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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
