Cathedral Mountain

Cathedral Mountain is a 6,930-foot Navajo sandstone summit at the north end of Zion Canyon, rising roughly 2,500 feet above the Virgin River and the canyon floor. It's the closest higher neighbor to Angels Landing, separated by just 0.7 miles across Refrigerator Canyon, and most visitors see it only from a distance — from the Angels Landing Trail, Observation Point, or one of the shuttle stops along the canyon floor.

Getting a closer look

• Climbers reach the base by following the first stretch of the Angels Landing Trail from the Grotto, then branching off onto a faint cairned path — the same corridor now covered by the park's Angels Landing permit system.
• Established routes on the mountain's flanks run in the 5.9 to 5.11 range, serious multi-pitch sandstone climbing rather than casual scrambling.
• For most hikers, the mountain is a backdrop, not a destination — the steep walls flanking the Angels Landing approach are its lower western face.