Jump to content

[TR] Canyonlands - Towers 5/1/2013


Recommended Posts

Trip: Canyonlands - Towers

 

Date: 5/1/2013

 

Trip Report:

I had the fortune of spending six days climbing in and around Canyonlands National Park with a long time friend and climbing partner. After two days in Indian Creek we retreated to the vast, lonely, impossibly quiet and and oh so beautiful White Rim Trail where some of the biggest and best Windgate Towers reside. No one but us with the occasional scorpion, red ants or bat to keep us company. After being harassed by brief squalls and thunderstorms we managed one more spectacular route just north of the park in an area called Mills Canyon before a really massive storm chased us back across I-70 bringing an end to the tour.

 

The Impeccable Indian Creek

towers2013-4.jpg

 

Lighting Bolt Cracks - North Six Shooter - Start on the R finish on the L

towers2013-3.jpg

 

towers2013-1.jpg

 

Incredible Hand Crack

towers2013-5.jpg

 

White Rim Trail

towers2013-6.jpg

 

Musselman Arch

towers2013-7.jpg

 

towers2013-9.jpg

 

Basecamp below Washer Woman and Monster Towers

towers2013-24.jpg

 

Starting up the North Ridge of Monster. Burly climbing left the camera neglected in the bag.

towers2013-10.jpg

 

White Rim from the summit

towers2013-11.jpg

 

Morning Approach

towers2013-15.jpg

 

Islet in the Sky

towers2013-16.jpg

 

Loose and burly 5.10...

towers2013-17.jpg

 

...Leads to hanging belays and C3 pin scars

towers2013-18.jpg

 

Foreshortening exists

towers2013-19.jpg

 

towers2013-20.jpg

 

450' x 15' x 20'

towers2013-21.jpg

 

Quality Anchors abound

towers2013-22.jpg

 

The amazing In Search of Suds climbs the foreground dihedral

towers2013-12.jpg

 

towers2013-25.jpg

 

towers2013-26.jpg

 

Compulsory Ridgeline Shot

towers2013-27.jpg

 

Echo Pinnacle in Mills Canyon - Window Route - One of the very best routes out there.

towers2013-28.jpg

 

Absolutely beautiful tower and stunning landscape with high quality and varied climbing. towers2013-29.jpg

 

Kicking loose rock and sand on your partner is a common desert pastime.

towers2013-30.jpg

 

The Window in the route

towers2013-31.jpg

 

Amazing 5.10+ jamming

towers2013-32.jpg

 

The bizarre and wonderful window/squeeze/bolt ladder/OW

towers2013-33.jpg

 

Endless Towers

towers2013-34.jpg

 

Gear Notes:

tape, #5 C4, BYOB

 

Approach Notes:

bumpy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 18
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Nice Darin. Very inspiring. Can't wait to check out the desert in the future.

 

Since I am just about to embark on the joys of early fatherhood (any day now), perhaps I can enroll in the DBerdinka school of "how to be a good/responsible /loving parent and husband whilst being a rock crusher (or crusher at anything for that matter)".

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Great pictures!! What camera did you use?

 

It's an Olympus XZ-1. Which is basically a higher end Point&Shoot. More importantly I shoot in RAW format and post process using LightRoom 4.

 

This allows a number of things.

 

1) Much better noise reduction than you get shooting jpegs.

2) Improved contrast with better shadow detail. Basically the "pop" in a photo.

3) And yes I sometimes up the saturation to get more of the desert color in there.

 

It's really the second point that I think makes for good internet pics.

 

What you'll see in the photos of really good photographers is a perfect distribution from bright white to very dark without any blown out highlights. While this takes good control of the actual camera when shooting it also requires skill with Schooping. See JasonG's images or the cascadescrusades guy.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

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...