[Gimpilator]

Heather and I tried to drive north from Winthrop to the Cathedral Driveway trailhead Wednesday the 23rd, but we were blocked by several mud slides on the road.

starting out

makeshift bridge before the Tungsten Creek junction

So we went to the Chewuch River trailhead instead. I was bummed knowing that it would add 6 or 7 miles to our round-trip distance, but Heather couldn't have cared less. She prefers longer trips.

getting ready to dry out

Cathedral pass and peak

We camped at the trailhead and started early the next morning. NOAA forecasts had warned of rain but said "mostly before 11am". As it turned out it was mostly before 5am, meaning we got rained on constantly until we reached the tungsten mining camp around 3pm. We were soaked and cold, so we set up the tent on the front porch of one cabin and spent some time drying out and warming up.

south peak of Amphitheater over upper Cathedral Lake

When the rain finally stopped we hiked to Apex Pass where Heather left to solo Apex which I have already done and I continued over Cathedral Pass to set up the tent at upper Cathedral Lake. On the other side of the pass I noted that there was fresh snow high on Cathedral. Then at the lake I met some other campers who told me it had been a blizzard all day long and for the previous 2 days and earlier there had been a few inches of snow on the ground.

tarn in the meadows on the west side of Amphitheater and Remmel in the distance

Remmel

Heather showed up right after I found the only remaining tent spot and I could tell she was pleased with herself for getting Apex. The next morning we decided to do Amphitheater before Cathedral to allow the snow on the scramble section to melt, even though this would make for some backtracking.

boot path

Cathedral

south peak

summit

main peak seen from south peak

Cathedral peak and upper lake

upper Cathedral lake seen from the west peak

camp robbers

We hiked around the west side of the mountain and followed the boot path up to the saddle north of the true summit. We visited the true summit as well as the south and west peaks before descending back to the lake. After adding some more food and water to our packs we hiked over to Cathedral.

looking back at Amphitheater

class 4 step

entering the slot

inside the slot

From near the pass we ascended the south slope to where the scramble route begins. There were two steps each of which had a sngle class 4 move but without exposure. There was no snow in the slot so we scrambled down into it for the first crossing and then took a ramp up the opposing side. We went around some large blocks and then came to the famed second crossing with a 50 foot drop. I was nervous. So was Heather.

the second crossing

summit

Various route descriptions sort of hype up this spot and I could see why. You could try a long jump which looked like it could end badly or you could step across and bridge the gap with your legs until you found the right way to mantle up the far side. I made the step across move and just as Klenke's route description says, afterward I found myself wondering what the big deal was. It's funny how exposure can make an easy move harder.

jumping back accross

crossing with protection

On the summit we found we were the 3rd ascent party of the year. The 2nd party had just left right before us and the 4th came up behind us, protecting the step across move with rope and anchors. We descended the route and went back down the east side of Cathedral Pass to do The Pope, which is 130th highest in WA. This little peaklet had better views than Cathedral, especially of Grimface Mountain and Matriarch Mountain. We ascended scree sloped to the right of some slabs and the walked up the talus on the southeast ridge.

The Pope

border swath

The Deacon, Stone City, Ovis, Grimface, The Matriarch

Grimface and Matriarch

The summit register had very few signatures and I was excited to see John Roper's signature in there on some waxed Quaker Oats paper. We could also see the border swath below us. How ridiculous!

Quaker Oats

Remmel

looking back at The Pope summit

We went back to camp. The next morning I was busy putting my tent away and one of the poles just snapped. I tried to fix it with most of my duct tape, but to no avail. I decided we should hike all the way out to the car after Remmel and save Andrews and Amos for another trip. Bummer. This would also mean that the distance for the day would be around 26 miles. Double bummer, at least for me. Heather couldn't care less about mileage. As the day progressed we started referring to my toes as "piggies" and I had to stop repeatedly to tape fallen squealing piggies as they developed blisters.

west peak of Amphitheater above upper Cathedral Lake

Remmel

entering the upper basin on Remmel

summit visible

summit

interesting history

familiar names

familiar names

familiar names

familiar names

summit shot

We hiked around the east side of Remmel to the Four Point Lake trail. We followed this trail passed two junctions and were surprised that it went all the way to the summit where we found evidence of a previous fire lookout. Views of where we had been were nice and we could see a lot of the rest of the North Cascades to the west.

wild strawberries

After that we hiked back to my car which seemed to be a long distance. I picked some wild strawberries along the way which were small but tasty.

[Jetlag]

Excellent, excellent trip and report!!! Gorgeous photos. Congratulations on such a fine ramble! Love seeing those "familiar names."

[Matt]

Thanks for the report. I've wanted to go back into that area sometime for The Pope, but hadn't ever seen a report on it before.

[Matt Lemke]

I figured you were doing something while we were out on Ragged ridge...I am surprised there were more clouds over there.

[Michael Lewis]

Inspite of the early rain it looks like you guys had a fantastic time!

[wildernessed]

That is some good stuff especially beta on the supposed crux spot. Looks easier than crossing the deep fault on Kindy Ridge with full packs. Thanks.

[Fletcher]

Love it out there, so uniquely different than everywhere else I have been in the Cascades. I want to go back for the Pope!

[mountainflamingo]

It was nice to meet you out there. Your timing was a bit better than ours. Here is Amphitheater the day before (7/24)

Victorous Gimpilator

Heather making the step across

[raising3hikers]

I also appreciate your TR for the pope, I wanted to do it late last year when I was in there but a snow storm changed my plans. thanks for posting

[Gimpilator]

Craig, thanks for the pictures and videos! It's fun to see us from your perspective. When I saw your name in the register on Cathedral, I knew I recognized it from somewhere. Peakbagger! You've done a lot of peaks. Very cool. Keep it up.