Routes as alpine in Sierra Nevada

Seemingly intimidating from afar, the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak is a beautiful 5 pitch route filled with lovely moderate climbing.

A must do when in Tuolumne, Cathedral Peak can become quite crowded, fortunately the climbing offers many ways to navigate around other parties, at least down low (up high the face narrows, and parties tend to get bottlenecked).

At 1,500 ft. Tenaya Peak is long. It offers low grade friction climbing with only a few sections in the 5.5 range.

A 5.6 or so crack variation on the top pitch is available for those wanting something a bit spicier.

The full traverse from north tip to south tip, inclusive of north and south summits clocks in at 1300M. Most people rap down after the south summit and most of the difficulties come after this point.

Begins in left facing corner just left of the mountaineers route. Mountaineers route is the only real option to descend back to iceberg lake. No bail options without leaving gear.

Approach: From Dade Lake hike across benches and then snow up to just right of the lowest point of the buttress (37.37028, -118.76723). (5 miles, 2,500 ft from Little Lakes Trailhead to route start)

Descent: Descend down Class 4 rocks on the East side to sand, follow left of the north ridge then cut over it eastwards at the notch. There are two optional rappels down the snow/scree that bring you 2/3 down the slope. Follow steps back to Dade Lake.

(Due to lots of talus, there are little good bivys above Gem Lakes until you reach Northside of Dade Lake.)

The North Arête takes the most compelling line on Bear Creek Spire. The climb is typical for a Sierra route: lots of cracks, broken rock, and mostly face climbing and stemming with a few mandatory hand jams. Both cruxes involve steep stemming on awkward large flakes. The climb is easily divided in two halves. The first half climbs a striking arête/pillar with steep 5.7 and 5.8 sections separated by fourth class. The second half ascends an exposed 4th class ridge. Because only the first half is visible from the base, many climbers underestimate the length of the climb.

The long ridge separating the large, slabby west face of Mt Conness from the steep south face. There are numerous ways to climb here, but generally the best exposure and climbing is to stay as close to the south face as possible. Can be accessed from the Young Lakes (great camping), or as an exceptionally long day trip from Saddlebag Lake, by hiking in over the south side of the mountain.

The long, low angled ridge extending away to the north of the peak. Usually accessed from Saddlebag Lake.

The northern-most (right hand, facing the mountain) of the 3 mighty ridge-lines that sweep down from the summit of Lone Pine Peak into the Owen's River Valley 7000' below.

Only a short top section of the ridge is commonly done, after hiking up the Meysan Lakes trail from Whitney Portal and traversing onto the ridge at around 11,000' ASL. This route can also be done from the valley floor however, turning it into a 7,000' grade VI alpine monster like its siblings to the left.

The middle of the 3 major ridges. Several thousand feet of scree down low leads to mostly 3rd and 4th class rock on the ridge itself, with some mandatory low 5th class pitches, including 2 pitches of unprotectable decomposing gritty slabs fairly early on, immediately after a prominent notch. Up higher the easiest terrain is found on the right hand side of the ridge, which eventually leads to the exit gully (the right, less steep of the two obvious gullies).

People can and do complete the route in a single behemoth push, but most ascents take 2 full days (in addition to being over 7,000' tall, the ridge is almost 3 miles long). There's a good midway bivy spot on a major ledge system at around half height - this is about the last relatively good place to bivy on the route.

In close proximity to The Mountaineers Route, this route is the low-grade alternative when the couloir of the Mountaineers Route is physically unclimbable (too much snow, compact ice, etc).

Start as for The Mountaineers Route, and immediately move onto the rocks on the north side of the Couloir, following this in a long rising traverse (rising above the couloir - following the line/features of least resistance) to join the Northeast Ridge about 100m from the notch. Following the ridge to the notch, and continue up the summit coulour to the south to gain the summit.

A very long scramble with 3000' of climbing not including the approach. The rock on the route is pretty loose and shattered, but the climbing is all easy scrambling.

There is no complex route finding here, just gain the ridge by whatever looks fun and easy and follow it to the summit. On the ridge there are a couple steeper steps and one short downclimb, all around the 3rd class rating in difficulty.

South Face Left Side.