Praising the Sierra's holy rock: Cathedral Peak & Eichorns Pinnacle

Toulumne Meadows is the second climbing gem in the Yosemite National Park. As soon as it gets too hot to climb down in the celebrated Valley, Tuolumne offers cooler spots due to its elevation around 9000 ft (~3000m). The only hard thing about it may be the  pronunciation of "Tuolumne", all the rest is pretty easy going: The Tioga Pass Road allows a short, casual approach to most of the climbs and the granite is one of worlds best with perfect friction and tons of chicken-heads.

Reason enough 360 and I want to try some alpine hiking and easy climbing up there on our way back from Mount Whitney. We choose Cathedral Peak one of the most celebrated granite peaks in the area. It promises a rather short approach and some exhilarating class 4 climbing (UIAA II-III) on the summit block. Another treat nearby is the so called Eichorns Pinnacle, an even more exposed granite needle sitting next to Cathedral Peaks main summit.

Fantastic scrambling in perfect granite: Cathedral Peak and Eichorns Pinnacle

The Campground in Tuolumne Meadows seems to be very popular as we could not get any free campsite, even in the pre-season. So we drive further along Tioga Road and find a nice campsite at the Porcupine Flat Campground. After the 150 Miles drive we want to stretch out our legs a little bit and decide to explore a nearby lake and may be catch some trout there. The lake is not quite what we expect, much more a swamp than a fishpond. The highlight of the short evening trip was 3  encounters with bears just outside the campground. One of them was digging in a little creek and it couldn't hear us, so we could observe it some minutes as close as 30 feet. 360 with his photographic talents got some nice shots of these impressive animals.

After a rich dinner and a quiet night (although we were sure the bears sneaked around the campground at night) we drove to the Cathedral Lakes trail head and hiked the well-trodden John Muir Trail to the point where it descends to the Cathedral Lakes. We expected to find a good trail going up towards Cathedral Peak, but couldn't find any sing of it. So we head straight east into the woods, ascending the talus east flank of Cathedral Peak. There we turn south and follow some cairns across slabs, avoiding the bushes (2nd class, T4). We head towards the saddle between Cathedral Peaks and Eichhorns Pinnacle. Shortly before we reach it, we scramble up the ledges towards the Cathedral Peaks summit block (3rd class, T5). The summit block is climbed on it's south side via a nice crack system, a few moves reach UIAA III (4th class).
A lot of climbers just arrive up the celebrated South East Buttress (5.6, UIAA V, 5 pitches) and the small summit soon gets too crowded. 

So we descent the same way. I want to give a try to get up Eichorns Pinnacle, but since the easiest route up the North Face is a very exposed 5.4 (UIAA III+) I don't dare to solo it, especially not climbing down again. By chance I meet some nice climbers heading for the Pinnacle and after a short talk I can join their rope team.
The regular route traverses into the north face on an exposed ledge (4th class, UIAA III) and then following a crack system with amazing holds (one or two moves 5.4, UIAA III+, very airy!)  to an easier chimney that leads to the summit. A carefully made summit log reminds of a girl, that fell to death trying to solo Eichorns Pinnacle. The 60 ft (~20m) rappelling down on a good, bolted belay is pure pleasure and leads back to to the saddle.

For the way back to Tuolumne Meadows we decide to try the climbers descend to the east, starting on the ridge just north of Cathedral Peak. To our surprise, a very well worn and confortable trail leads us down the east flank (2nd class, T4). We join the John Muir Trail just half a mile from the trail head.

Not too tired from the rather short trip we take another loop on the big meadow where we spot some deer, posing in the evening light. A short drive brings us back to our Porcupine Flat campground where we plan to inaugurate 360s climbing shoes on the amazing granite slabs at Lake Tenayas, a report is to follow.