Matterhorn Peak

For those who know "The Dharma Bums" by John Kerouac (an all-American classic) then you might recognize Matterhorn Peak from the book. A good friend in Vienna, Austria gave me that book and I thought it to be an excellent read. Since I was leaving California, I knew my last chance to climb Matterhorn would need to be soon. So as my last hoorah in the state I climbed it! Below is my first view of it amongst other splendid peaks of the eastern Sierra:

This climb entaled an elevation gain of over 5,000 feet, so I developed a plan to conquer it. I decided to start the climb in the evening and go as high as possible and then make camp. Doing just that I hoped to increase my chances of success. My first view of the peak by itself came in the late evening as I rushed to gain altitude and make the next day easy:

It was such an awesome approach to the mountain, I had a lovely snow-melt saturated stream to listen to and accompany me nearly the entire time. It was even cooler to hike to the snowy source, and then above it!




Looking back down the valley:


A quick pano shot as I climbed upwards:


It was spectacular to start my climb in a dry forest, move up through different ecosystems and into a sub-alpine arena just budding into a new spring. I climbed an amazing couloir, but before that some nice, average snow travel:


The adjacent peak, Whorl, was also on my to do list as well, but at the time I did not think that I would have enough time to climb it too. Besides the ascent looked quite technical and I had neither a belay partner nor proper gear.


In the book "Dharma Bums" those dudes climb (or attempt) Matterhorn Peak and they describe this small alpine lake and super loose rock. The loose rock was actually covered in snow and climbing it turned out to be a ton of fun with crampons and an ice axe.

So after leaving my high camp near the stream around 6am I summitted at around 10:30am and was greeted with perfect weather the entire way. I was certainly glad that I climbed as high as I did the night before to make summit day easier. This peak was certainly no easy task, it involved serious elevation gain in a short distance- only 4-5 miles, thats over 1,000 feet per mile.

A stunning view from the summit of Matterhorn Peak looking south into Yosemite National Park and the magnificent eastern Sierras.


After spending some half hour or so on the summit admiring the views, I made quick time going back down. I accidentally went down the wrong gully and ended up on the wrong side of a ridge. So a bit of time and effort was wasted in gaining this extra ridge, but I was quickly rewarded... For on the other side of the ridge was the beginning of an awesome long snowslope, not too steep, and I was able to glissade for several hundred feet on the snow. This saved a ton of time and effort, but made my butt go numb from the cold snow!

I caught one last view of Matterhorn on my way out, such a majestic peak it was, I would recommend it to anyone keen on climbing a mountain that provides the complete package of cascading waterfalls, astonishing changes in ecoregions and an authentic alpine experience like no other.