Jump to content

[TR] Utah - Desert Towers 4/24/2009


Recommended Posts

Trip: Utah - Desert Towers

 

Date: 4/24/2009

 

Trip Report:

 

 

I was fortunate to recently spend four days climbing a handful of desert towers in the general vicinity of Moab, Utah. We managed a fair bit of climbing, a whole lot of driving and even a little bit of sleeping. By the time we were headed home it felt like four weeks had passed. It couldn't have been better.

 

Hanging out on the White Rim, Canyonlands NP

whiterim2.jpg

 

I use to go to the desert a lot. For a little while there is was the center of my universe and then..suddenly more than five years went by without a single trip. That sure as hell wasn't the plan! WTF happened!? Well I'm pretty sure these two little snowflakes have something to do with it......

 

Northwest Forest Monkeys

nwforestmonkeys.jpg

 

Ah! But regardless, no regrets, apparently I'm not dead yet as it turns out I can still hoist my flabby ass up some pretty inspiring piles of rock.

 

Leaving from work on a Thursday afternoon I enjoyed the somewhat luxurious perk of flying directly out of Bellingham arriving in Denver late that night. My buddy Owen, who has ropegunned me up many an adventure, picked me up and after a few hours sleep we hit the road.

 

Day 1

 

After cruising along I-70 for five or six hours we made the wise choice of driving straight by the Fisher Towers and instead climbed Lighthouse Tower by a 3 pitch 5.10- called Lonely Vigil. The first two pitches (both 10-) offer fun well protected climbing. The real excitment occurs on the final 20' pitch of 5.8. The summit block overhangs on all sides. From the last set of anchors you crank up the overhang on nice jugs with no protection then reach up onto the flat, rotten summit grabbing whatever lump of loose, broken crap you can and mantel up! No problems, no summit anchors! Time to blindly downclimb the committing mantle. Good times!

 

Dolomite & Lighthouse Towers

lighthouse2.jpg

 

 

Trying to unmantel on Lighthouse Tower

lighthousetower.jpg

 

 

Day 2

 

The next day we climbed Standing Rock in Canyonlands National Park. We did this as daytrip from outside the park which was really not a very good idea. Getting there requires driving about 35 miles along the White Rim Road. This takes a very, very long time. Something like four hours from Moab. It's good to drive slow for obvious reasons. Though if your going to spend most of your day driving I couldn't think of a better place to do it.

 

Driving the White Rim Road Block Tower & Islet in the Sky in the background

whiterim.jpg

 

 

Monument Basin is a special place. It is remote and the silence that exists there is beautiful. From the rim you fix a rope and rap into the basin. There are literally hundreds of towers forming the walls of the basin each one top heavy with a cap of the white rim rock. They seem like massive sentinels quietly watching over you. In the center of the basin is Standing Rock, the most perfect tower I have ever seen.

 

The amazing Standing Rock

standingrock1.jpg

 

 

This thing sees lots of ascents by the Kor Route, a three or four pitch 5.10+ C0 (or 5.11+). The rock is surprising clean and solid and the protection is always excellent. I led the first pitch, Owen led the second, the second absolutely crushed me, Owen led the third. Thanks Owen.

 

Pitch one of the Kor Route

standingrockp1.jpg

 

 

Starting the Pitch two traverse

standingrock_traverse.jpg

 

 

Owen about to be crushed by Standing Rock

topplingrock.jpg

 

 

Day 3

 

After driving all the way out of the park to get more gas we turned around and drove to the other side of the White Rim Road (it's a loop) to climb the famous Primrose Dihedrals Route on Moses Tower. One guidebook calls it the best route in the desert, another calls it the best route in North America. So maybe thats a stretch but it certainly must be one of the best routes. Go do it!

 

The incomparable Moses Tower

moses1.jpg

 

 

If you are of strong constitution the climb goes free at 5.11+. If your like me you can climb it at mid 5.10 by doing a variation start that avoids the first short crux pitch and by aiding a short bolt ladder along an overhanging OW called The Ear. This route is just amazing. Longer than most tower routes with sustained 5.10 crack climbing on perfect rock. Bring lots of #0.75 and #3 Camalots as the cracks seem to be off fingers or wide hands.

 

Starting up Pitch four of Primrose Dihedrals

moses3.jpg

 

 

Finishing up Pitch four of Primrose Dihedrals

moses2.jpg

 

 

Day 4

 

Being somewhat whipped, on the last day we decided to climb Ottos Route on Independance Tower in Colorado National Monument. This is a popular (very popular!) 5 pitch 5.9 route originally climbed in 1911 by a crazy german guy who carved steps and pounded iron pipes into huge drilled holes to build a via-ferrata to the summit. Arriving at the base on a Monday morning there were already two parties racking up. So instead we rambled off across the desert where I stepped on a cactus (OUCH!) on our way to Fastdraw Tower. After climbing a perfect handcrack we bailed at the base of a 5.8 chimney due to a lack of wide gear or possibly bigger balls (the fact someone had removed several drilled angles from the pitch didn't help)

 

Fastdraw Tower

fastdraw.jpg

 

 

Returning to Ottos Route we found it slightly less crowded and managed to tag the summit. This was a bit anticlimatic as this might possibly be the worst trade route in the desert with sandy rock and completely uninspiring climbing, interesting that it appears to be the most popular route as well.

 

Independance Tower

independancetower.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 13
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

be sure and hit up the washer woman arch (aka Mrs Butterworth Tower) - it's really good. you can get a bivy permit and not have to deal with the full campgrounds on the white rim. Nice work, those are really fun towers.

 

Did you do the fixed rope or the hike down for standing rock?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...