Cathedral Peak

Route: Standard Couloir
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Started at 2:30 a.m. Trail up to Cathedral Lake is in great shape. Just a couple very short sections of snow that are very well tracked before the turnoff for Cathedral Peak. After the turnoff, the route below 12,500 is mostly dry through the talus fields. I was able to skin from about 12,500 to the bottom of the couloir on continuous snow. Snow in the couloir was good for kicking in steps on the way up. We reached the bottom of the couloir shortly after sunrise. From the couloir, the ridge was fairly straightforward. A few variations where you can choose to go ridge-direct of around, depending on your preference. Ridge-direct avoids some snow fields, though you'll still have to traverse a couple regardless of your route choice. The fresh dusting of snow Friday night made everything a little bit spicier up there, but that has certainly long melted--it was melting fast on our descent. Skiing down the couloir at 9 or 9:30 was awful. Almost impossible to turn with the snow really thick and sticky. I side slid (side stepped at times because I couldn't even slide much) until about the lower 1/3 where the snow was much better. From the exit, the skiing was great--it was only bad inside the tight couloir where the rocks heated up the snow from the first sun. IMO, if you have any hopes of skiing this before it melts out, you'll need to be on the summit by sunrise. Hike out was great besides some minor postholing. We found a social trail through the willows in the daylight to avoid crossing the creek twice like we had to on the way up. Back to the car about 12:30 so roughly 10 hours total. My sister was on snowshoes or we would've been an hour or two faster probably. Everyone else on the mountain was also on snowshoes and I think 10ish hours seemed to be pretty typical. 

Route: standard couloir
Posted On: 5/31/2025, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Climbed Cathedral today (5/31) via the Standard couloir with Jessi; fantastic conditions in the couloir - we left the TH at 2:30am and started up the couloir around 5:30. We were down the col around 8am and it was already starting to soften, but conditions were pretty much perfect. We had the couloir and the summit to ourselves. The class 2 scramble to the summit is dry all the way to the summit. Snowshoes used on the way in and definitely on the way out, starting to get sloppy out there! Back to the car by 10:45am. 

Route: Standard Route
Posted On: 9/19/2024, By: SimplePole
Info: Fortunately no one else on the mountain today: I kicked down several rocks all the way down the gully when descending. Beware. 

Route: South East Couloir to Electric Pass Peak
Posted On: 7/3/2024, By: Christensenje
Info: Attached pictures of coverage. Pretty much dry except for 1/3 of the way up the couloir. Heres what I got: 1. Sun hit top of couloir at 6:30. 2. No problem getting across the river (one big step). Took the right electric pass junction to a left at the t in the willow trail. Shortly after it starts to round back towards the lake. Theres an animal trail through the willows to your right. Go there and down to river. From there, it wasnt hard to find the rock trail up into the basin. Saw a snow bridge others have described above me but I wouldnt do it any differently than today. 3. I was able to manage without crampons but it would have been soooo much easier and less scary with them (had ice axe and micro spikes). Was able to stick to the right of the couloir and mix between snow and rock climbing. At the steepest part of the snow, just below the top, I opted for a 5th class move on dry rock. Spicy but doable if comfortable with that. 4. Traverse over to Electric Pass is 100% dry. Ridge proper down to top of Pearl with an 4th class down climb. Then the rest of the pillars are passable by just going lower on the slope in the scree. Cant say it was much fun. When in doubt, drop down Never dropped below 13300. After the final pillar you find the rocky trail again and start hiking back up and stay on ridge proper from there with a few down climbs (difficult 3 at most). 

Route: Cathedral Lake-Southeast Couloir
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: jfm3
Info: Conditions are largely similar to the previous report. I started from the trailhead at 2:45 AM, summited at 7:20 AM, took off crampons on the descent at 9:30 AM and was back at the car at 11:30 AM. The trail is dry to the Electric Pass trail junction. The creek crossing shortly before Cathedral Lake is very high and can't be crossed without getting wet. I went north through the willows and found a smaller crossing with a snow bridge. There is a path through the talus north of the lake that leads fairly directly to the upper basin. On the ascent, the couloir had firm, semi-icy snow that was nicely crunchy with crampons and 2 axes. On the descent, I faced in and the snow was soft enough to kick steps, but not so soft or wet that it was balling on my crampons. The route from the top of the couloir to the summit is dry. There is more of a trail than I expected along the ridge. 

Route: Standard Route
Posted On: 6/15/2024, By: cloudkicker
Info: Standard is probably out for skiing but we found it prime for climbing today. Patchy snow begins past the Electric Pass junction but the snow isnt continuous until roughly 12,300ft. It is possible to avoid most of the snow for awhile until the couloir is in sight if that is your prerogative. We put in the booter since apparently people only care about Pearl and Dawson couloirs anymore. No signs of anybody up the standard couloir since the May 31 CR. Snow had nice crust on the ascent and was soft but supportive on the descent. Some suncupping and wet slide debris near the bottom. One small snow section between the top of the couloir and the summit which can be skirted by hugging the rock wall. Otherwise the summit scramble is dry. We started at 2am, up to the apron by 530, and down the couloir by 8am. I imagine a later start than that would put you in a dangerous wet slide scenario. 

Route: Dawson Perlmutter
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: I was planning to climb Dawson Perlmutter based on previous report just to see if it might be skiable (as no way to scope it from the ground), but was pretty sure I was skiing Pearl. Started from TH at 2:30. Trail is basically totally dry to lake at 11,8 surprisingly, because it is S facing. There are a few minor well postholed crossings at the top. All snow above the lake, the traverse to the lake was kind of tricky to follow, but now there are plenty more postholes and ski tracks. Made it in hiking boots all the way up to 12,9, before transitioning to crampons and axe before the final col. Took me 3 hrs to climb that 1,000 feet due to softening snow, and I saw the straightline referred to by Declan, but didn't want to boot it because that might put it out for skiing. So I followed the wide left branch to what I thought was the ridge, but it was actually well below the ridge on the face, probably around 13,6. I kept crampons on and moved up a little on mixed talus and very soft snow (since mixed snow, the rock weakened it quite a bit). Eventually, I got to the point where it looked like all talus to the summit, so switched back to hiking boots, connected to the ridge, and summited just before 10. I walked a little ways N on the ridge hoping to see the Pearl couloir, but didn't, so decided to investigate what I think was the Dawson Perlmutter that I mostly climbed. I downclimbed the S ridge to a very faint saddle at 13,880, that looked like it had continuous snow down, and eventually connecting to the straightline crux to the main line I climbed. I tried my best to scope it from the ridge, and I had every indication that it was likely continuous, but I didn't get eyes on 100% of it. Would have been preferable to climb, but again, didn't want to mess up the straight-line crux for straight-lining! Fortunately, the upper section skied very well, until the straight-line crux. I ended up chickening out and side stepping about 10 feet below a rock on that section, and straight-lined the bottom 10 feet, which was still quite thrilling in the over-soft snow. The rest of the descent was low angle and cruiser, managed to stay on snow all the way to just beyond the trail junction sign with the Electric pass trail. Descent took 1:30 on trail, that trail is so well-built and efficient, contrast to something like the crater lake trail that goes up and down and rocks are so huge it takes forever. None of my pictures really show my ski route clearly, but I identified it in Caltopo, and think it matches Declan's, with the exception that I didn't ski from the summit, downclimbed about 80 feet, and I had no billy goating. Declan, let me know if you skied from the true summit, that didn't look in for me. Side note, you can see the standard E couloir lower on the S ridge in some of my photos. Looks in for climbing, but pretty narrow for skiing, and that ridge is so time consuming, not sure why that is the standard route with snow, Pearl would likely be better. 

Route: Dawson-Perlmutter
Posted On: 6/4/2024, By: DeclanKnies
Info: Cathedral's East face in June how about that! Crux was doable with a bit of straight-lining but it is likely melted out with the lack of overnight freeze last night. A bit of billygoating was required from the face to the couloir on the way down. On the way up I nearly knocked out my buddy with a few boulders climbing the ridge. This is one chossy mountain!! Ski conditions were prime! Corn top to bottom, with enough time for us to go snag Malamute's NW face afterwards in corn as well. 

Route: South Couloir
Posted On: 5/31/2024, By: vertical_volume
Info: Climbed and skied Cathedral via the south couloir. started from cathedral lake trailhead at 4:30 am, wore trail runners until cathedral lake then switched to boots/crampons. Trails dry until 11.8 then the snow above was very supportive so we didnt break out the skins. Dropped into the south couloir at 9:40 with very good corn. Pearl looks good, Dawson-Perlmutter on the east face looked in but I wouldnt expect the choke to be skiable for much longer with the heat. 

Route: Pearl Couloir
Posted On: 5/27/2024, By: DeclanKnies
Info: Skied like a dream! Snow is holding on well up high, but a sloppy, melting mess down low. Consistent snow starts around 10,700. 

Route: Cathedral Lake-Southeast Couloir
Posted On: 5/21/2024, By: jfm3
Info: The Elks are not quite ready for foot travel yet. I started from Castle Creek Road at 4 AM and turned around near Cathedral Lake at 7:15 AM. The trail is intermittently dry to ~10,500', then all snow. The recent snowfall hasn't consolidated yet. I rarely went more than 10 steps without sinking in at least a few inches. There was a cold crust layer on top of deep, transformed slush. The climb up the headwall near treeline was difficult because the snow is completely soft and won't support anything. I stuck to the loose dirt and rock on the right side. As I traversed toward the lake above treeline several steps caused loud wumph sounds 10-30 yards away from where I was standing. There were many avalanches recently on the surrounding mountains, on all terrain and directional aspects. I wore snowshoes for most of the descent. These are absolutely necessary right now. The headwall descent was the hardest part of the day. I stayed in the trees and side-hilled down. The best way to get down might be to sling a rope around a tree and rappel (seriously!). I saw 3 skiers about halfway up Malemute Peak and there were several other sets of recent ski tracks around Cathedral Lake. Skis are probably the way to go until there is significant consolidation of the snowpack. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 9/27/2023, By: PikaSteve
Info: Gully is completely dry. Only a trace of snow remains on south gully wall. I did not hear any natural rock fall during my time in the gully. Route above the gully is also dry. Fall colors are amazing and helped me forget the stress of ascending the gully. Helmet, spikes, pole and gloves mandatory for me for 500 feet of dirt. Minor willow whacking required to get from Electric Pass trail to miners trail. Trip report from SkiColorado93 very helpful to understand challenges below and above gully. 

Route: Standard Route
Posted On: 8/14/2023, By: andrew85
Info: Route is dry but for a small patch of snow lingering at the top of the gully. The mud is so slick beneath that it is completely impassable without winter gear. Thinking the route was in summer conditions I didnt bring anything so I had to find a path along the wall to the right, resulting in a couple class 5 moves but it does go. Definitely wasnt going to descend that way so coming back I was able to throw some rocks into the space between the snow to help with footing on the mud, face inward, and basically brace downward as if it was a chimney. Id either wait a few more weeks or bring crampons for the mud if you dont want to go up that wall lol. 

Route: Standard gully
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: ryansunshine20
Info: Gully is melting fast. Lower half was hardly even there. We could mostly stay on snow but loose rock was also an option. Top half is still in and very sun cupped. Starting going down a little after 8 and it was was fairly difficult to descend. Had to face in and kick step until meeting back up with rocks. Great day! 

Route: Standard route
Posted On: 7/6/2023, By: adamorsubtractem
Info: Agreed with Ryan's updates. The basin and gully are the only areas with snow. Last 500' is dry. Gully is melting fast, but snow was great for my ascent at 6am. After 7am, it get's slick!