were in the couloir at sunrise. Cheers! |
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Route: Cathedral Lake Trailhead Posted On: 2019-04-28, By: WildWanderer Info: Started at 2am. Postholed up to my knees for 3 miles in snowshoes, crossed an avalanche area successfully and came to a second one shortly thereafter (although it could have been a continuation of the first). In the dark I was unable to cross the second avalanche area and turned back. Walls of snow and ice mixed with trees here were at least 15 feet high. It looked very recent. |
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Route: Standard Posted On: 2018-06-19, By: HikerGuy Info: Conditions about the same as last week, crux gully is mid-to-late July condition with the middle portion melted out. Melted out part is wet dirt/scree. A little annoying ascending, but not too bad and coming down not a problem. |
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Route: Cathedral Lake Trail Head Posted On: 2018-06-14, By: smrcka Info: The crux gully is mid-July condition with the middle portion melted out. Remaining snow in the mid to upper gully is firm and still plentiful. Below the gully there is still a large amount of snow in the debris pile. The dirt/scree in the middle was easily managed - not too loose. |
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Route: Cathedral Lake Posted On: 2018-06-11, By: RWinters Info: Most snow from the lake to the couloir is melted and bottom third of couloir is melted out. |
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Route: Standard Posted On: 2018-06-02, By: zdero1 Info: The snow is in great shape but won't last too much longer. Leave the snowshoes at home! |
