East Buttress of Middle Cathedral may not be the hardest route I’ve ever done, but in 2013, it was a very big goal for me. I recently repeated EB of Middle Cathedral and of course it felt much easier this time around, so I wanted to write down my memory of my first attempt at this, my memory of the struggles and euphoria of finishing pitch 11 (despite getting swarmed by ants) … before I forget the 5.8/5.9 moves that were hard and intimidated me back then. Sorry in advance for this TR being a little long winded, but I wanted to record all my feelings and emotions going on for this before I forget, as this route was kind of a big deal to me.

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After climbing the Regular Route of Fairview Dome the year before, my girlfriend at the time (now wife) was looking for a new route to aspire to do, and the foreboding formation of Middle Cathedral was it. The route was a little bit harder then Fairview Dome, but the complicated descent of the Kat Walk (I did not realize there was a rap off at the time) made this a big challenge for us. For the year in between doing Fairview Dome and Middle Cathedral, we tried to do a few logical test pieces to see how I would do like Commitment+Selaginella the week previous to see how I felt on doing a long route. As a growth of a climber and a partnership with Asuka, it was a long path from cragging at Knob Hill and Camp 4 for us to take on Middle Cathedral. My goal was to lead all pitches, which at the time, was quite ambitious as I felt mentally burned out on Fairview Dome with 1 pitch left, even though it was easy 4th/5th class.

The day we choose was May 13 of 2013. We picked May to utilize more daylight for the decent down the Kat Walk. We got somewhat of an alpine start, and slogged up the the gully to MC that put us 4th in line for Middle Cathedral. We had previously been lucky getting Royal Arches and Fairview Dome to ourselves, but what can you expect on a May weekend on a Supertopo Classic? As I started to rack up, I realize “Sh#t, I forgot my helmet at home.” No helmet on Middle Cathedral, this seems like a bad idea… but I really wanted to do it that weekend. Oh well, I’m going for it anyways.

I take off and link pitch 1 and 2, which goes fairly smoothly. The first 120” pitch 1 is a scramble, and I pause briefly below the pitch 2 5.8 roof. It looks a little intimidating, especially when slightly shaded by a small tree, I scope out each of the underclings and search for the thank god jug I am aiming for. The foot holds look present but I’m still a bit nervous thinking about the small boulder problem here. I backup the fixed piton with a cam, chalk up and go for it. Launching for the undercling, thank god jug and scramble my feet up… ok success. That wasn’t too bad. A easy hand traverse later and I’m baking at the 2nd belay. Its about 11am, but its scorching hot here; my shoes feel like they are on fire, so I try to bury them under my rope as I bring Asuka up. She follows with no problem.


Pitch 3 starts off with a few hard moves, and I plug 3 pieces before the roof early so I don’t hit Asuka if i blow the move. Its 5.8 fingers/stem, but the moves seem big and committing to me. On my 3rd piece before pulling the roof move, Asuka tells me to long sling my piece but I really don’t want to. I see jugs around the 5.8 lieback roof, but I don’t know which to use. I long sling it anyways, pull the high step, and step through over the roof… I let out a sigh of relief. I scramble up to a small ledge before reaching the 5.7 lieback. The rock looks and feels slick and I can’t see or hear my belayer. And liebacks are kind of scary. I take a few minutes chalking and drinking water, place a 2 pieces as high as I can, and then go for it. A few small edges and shallow divots are on the right, and I jam/lieback through, overgripping like my life depends on it. Midway between the ledge and the thank-god-handjam, I put in another finger size cam, make another move, and I’m to the handjam. I quickly put in a large cam, and scramble up the last few feet the ledge just below the 4th belay. I relax here for a bit waiting for the party in front of me to finish up so there is more room for me at the belays. As he cleans the anchor, I finish off p3 and I reach the 4th belay as the party in front of me is taking off. Asuka follows, and finds the liebacks quite challenging as well. (I believe she took a fall at the lieback).



Pitch 5 : The Bolt Ladder. I pull out the ladders and daisys that make my harness a complete clusterf### and try to traverse the ledge from the belays to the start of the bolt ladder, trying not to trip over the my ladders. (How embarrassing would that be to eat sh#t tripping over one of these?) I pose for a few pictures from Asuka then I’m ready to take off.


SH#T! I can’t reach the first bolt. I could do a slab move to try and reach it, but that seems hard if if I fall here, I’m probably going to eat sh#t. Crap… I don’t want to do the 5.10a variation, 5.10a is hard! I try pulling stuff off my harness to make a mimick a stick clip, and after 30 minutes of shananigans, a few nuts to make a stiff enough stick clip for my quickdraw, I finally manage to clip the first bolt. SUCCESS! Woot! I make my way up, which btw was my first ever attempt at a bolt ladder, and it feels weird. You’d think it would be easy, but ladders feel flimsy to balance on, and each time take a step up my ladder (until I top step) I’m using my PAS to clip in so I don’t take a whipper on a bolt ladder. (Freakin n00b.) Eventually, I get to the last bolt with slings to hang off of, and the next move is the 5.8 move to move into the crack system under the roof. The cracks looks a mile away, and there is a crimp half way but i can’t reach it. I try a few things, and eventually doing a half-hearted swing off the leaver-slings allows me to reach the crimp. I grab the crimp, scramble with whatever I can (even used a heel hook) and manage to get into the crack system. I plug a cam, make a few moves and I’m at the 5.9 roof. The roof also seems very difficult for me, the piton is a bit far, so I plug 2 more cams just below the roof. (I may have asked for a take and hung here.) I choose my footholds, look for the holds I will eventually use and go for it. Half a move it, the piton is within reach and now I feel stupid for using those 2 cams earlier. I don’t want to backclean, so I clip the piton and pull the move - made it! I scramble up the 5.6, having no idea where the belays are but fighting rope drag from those 2 stupid cams I placed at the roof.. and eventually find the belays which I overshot and downclimb to. I’m shaking at this point, not sure if I’m scared, euphoric from making the 5.9 roof, or having a sugar crash… or maybe its all of the above. I belay Asuka up in a bit of an awkward stance, with birds divebombing around me. She finds the 5.8 move before the roof, and 5.9 roof challenging and hangs on both, but makes it through without too much drama. She reaches the belays and I say “hard parts over! Mostlyl 5.6-5.7 with a few 5.8 then we’re finished!”


Spoke too soon.

Pitch 6 is the 5.6 face traverse, which I had previously read the pitons can be hard to find. I figure its only 5.6, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble - WRONG! I found this to be the mental crux of the route. Bolts are spaced farther than what I was comfortable with, I put in 2 marginal blue metolius’s somewhere between but it probably wasn’t going to hold sh#t and was probably more to give me some small sense of security. Thankfully, I didn’t blow any of the moves and made it to the pitch 6 belays. By the time I make it to the 6th belay, I’ve caught up to the party in front of me, and I can see the 3 parties in front of me. Asuka follows without much of a problem, but concures that the pitch was heady.


Pitch 7 is next, and for whatever reason, I’m getting my 2nd wind and feeling pretty good. I move through p7 more confidently, and start getting into my groove. My movement is more consistent, my headspace in between gear is more confident and I move a lot more quickly. I reach the p7 belay quickly and Asuka follows with no problem. I belay a few feet above the normal belay (the one with the interesting piton) and its a really awkward stance. It was very awkward to swap gear here and I try not to step on anything as as I take off on pitch 8.


Pitch 8 a little awkward, but turns out to be my favourite pitch of the route. The movement isn’t too hard, but a little committing and continuing with the good vibes of p7, I’m really getting into a zone here. There were a few moves where I wans’t sure if I would fall, but at the same time, I was confident I wasn’t going to. (Narrators note: Looking back, somewhere around p7 or p8 was where I believe was a turning point for me, in terms of confidence, ability and getting into a good zone for leading.) I’m in a search and identify mode, spotting footholds and holds and going making the move without much doubt, whereas before I would was far less confident like pitch 3. After almost building a false belay in a small alcove (I started building one, and just as I finished, it clicked in for me that I wasn’t finished the pitch yet) I reach the proper pitch 8 belay which is a pretty comfy stance. Asuka follows as a cold gust of wind picks up… colder than what I had ever felt before in Yosemite. From growing up in Calgary, this was usually a sign that a thunderstorm was coming, but I couldn’t see over El Cap or Middle Cathedral to see if there are any thunderclouds coming? Asuka and I are slightly worried, but there are only 3 pitches left so we swap gear and I take off.


Pitch 9 is 5.7 fingers, but it doesn’t feel like it… in retrospect, I believe I went off route. For a 5.7, I had to work for this pitch, but I make it through without falling and Asuka follows quickly as we are still worried about a thunderstorm. Its late afternoon by now, and we are a bit tired, so we’re looking forward to finishing off the last 2 pitches so we can get down without having an epic. Pitch 8 is next, and goes fairly smoothly until I go off route. My pro is all over the place as I leave cams to make sure I am safe, but it makes it difficult and slightly dangerous for Asuka to follow (without penji’ing). She cleans up after my mess, risked some ackward falls/swings but makes it through without incident and we’re at the pitch 10 belays.


By now, the wind has stopped and we are no longer worried about a thunderstorm, and somewhat of a celebratory mood as I take off for the last pitch. I’m also a bit tired and considered asking Asuka to take on the last lead, as similar to last year, I start to feel the exhaustion hit on the very last pitch. But my goal was to lead all pitches for this route, so off I go. I take the squeeze chimney-ish variation of pitch 11, which follows into a somewhat sandy/dirty gully, but I’m having a blast and feeling great as I eventually reach a obvious tree to anchor and bring Asuka up. I give out my “off belay Asuka!” and I’m feeling great! Asuka follows up in no time, we’re at the top! Its about 5pm now. There is probably about 90 minutes of daylight left, so while Asuka takes a few fun victory pictures, I coil rope and we’re off for our next adventure of the day - the descent down the Kat Walk.


Armed with a few print outs of how to find the bolts, we follow the Supertopo description to try to find the Kat Walk rappels. Zig zaging along the top-ish part of Middle Cathedral is pretty cool, a little exposed but safe, and we pass the campfire that others who probably stayed the night stayed at. (Side note: It reminded us of the time we epic’ed on Royal Arches and stayed the night at the top… it would have been kind of cool to stay the night here too.) We see the gulley system we are shooting for, and a besides a few detours, we find the rapels. I feel relieved as I was told these were hard to find.


The first repel goes ok, the 2nd repel sucked cause we were in somewhat of a cold waterfall. After the 2nd repel, while Asuka pulls the rope, the rope sends down a large boulder the size of my head, bouncing down and I feel like a bowling pin in a narrow bowling alley. I have no idea where this rock is going to go since its bouncing around, so I vulnerably wait until the last second and realize its about to hit me square in the head. (Remember, I had no helmet - I forgot it this trip.) I put up my arms to block my face and the rock hits me square in the forearm - ARG!! F*#K!!!! That hurt. I have a huge bruise on my arm, but thankfully its not broken, and thankfully I wasn’t killed. I check my arm to see if anything is broken, but everything seems ok. I seem to still have good function with the arm, so I can still make my way down. The next repel is a short walk away, Asuka coils and uncoils the rope as I gingerly move on ahead. She raps down first this time to give me a firemans belay, and after I finish off the last rap, I go on ahead as she pulls rope, so I am out of the way. She hides behind a small protected shelter for the last pull - no bowling balls this time!

We finish the last rap just as it gets dark and the rest is just a hike down. A few minutes later, we pull out our headlamps and take our time making our way back to the car. The minute we hit the hikers trail, a huge relief - we know we are safe now!

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Epilogue : East Buttress of Middle Cathedral may not be the hardest route I have ever done, nor the longest, but it was easily my favourite and probably the route that I felt was the biggest accomplishment for me in climbing. It was a 2 year journey to feel ready to lead this, with the goal of leading it all. I definitely felt ready when I started MC, but as I described above, midway through, I really learned to gain the confidence on long-ish moderate routes. I didn’t realize this before, but I used to treat every move like it was the crux, and sometime during doing MC, I came to realize that I didn’t need to, and really learned how to get myself into a good leading zone. Before MC, I said to Asuka I would be happy if I could do 5.9 because there are so many good routes everywhere that has 5.9, and after MC I started to believe that it is possible for me to push farther, routes I had previously written off as being impossible for me to ever do - like NEB of Higher Cathedral, Serenity-Sons, Rostrum, Positive Vibs, Astroboy (Astrobaby?) or the current goal and my dream I’ve been working 2+ years to do - the RNWF of Half Dome. One day....