Cathedral Peak--Tuolumne, September 2000
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Though she might still wish she'd accepted the job teaching astronomy in 
Wyoming, Magdalen's new postdoc in medical imaging at UCSF did mean we could
climb Cathedral Peak afterall. Trepidly setting off from Berkeley in the
questionably reliable and soon to be replaced ERC--E for evil--we made it
all the way across the Central Valley and up into the hills to Hardin
Flat. At only 4000' it probably wasn't the best place to spend the night
before a hike starting at just below 9, but we made it to the base of
Cathedral eventually and joined the many-party assault that was well under
way. Easy climbing on nice solid granite gradually opened a view of Budd 
Lake Basin but exposed us to a chill breeze that cut the sunshine and made
climbing unnerving, especially on the sharp end of the rope. Taking the
5.7 bypass crack--the only way I've ever been in 3 times up the peak--we
dodged the bottleneck at the 5.6 chimney, memory serving me well--the red
camalot went in just where I remembered it did, and the green shortly after
--then playing me false and causing me to anchor earlier than necessary. 
Gaining the large ledge below the final pitch we were at last caught
in a bottleneck and had to wait many freezing tens of minutes for our
turn on the tiny summit. Magdalen found the airy perch a touch too airy,
but relaxed instantly once she was on the rappel line. Darkness caught us
during the hike out and with Cassiopeia to guide us we made our way back to
the car. A lazy day toproping tricky slab climbs at the Western Front 
followed, I finished it off by leading March of Dimes (5.10a)--much scarier 
on lead than toprope! Magdalen, feeling improperly attired in neither a real 
nor a Chaos bathing costume, didn't join me in a quick dip in Tenaya Lake 
before heading home.