Cathedral Peak, Tuolomne Meadows
Cathedral Peak, Tuolomne Meadows
It is said in mountaineering circles that "Karma always catches you up" and basically what goes around, comes around. To this end climbers' who are naturally a superstitious lot' have developed a set of unwritten rules which generally speaking most people adhere to:- Always carry a knife to cut the rope with (see 'Touching the Void'), Never climb wet snow in the sun with nitro-glycerine strapped to your back (see 'Vertical Limit') and Don't ice climb without gloves, unless you happen to be Sylvester Stallone (see 'Cliff Hangar'). My favourite rule though is that:- If you see someone in trouble help them out, because one day it could be you who needs the help. On several trips, by sticking to this rule, I and whomever I am climbing with have earned ourselves free dinners, kit and the all-important adulation of the ego - Flattery!
This summer I spent three weeks climbing in Yosemite and Tuolomne Meadows with various climbers that I met at the Yosemite Mecca, "Camp 4", which is where all the climbers with no money camp just to the right of Manure Pile Buttress.
On one particular occasion a climber from Wyoming called James and I drove (yes - a climber with a real life truck!) up to Tuolomne Meadows to tackle an alpine rock route on the 12500-foot high "Cathedral Peak". This is basically a granite face of exfoliating slabs with 5-6 pitches of fairly easy (HS-VS) climbing that also involves a 3-hour trek in from the road. The climb is do-able in 3 hours or so with a small pack for sundries and lunch. The peak however is very prone to lightening strikes in a storm and if one does roll in unexpectedly (common to this area) then it is necessary to abseil off an escape route, for which you need two 50 metre ropes.
When James and I arrived at the foot of the peak, the weather was great, the granite was warm to the touch under the sun (about 35° Centigrade) and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. I set off up the first pitch climbing on double ropes as is the traditional English style. Halfway up a perfect finger crack slab I found a nut wedged in a crack, which with the aid of a nut key, became my first piece of booty for the trip. With this auspicious find I reached my belay ledge and set up to start bringing up James.
As I was belaying James in I noticed another group setting off to our right. The leader had the rope tied round his waist with no helmet or harness and the two followers climbed together about 10 metres apart at the end of the rope. The leader was very fast and didn't put in any gear. He seemed to flow across the rock like a lizard and seemed very relaxed. I then looked up at the sky and noticed something else. Big black clouds were starting to roll in from the North. Bugger, this could get a little rough.
By the time James reached me and we swapped gear and he set off up his lead, the other leader had reached my ledge. I shifted over to give him space and we exchanged pleasantries whilst deliberating over the change in weather. He told me his name and when I asked if he climbed often he said he did a fair bit as he lived locally. I noticed that he only had one rope, and when I asked him he said that he would try to push for the top if the weather came in. The two people with him were out on the rock for their first time and had never climbed outdoors or rappelled before. They seemed to be having a great time but were struggling with some of the techniques.
James and I spent the next hour leap frogging the pitches and at each belay one of us would chat to the other group as they caught up. By this time the clouds were right over us and big black anvil heads were booming ominously. At the 4th belay stance I felt the first few drops of rain and by the time I had seconded upto James it was raining more and there were ragged flashes of lightning at the edges of the clouds. James and I agreed that this was the hint we needed to get off the peak and we started to rig up our first abseil. When the other group reached us we asked what they planned to do. The leader was debating whether or not to push for the top but the two climbers were looking miserable. I suggested to him that they share our ropes and we set up a 2-stage abseil for the two beginners with safety ropes to lower them down the face. They agreed to this and as James abb'd to the bottom I went down one pitch and the other leader stayed at the top. By the time the first person was lowered to me the rain was bucketing it down and the mountain was shaking with lightening strikes. I could feel the electricity in the air and my hair under my helmet was sticking out everywhere from the static in the air.
We must have got 5 people down two abseil pitches and a scramble in about 12 minutes flat and then we all pegged it down to the relative shelter of the forest, safe from the lightening which had moved on over us. In the forest we sorted out our gear and the other group thanked us for helping them out. "Oh by the way" said their leader, "We're having a party at our site tonight, do you guys want to come along?" Well great we thought, they even offered to put us up for the night in one of their marquees. For me the penny had still obviously not dropped, so James took me aside and asked if I knew whom the leader of the other group was. I had no idea until James explained that Dean Potter is ranked in the top 3 climbers in the USA!
The party turned out to be hosted by Dean's sponsors "Patagonia". They had a Cordon Bleu chef in the woods, free drinks and about 10 famous climbers from around the world, like Lynn Hill. Even better, Dean introduced James and me as "The people who had rescued him and the two Patagonia reps that afternoon" so we were treated like part of the club for the night. They were all very friendly and gave us dry clothes and somewhere to sleep as well as plenty of coffee laced with liquor and excellent food.
After breakfast the next morning we headed back to Yosemite for another week of climbing in the sun. All in all our little alpine weekend had turned into quite the little adventure. So if ever you are climbing and you come across a group in need of help, give them a hand, because remember, "What goes around comes around."