Cathedral Provincial Park, August 2007
Hoping that an east-of-the-crest objective would ensure drier climbing conditions on what was forecasted to be yet another wet weekend at home, Martin and I set our sights on BC's Cathedral Park. Surely it doesn't rain in the Pasayten in August, right? Wrong! With a longer-than-expected 8-hour drive to reach the trailhead, forty-some clicks of it along the unpaved Ashnola River Road, and an uber-boring 8-mile forest approach, I could have sworn we had done our penance and success on our climb of the Grimface-Macabre-Matriarch Traverse was assured. With a good two or three hours of pounding rain early the following morning, it was clear that we should have also at least sacrificed a goat to appease the weather gods.
Together with Eli Rosenberg, I returned in July of 2008 and successfully knocked out the traverse. No rain, no disappointment, long drive and bugs unfortunately still yes. The route definitely lives up to its classic reputation and is a must-do for any Cascade peakbagger with even just a moderate amount of technical rock climbing ability.
Click here for photos.
