Social Climbers

We heard back from Matt, one of the two climbers we met at Echo Lake last week. Here's what he had to say about their experiences climbing the Matthes Crest...if you zoom in on the photo, you can see Matt on the crest below...way up at the top in the white patch of granite. And Wes is to the left, on the ridge above him.

Thanks, Paul! It's great to see how little we are up there. There were actually 3 parties on the rocks that day - the first two sets climbed the ridge from south to north. The 3rd set was actually a party of three. They climbed up the talus at the base between the North and South summits, climbed each face with the rope between them, then the stretched the rope across. They were just starting to climb each summit as Wes and I finished the traverse. I kept watching to see them on our way down but didn't see them stretch the rope across, glad you got a shot!

I was really impressed with the Sierra. I've never been to Yosemite before and was amazed at how well groomed the trails were, how courteous everyone was and with how luscious the scenery was once we arrived at some of the lake areas. When we started up the trail up towards Cathedral Pass, things were kind of dry and limited to only a few shades of green...but once we obtained the pass and started heading across the meadow and down near Echo Lake, I couldn't believe how green and beautiful everything was. I thought green in the summer was reserved for really rainy places...like the Cascades...but the soft meadows were one of the most enjoyable parts of the hike.

On top of the crest, we could see for miles and miles - hill after hill. On top of the magnanimity of it all, there was miniature beauty on the very top of the crest as well - there were several pockets of sand up there that were home to some beautiful wild flowers. Am looking forward to making another trip back.

As for the food....didn't find much of anything for about 2.5 hours, but at least the roads weren't busy.

Thanks for sharing the meadow with us and posting the pictures.

Best,

Matt