Matthes...

According to our High Sierra Climbing guide, “Matthes Crest is a true knife-edge ridge - a long fin of rock sculptured by glaciers”.  Matthes is in Tuolumne Meadows - the high, eastern valley of Yosemite National Park.  Tuolumne is famous for less crowds and cooler weather then it’s big brother down valley.  It is also famous for lots of intermediate / moderate climbs for folks like us.  Since Matthes cannot be seen from the road the mass majority of the two million plus visitors that come through Yosemite never see it.  It is a beauty that has to be sought.  The climbing is relatively easy, but it can be a very tricky place to be if anything goes wrong.  There is no cell service, the trail head is six miles away, and it is a terrifying place to be if an afternoon electrical storm moves in. 

Vaughn the explorer...

Two days after leaving Vegas Greg and I were up on Matthes Crest.   It was a climb that we had both wanted to do for years.  The entire ridge is almost two miles long.  If a party were to belay each of it’s pitches one rope length at a time it could take up to ten hours to traverse.  We ended up combining the first two pitches into one and then simul-climbed the rest of the route after doubling up our sixty meter rope into a 30 meter double.  We completed the entire climb in three hours and the entire car to car trip took less then 10 hours - this included an amazing high alpine swim at Budd Lake.  

Pure Fun...

The "Think Tank"...

I am not one to remember all kinds of information about the specifics of any one climb.  Nor am I confident that we made all the best choices when we climbed Matthes Crest, but it sure did seem to go remarkably  smoothly.  To be truthful I barely read the description before we climbed the peak and depended on the rest of my party to navigate the approach through the high country.  But I will never forget this perfect alpine day...

Skinny dippin porn...  Sorry...

The Plague...

Arguably one of the best outdoor kitchens in the universe...

We found temporary camping for one night and then found premier camping for the rest of the week inside the park.  The Tuolumne Meadows campground (like many campgrounds across America) has several positives.  The biggest positives being it’s location (close to hundreds of climbs), it’s price ($30/each for the week), the free public transportation, and it’s relative security.  Another positive for me was being stationary.  For the past five weeks I had not stayed in one location more then two nights.

The negatives are more amusing then stressful.  The first is the massive amount of campsites.  There are 300 sites - 150 are reservation based and 150 are doled out on a first come first serve basis - we waited in line for about an hour.  Another negative is the constant campfires that never seem to stop smoking.  I know the campfire is a tradition that runs deep in most peoples camping consciousness, but to me it boarders on ridiculous.  First off, most of the folks that make fires, rarely make fires.  This leads to all kinds of trouble - hatchets in the hands of morons, fires that just smolder and smoke, and the fact that California is in the middle of a drought and the entire park is a tinder box.  One real negative that did develop was the plague...  That's right, the plague.  Apparently a couple of dead varmints were found, tested, and identified as carrying the plague.  The authorities decided to shut the campground down.  Luckily we had finished our stint in the park before they shut the campsite down and the park officials never realized that the varmints had caught the plague from our friend Brian.  He has this thing for rodents... 

Then there are the public bathrooms.  There are not enough of them, there too many of us, and there are posters warning everyone of the plague.  This leads to long lines in the morning that challenge most peoples’ ability to be civil.  It also shows how people really don't pay attention to warnings that the authorities post in plain sight.  I stood in front of the plague warning sign several times and never really thought about it.   Having to take a shit is a powerful drive that will cause people to act a little crazy, but signs that warn people that they are camping in an area that is infested with a potentially deadly disease seems to have no affect.  

The bathrooms are also public - which to some people means ‘not my problem’.   A select few think that dumping trash into the toilets, spreading toilet paper onto the floor, and cutting line to get to the toilet are all part of everyday life in the campground.  I wonder if being an asshole will increase one's chances of catching the plague?    

Little did Greg know that "Vaughn" was actually Satan...