Big day in the Front Range of the Catalinas! John and I have been eyeing this route for a while, and we had both seen various parts of it (mostly on solo missions) at various times. Early May might not seem ideal timing in terms of temperature, but we had to wait for the end of Bighorn mating season, and it actually turned out fine because we spent all day up high.
The climb to the top of Mount Kimball went really well, moderating our effort with the upcoming additional climbing in mind. I was careful on all of the downhills, protecting a knee that had recently gotten some overuse. Down and up to the Window, and we realized this was the first time we were there together. Love that spot!
John had been top the top of Window Peak before, so he led the way to the little gully and belayed me up to the summit. It was so neat sitting up on the rocks and looking to each side to see where we had just come from and where we were going next. Down and up again, making our way over to the saddle below Cathedral Peak.
As if that wasn't enough climbing, the last mile of off-trail travel has some steep and sometimes sandy sections. John followed cairns plus Michael's track on the phone. We located what we later realized was the "notch" where I got another belay from John as I scrambled up a rock groove without a lot of handholds.
A bit of easy walking led through some pokey vegetation (where I occasionally exclaimed "holly hell!" and should have added "Holly Schmitt!") to the base of the rope-assisted climb. John is a mountain goat and scampered up, while I donned my harness and ascender. The gear was greatly appreciated, and soon we were just below the summit block.
John followed some instructions I had printed out (climbing up from the south side) but discovered that the north side would probably be more to my liking, and I completely agree. One more belay and we were sitting on the top together - mission complete! And what a view. We enjoying the airy vantage point, watching a bunch of ravens playing in the wind currents around us.
I was grateful to have an ATC for a rope rappel and continually grateful for John's belays as we got ourselves back to the trail. It's a long, long way down to Sabino, which actually helped with a setting sun and cooler temperature by the time we got there. One Lyft later and we were back to our truck. That was quite a thing!