Cathedral Peak

Route: Pearl couloir
Posted On: 5/14/2020, By: omoore61
Info: Pearl couloir is in great shape. 

Route: Couloir
Posted On: 5/12/2020, By: Grover
Info: A view of the east face of Cathedral Peak, seen from Star Peak 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 8/26/2019, By: kmikwilliams
Info: Snow holding upper part of the gully. Scrambled on rock to avoid upper section. Spikes helpful on the loose dirt. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: LivingOnTheEdge
Info: Gully still in. Summer snow conditions. Hit the bottom of the couloir at sunrise around 5:45am. Hard snow for most of it, a few front pointing spots and occasionally difficult to get a good axe placement. Sun was hitting the top 15ft of the couloir by the time we topped out. Route to the summit was clear of snow and about as loose as expected. At the top of the gully again around 8:45am but didn't begin descending until about 9:15am as we were waiting for another gentleman to top out before descending. Snow as falling apart at that time. One or two inches of soft unsupportive slush on top of a hard layer. Kicking steps going back down was difficult and tedious; it would have been very difficult to arrest a fall in those conditions. After about 2/3rds of the couloir, we were finally able to plunge step the bottom and walk over to a spot with clear runout to glissade the rest. If I could do it again, I'd try to be descending no later than 8am. Snow would be soft enough to kick into but still supportive. I have plenty of pics of conditions if needed. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/8/2019, By: TaylorHolt
Info: Did the South Ridge route on 7/7/19. This route is in excellent shape right now. The trail has been cleared through the avy debris. There is some snow in the basin above Cathedral Lake prior to reaching the couloir. The couloir is continuous and plenty wide. There is a faint bootpack on the left side of the couloir. After reaching the top of the couloir, the ridge is snow-free to the summit. Did not need snowshoes. Crampons and axe are necessary. Pics to come. 

Route: From Cathedral Lake
Posted On: 6/27/2019, By: BobbyFinn
Info: The trail is mostly snow free to above the head wall, then it's mostly snow. There's a big avy with a lot of debris that obscures the trail pretty low. It's obvious when you get to it. You want to try to go about 20 yards further up the trail (or the general direction of the trail since you won't see it) then make a sharp right to ascend a grassy slope with some aspens on it. You'll find the trail on that slope. The snow below and around the lake was mostly supportive without flotation in the morning. After 10:30/11 am the snow is less supportive - was glad to have snow shoes then. We didn't climb the peak, but here are a couple photos from the lake. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/12/2019, By: madadraw1
Info: No reports before I went. Read that snow started at 10K at Castle/Conundrum. NOT true here!!! Lugged my skis on my back and waded through tons of avy carnage in the dark in my ski boots. Didn't start skinning until the lake, 12K. Maybe around 11.8-11.9K there is intermittent snow on the trail that further slows things up. The couloir had 2-3 large gouges the entire length from glissading (some areas gouged over a foot), so left my skis at the base of couloir. The ridge is almost 100% free of snow and I was not prepared to hike it in ski boots w/ crampons. Short of summit by 200 ft and then getting too hot. Fortunately, the snow all around looked stable at 11AM w/o avy's. I wanted to be descending by 10:30 to play it safe. Long story short, leave the skis at home. Not worth it. Despite a VERY slow go, I still took 9.75 hours when I had estimated 10 hours. Probably could get this done in 8 hours w/ a clear trail and hiking boots/light pack. Avy debris on trail not going anywhere soon. I ran into one worker chopping with an axe mid-day. I'll be back next year (w/ hiking boots!). 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/11/2019, By: Bailey Tyson
Info: Alert! Cathedral Lake Trail wiped out due to large avalanche debris field. Approximately 1 mile in. Will be tough to navigate in the dark. Tons of snow up high. Persistent wet slide activity requires an early start and a hard freeze the night before. We had great climbing conditions, but we camped at 12,000 feet and were in the couloir at sunrise. Cheers! 

Route: Cathedral Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 4/28/2019, By: WildWanderer
Info: Started at 2am. Postholed up to my knees for 3 miles in snowshoes, crossed an avalanche area successfully and came to a second one shortly thereafter (although it could have been a continuation of the first). In the dark I was unable to cross the second avalanche area and turned back. Walls of snow and ice mixed with trees here were at least 15 feet high. It looked very recent. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 6/19/2018, By: HikerGuy
Info: Conditions about the same as last week, crux gully is mid-to-late July condition with the middle portion melted out. Melted out part is wet dirt/scree. A little annoying ascending, but not too bad and coming down not a problem. 

Route: Cathedral Lake Trail Head
Posted On: 6/14/2018, By: smrcka
Info: The crux gully is mid-July condition with the middle portion melted out. Remaining snow in the mid to upper gully is firm and still plentiful. Below the gully there is still a large amount of snow in the debris pile. The dirt/scree in the middle was easily managed - not too loose. 

Route: Cathedral Lake
Posted On: 6/11/2018, By: RWinters
Info: Most snow from the lake to the couloir is melted and bottom third of couloir is melted out. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 6/2/2018, By: zdero1
Info: The snow is in great shape but won't last too much longer. Leave the snowshoes at home! 

Route: Standard Couloir
Posted On: 5/25/2018, By: Cool Hand Luke
Info: Snow starts about 3/4 of a mile below the lake and is a posthole nightmare on the the way down. Lots of wetslide evidence as expected in the upper basin above the lake. I caught a decent freeze the night before and was able to head up in acceptable conditions. I rode my bike up from town and got a later start entering the couloir (9 AM) and descended at 10:30 AM and the snow was ok with the previous night's freeze. The Black Pearl and Dawson/East Couloir are both melted and with no continuous snow near the top unfortunately. Normal Pearl Couloir has plenty of snow for climbing, but is so runnelled out with debris it would be a miserable ski. I definitely used snowshoes for the ascent and descent and still postholed a good amount. 11 hours roundtrip by bike from Snowmass, about 3 hours riding and 7 hours climbing and 1 hour transitioning and remounting gear on the bike. Descent took as long as the ascent due to postholing 

Route: South ridge
Posted On: 5/20/2018, By: bmcqueen
Info: Trail was mostly dry to about 11k, then crosses a large debris field and stays mostly snow-covered to the Lake. Above the lake, the snow wasn't as supportive as I had hoped. Once farther up into the Basin towards the approach gully, snow conditions were good. The gully is a climb up avalanche debris, but snow was solid. Above the gully, the ridge to the summit is mostly dry with one steep snowfield to be crossed. I kept my crampons on for that. It's melting fast and I post holed more than I'd prefer on the descent - I was down at my car at 11:30. Start early to minimize suffering.