Cathedral Traverse w/Tom

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Strava 

I’d love to say that this was the plan all along, but it wasn’t. Our aspiration was the Grand Traverse. Tom was basically doing this off the couch, as he broke his collarbone three months ago and had to have surgery to repair it. Like I’ve done before, he spent his recuperation planning his comeback adventures. We tried this last year and arrived the day it snowed up high and rained all day. We waited a day and did some sport climbing, but when we arrived at the top of Teewinot (the first peak in the traverse), a freezing wind bit into us as we gazed upon the snow-covered rock ahead. We bailed. We came back for round two.

 

The weather report was perfect and indeed we had perfect weather and conditions, but five hours into the day, Tom realized he didn’t have the base for the 24+ hours this was going to take. I was still feeling good then but wasn’t all that disappointed about shortening the plan. By the time I hit the Lower Saddle, I was elated with it.

 

We knew it was unlikely that we’d need the pointy tools, but, just in case, we took our ultralight ice axes and Microspikes. We never used either. We took two 30-meter ropes, planning to climb with just one of them and use the other when we needed to rappel. This worked great and I’d do this again. We took minimal clothes and had a maximum carrying capacity of just 50 ounces of water. Water is an issue on this traverse but manageable. There is only one spot to get water between the parking lot and the Lower Saddle and that is below the snow slope on Mt. Owen.

 

With such a stellar weather report it shouldn’t have been surprising to see other parties, but I was shocked with the number of people attempting such an audacious link-up. While we slept in the woods near the Lupine Meadows parking lot, a couple of parties walked by. Two guys we met the night before went in that night, planning to bivy (they had a tent) somewhere up on Teewinot.

 

We awoke at 2 a.m. and were moving at 2:17 a.m., having packed the night before. We caught and passed the party of four that walked by while we were still in our bags, but then got caught by Fernando and Chase. Fernando was an aerobic monster, but I could keep up with Chase. They had done the Cathedral Traverse (first half of the Grand Traverse) before and were now going for the Full Monty. We tagged onto them until they gapped us on the rappels down Point 11,840.

 

Teewinot is a rough start. It is the most relentlessly steep trail I’ve ever done. We climbed 5600 vertical feet in about three miles. Twice as steep as Longs Peak via the North Face. The top 1000 feet is mostly scrambling. We topped out with Fernando and Chase before the sun rose, so we were on track for the Grand Traverse in a day…

 

We followed those two down to the first rappels of the day. We used both of our ropes to do the first 20-meter rappel and then found a doubled, fixed rappel line. What? All four of us were baffled by this line, but we used it. It was so heavy that rappelling it was a chore, as you had to help the rope through your device. We still had our buddies in sight, as we traversed a dangerously loose slope and then did tons of scrambling up to the summit of East Prong. I’d nearly caught up to Chase here. While those two downclimbed off this peak, Tom and I did three short rappels (one rope) and a bit of downclimbing, as it was safer, and there is lots of loose rock. At the bottom, we had to make six or so steps across the rock-hard snow at the top of the Koven Couloir.

 

While descending East Prong, we could see a party of four ahead of us, just leaving their bivy. Their bivy location was incredible and right by the water source. Fernando and Chase had filled their bottles and passed these four by the time we got there. We took an extended break here to drink and eat before moving on. We roped up for the pitch above the bivy, but it was easy.

 

We traversed hard left, around the snowfield, and spotted the climbers above. Everyone was leaving their packs at the gully that started the descent to the Gunsight and we did the same. We climbed by the group of four, all wearing climbing shoes, and hit the summit of Mt. Owen at 12,900+ feet. This is a remote place to be. There is no easy way off this peak. All of the “easiest” descents from this peak involve climbing another peak, either Teewinot or the Grand. I’d climbed it once before, with the venerable, tireless, redoubtable Loobster. We tried to get to the Grandstand but had so much trouble that we ended up well down the couloir to the west. We bailed to the west and had an adventure descending that way and out Cascade Canyon. But now that couloir was loose talus on rock-hard ice and extremely dangerous. You are well committed on this peak.

 

We reversed back to our packs, catching a different two-man team that had bivied just below the descent gully. Just before we got back to our packs we ran into Nate and Lane, two climbers that had started an hour after us. We’d see more of them. All four of us, and others that we saw, were wearing the orange TX3’s. These seem to be the official shoe of the Grand Traverse.

 

Getting to the Grandstand was going to be the route-finding crux and, having failed on it once before, I was anxious about this section. We were using the GT beta off or Rolo’s site but hadn’t needed it much until now. I’d read just two sentences at a time and execute them. Then repeat. The directions were perfect, and we nailed the descent, doing three rappels in the process, mainly to avoid loose downclimbing.

 

Tom led out of the Gunsight via an easy pitch that ended on a ledge below the crux pitch of the day. Rolo also calls it the best pitch of the entire traverse. It’s very steep, a bit runout, rated 5.7, and is mostly knob climbing with the occasional crack. I led this and just barely made the anchors before running out of rope. I had a Microtraxion with me just in case but didn’t need it. Tom led the next pitch, another steep knob pitch. While belaying, Nate joined me, commenting on the difficulty of that 5.7 pitch. We both led it in our TX3’s, but the experience had me vowing to pull on the Mythos I was carrying for the North Ridge.

 

Tom and I took a long lunch break at the top of the Grandstand. There was no reason to rush into the North Ridge since we’d decided to scale back to the Cathedral Traverse. Looking up at the North Ridge it is hard to imagine a route up it that could only be 5.7. I studied the topo and was pretty sure where to go. I’d lead the rest of the way. Tom was tired, but so was I. I generally take the lead in these situations, as it is my specialty. Climbing 5.8 and easier on big, complicated, alpine terrain is something I can do well. I take this role with Tom and with my son Derek, both of whom climb harder than I do. If we need to get up 5.10 or 5.11, that’s where I’d lean on those two. Of course, they can handle all this leading perfectly fine, but I might be slightly faster.

 

By the time we started up, Nate and Lane had arrived. I had assumed they would go by us while we ate lunch, but they were doing the same. I told them we’d let them pass at any time, but they were content to follow, at least initially, since they didn’t know the route. I told them that the Italian Cracks were new to me as well.

 

I strung the first two pitches together with one Micro. It was mostly easy going with one short, steep section. These pitches were the same as the regular North Ridge. On the third pitch I went up and hard left, to reach the Italian Cracks, the easiest way up the North Ridge. The fourth pitch was the crux, rated 5.7, and easier than the pitch out of the Gunsight. I belayed from two small cams, one of which was solid, but Tom was solid too. At this belay, a soloist, Ben, came upon us and I followed him up the next pitch. When I belayed, he said goodbye and moved on.

 

One more pitch with a bit of simul-climbing got me to the Second Ledge and we traversed to what I thought was the Owen-Spalding Route (easiest route up the Grand). This was stupid of me. Where were the climbers that should be swarming this route? This wouldn’t have been an issue except that we elected to leave our packs and solo the rest of the way to the top and then rap back down (we both had a rope on our backs). The higher we got the less familiar it was and when we passed zero rappel anchors, I knew I had screwed up.

 

Low 5th class climbing led us to the summit and the fifteen other people also on top. Without food or water with us, we didn’t linger long and started our descent. We got held up at the chimney rappel and decided to wait for one incredibly slow rappeller. At the next rappel, there was a big queue, including Mr. Molasses. We couldn’t do that rappel anyway, as our ropes weren’t long enough. I knew the alternate rappels and we headed over there and made it down in just a few minutes, passing three parties queued up. We then had to traverse out the Owen-Spaulding ledge, past the Belly Crawl, past the rappel anchor way out there, past the bivy location, past the packs of Nate and Lane. I was hoping to just walk up to the packs, but I got below a wall and thought I recognized the section above it. I hoped our packs were up there. I scrambled up there, packed up both packs, and carried both down to Tom. We reversed the ledge back to the standard route and started down on tired legs.

 

Soon Nate and Lane joined us, and we descended mostly with them to the Lower Saddle and the water there. They had some trouble on the Italian Cracks with route finding. I thought they were going to follow us up, but apparently they left too big of a gap and couldn't catch us. After resting for thirty minutes, those two headed for the Middle Teton while Tom and I, beaten down, headed for the car. 

I hadn’t been on Lower Saddle Trail for seven years (when I climbed the OS route with then 16-year-old Derek). What a long, rocky descent. The soles of my feet and my knees were feeling each impact. We took things nice and slow, though passing everyone we saw. Then, within three miles of the trailhead, we heard someone coming up behind us. We looked back to see two young guys running. "Trail runners," I thought. Well, sure, they'd be faster than us. When they caught us, I asked how far they had gone up and they responded, “Grand Traverse!” I was shocked. They then said, “It’s our second day.” Their packs were hardly bigger than ours. I asked what they used to bivy? Down jackets, one pad, and they used the rope as a second pad. They bivied at the Lower Saddle and were warm. Nice. These rare, perfect weather conditions had brought out everyone for this classic traverse. We were certainly humbled by these two, along with Fernando, Chase, Ben, Nate, and Lane, plus all the other climbers doing this brutal, awesome, challenging traverse.

 

We got back to the parking lot 18.5 hours after we’d left, tired but satisfied in pulling off a great line. We both ate hardly anything. We grabbed our sleeping gear and headed back to our spot in the woods. At midnight I heard loud noises that sounded somewhat like a dog but might have been a deer. I worried that it was a bear. It was so loud and lasted for nearly an hour. I scanned the darkness with my headlamp, hoping to see the source or startle it into silence or at least to move away from me. It didn’t work. I called over to Tom, but he was sleeping the sleep of every good Cathedral Traverser. I stood alone to face this threat. Except that I didn’t stand. Laying in my sleeping bag, I felt vulnerable. Would I get stampeded? Was the “thing” so disturbed because a predator (bear or lion) was threatening it? Would it discover an easier meal in me? I slid deeper into my bag, relying on a couple of inches of down for protection. Alas, I was too tired to do anything more. Obviously, I survived the night. Whatever it was, it must have recognized the latent power in my form.