that’s whacked

praying (and sacrificing) at the cathedral

Monday, Aug 8. 2005  –  Category: Outdoors

In what is becoming a summer tradition, I attempted to climb Cathedral Peak (in Tuolumne Meadows) again… doing the same route, a relatively easy, but fun 5.5/5.6 route. This time I was going with Poorna and Connie.

Noting Tuolumne’s classic afternoon thundershow risk, I checked the weather, and scanned the skies… all looked clear. Everything was set for a beautiful sunny day of easy climbing. Remembering last year’s arduous camp/hike combination with Dan, we decided to squat in a National Forest Service fire road (pitching tent right next to a sign that said “No overnight camping”), so we were able to drive to the trailhead and start hiking by 7. We got to the base of the climb at 9:30, rested for a bit and then tackled the climb (I think we started around 10:15 or so, as we were waiting for some other climbers to get up before starting ourselves)

It was a bit tricky with 3, but we ended up finally settling on a good rhythm and I was at the top of the 3rd pitch bringing Poorna and Connie up when all of a sudden rain started lightly coming down. Damnit.

All of a sudden, the rain turned into a crazy downpour of hail. I could feel it “plink plink plink”-ing onto my helmet, and I could look down and see it hitting Poorna and Connie as they were tandeming up to where I was. I have to be honest, part of me really wanted to push for the summit – but then we heard the thunder roar – and it sounded like it was right on top of us. The hail turned into a huge rain downpour, with the rock carrying a river of water down the face. My backpack, all my gear, and my rope were sitting in a one foot pool of water at my belay station. (note to self: I’m glad I bought a dry rope). At this point we saw a Yosemite SAR helicopter come buzzing by the mountain. I presume they were checking the status of climbers on Cathedral and nearby rocks.

I brought Connie & Poorna up to the belay station and we huddled in the dished out area deciding what to do. We debated between rappeling straight off from where we were, or pushing for the 4th belay station where there is a rap station to come down off to the side. All of a sudden we heard lightning crack and hit the rock above us, and we heard the thunder break right on top of us. We decided to bail. There. NOW.

So we setup a rappel, and came down fast. I setup a rappel off a slung chockstone, and we rapped down one rope length where Poorna and I found a good rock to sling. (I’m glad I didn’t have to leave any cams.. two slings is a great cheap sacrifice to rappel off in a storm). But as we pulled down the rope to setup the second rap, the loose end (coming down) somehow knotted and go stuck in a crack. I took out my trusty pocket knife, sawed away for 20 seconds or so, and cut my rope. My beautiful 10.2mm dry treated 60m rope that had only taken 3 leader falls. It had a ton of life left in it… alas. With the remaining rope, we were able to rap down to about 15-20 feet off the ground which we downclimbed to get off the mountain.

At the bottom we talked to a climber who was near the summit when lightning had hit the summit.. he said that all his hairs on his arms came up on end.

Freaky.

That was hands-down the most scared I’ve been on a climb. Nothing strikes fear in your heart quite like thunder breaking on top of you. It really makes you appreciate the power of mother nature, and how quickly you can be turned into a nice roast. Anyway, in the end… we made it back, safe, sound, and considerably water-logged. I lost 2 slings, and about 10-15 meters of my rope… but those are small sacrifices.