Matahpi – The proverbial red-headed stepchild. Under loved and underestimated.

Original Pos 8/15/21

Matahpi is a real mountain, cursed by location. You’ll never hear about it. At almost 9400’ with its own glacier attached (Sexton – visited it during the Siyeh pass hike), it is shunned by the Glacier climbing world. A very brief mention in Edwards climbing guide of the park, literally the bible when it comes to these peaks.

Why so forlorn? It sits between Going to the Sun Mtn and Mt Siyeh. Both more famous with huge climbing cred. Just across the way are Piegan and Pollock, key pieces of the now famous (or infamous) Garden Wall Trifecta. Yep, a great mountain that should be a 10. But given the company, considered a 6 and not worth the cartilage. So very wrong.

It seemed to me that a place so underappreciated and ignored could use a little love, so I decided to give it some caring boot tracks. Per my commute/trail time math analysis, it should be doable during a workday. Off I go.

This was our smokiest morning ever. It was so bad I sat in the car and had to decide if it was safe to climb. All of that second-hand smoke will be like puffing an entire carton of Camels (unfiltered). But I knew the wind would pick up mid-morning so I’d should be ok. The approach was smooth and easy given the fact the Siyeh Pass/Piegan Pass trail is one of the best maintained in the park with that great even and steady grade.

When looking at Matahpi from the side, it seemed almost too simple to climb. Just a big dumpy haystack of cliffs eroded by wind, water, glaciers, and time. Over and over and over again. The one-line entry in the Climbers Guide only mentions going OVER it as an approach to Going to the Sun Mtn. Wow. Kinda what I would call a total bitch-slap to the face.

With eyes on the trail, I spotted some foil sticking out from under a rock. I flipped it over. Some kind of energy bar wrapper. Really? Made me wonder and want to really talk to the person who stashed their trash under a rock on the trail. And do it so poorly. Was it too heavy gauge of foil to fold up and pack out? Too sticky to put into your Lululemon yoga pants pocket? Too uncool to carry out what you packed in? I suddenly became garbage once it’s single use purpose was done? This doesn’t seem like an appropriate action in a National Park. Places which are provided free for everyone’s use, thus requiring much care to avoid abuse. I anchored it with a smaller rock to leave exposed, so I’d remember to pick up on the way back down to the car.

My faith in humanity was restored when I found it was gone on the return hike, clearly picked up by another hiker. The inconsiderate are the scourge of National Parks. Which is what makes something like a simple/natural act a noble attribute. And a true personal badge of honor. There are more great people out there than the latter. The world is not as bad of a place as the nightly news would like to have us think. But people do suck. But I digress.

In about two hours, just short of Siyeh Pass, I leave the trail and started off into the scree fields above. Siyeh and the pass trail is looking smoky but it seems to be clearing a little. I had budgeted 4 hr. up and 3hrs back. After clearing some really rotted cliffs and some nasty consolidated scree off the false summit, I get my first good view of the face of Matahpi.

Ouch. Yes, it was a very real mountain staring me in the face and not a dumpy haystack. And it was asking me for the respect that is truly deserved. I looked at my watch. This was going to be close. The cliffs were all rolling the wrong way, so if I gained too fast too soon I’d have to traverse and down climb. The bad scree gave way to boulder/slab fields. Jumping across 500lb rocks that wobbled and shifted at a 35 degree grade took a lot of concentration. The constant shifting and balancing was buckling up my knees.

The mile-plus of side-hilling was a constant reminder of the ankle I rolled hard last week. Came across a couple of goat trails (across the face) that looked inviting in a deadly kind of way. A way that made you wonder how many goat bones where in the scree piles a couple thousand feet below. I’m betting the bears are working those melting snowfields every spring like clockwork. And I was running out of time.

Finally hit the last step of the summit cap. There were no clear breaks in the cliffs, which means traversing to the rear of it where I would be able to follow a ramp ridge up to the top. I figured I had another 150’ and 20 minutes. One thing I have learned through the years is when you get this close, the top is always twice as high as you think and will take three times as long as you estimate.

I had 15 minutes before my turn back time, and needed least an hour to go for the summit. In addition, my three-hour return time was now looking too thin. I counted on making up time on the downhill, and at best it would be the same as the climb time. I could push on for the summit, but worse than getting back late would be pushing too hard and too fast over rough terrain on the descent. The worst injuries are always going down with gravity the silent nemesis.

I thanked Matahpi for our time together. Paid homage to a rock cairn someone else had placed at this notch below the summit. The applied what was left of my ascent time towards getting down. If another opportunity present this season I would love to go back and have another bite at the apple. And I think old Matahpi would enjoy a little company.

I just need to have a little love left in those tired hiking boots to give. And damn. I’ve got some miles in:

Current as of:	8/15/2021		Last Day:	9/2/2021		Days Left:	18
Category	Count	Miles	Elv Gain/Loss	Hours	Avg Grade	Avg MPH	Drive Miles
Hikes	16	187.6	39,975	77.4	8.1%	2.42	845.0
Climbs	15	153.6	47,659	98.4	11.8%	1.56	1465.0
Down Days	13						290.0
Totals	44	341.2	87,634	175.8	9.7%	1.94	2600.0