Towers in the Deserts of Utah
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 4:48 pm
Last week I was fortunate enough to go on a short climbing trip with Mike Layton to the Moab area. We had two days of cragging: one in the San Rafael Swell (the closest desert climbing to SLC), and one at Maverick Buttress just outside of Moab.
After this sufficient warmup and beatdown we went after some desert towers in the relatively remote and surreal Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands NP.
We climbed Standing Rock, a challenging 3-pitch route with suprisingly good rock considering it is comprised of vertical mud-rock. Though this route probably doesn't see as much traffic as routes on more accessible towers, we got to the base of the route to find that 5 members of the French National Climbing team had just finished the first pitch. We were worried they might slow us down but they cruised the route. Even though a few of the French hailed from Chamonix, to our suprise they all rapp'ed from the summit instead of making a base jump descent.
Islands in the Sky area:
Standing Rock (AKA the Totem Pole):
Me following 2nd pitch Standing Rock:
The next day we attempted the North Face route on Monster Tower and had the route to ourselves. The classic tower has splitters, funky chimney climbing, and even better rock than Standing Rock. The summit is about 15' x 20' with crazy exposure on all sides. It was a pretty cool experience.
Washer Woman on the Left, Monster (I think it looks more like a robot) on the right):
At the base of the 1st pitch of Monster
Me leading the second pitch of Monster (11a fingers to .10 hands and chimney)
The neat-o summit of Monster
All in all, a great trip with a great partner and splitter weather. Too bad we missed Sky and Naomi but hopefully next time!
(Photos All taken by Mike - even the one of Mike!)
After this sufficient warmup and beatdown we went after some desert towers in the relatively remote and surreal Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands NP.
We climbed Standing Rock, a challenging 3-pitch route with suprisingly good rock considering it is comprised of vertical mud-rock. Though this route probably doesn't see as much traffic as routes on more accessible towers, we got to the base of the route to find that 5 members of the French National Climbing team had just finished the first pitch. We were worried they might slow us down but they cruised the route. Even though a few of the French hailed from Chamonix, to our suprise they all rapp'ed from the summit instead of making a base jump descent.
Islands in the Sky area:
Standing Rock (AKA the Totem Pole):
Me following 2nd pitch Standing Rock:
The next day we attempted the North Face route on Monster Tower and had the route to ourselves. The classic tower has splitters, funky chimney climbing, and even better rock than Standing Rock. The summit is about 15' x 20' with crazy exposure on all sides. It was a pretty cool experience.
Washer Woman on the Left, Monster (I think it looks more like a robot) on the right):
At the base of the 1st pitch of Monster
Me leading the second pitch of Monster (11a fingers to .10 hands and chimney)
The neat-o summit of Monster
All in all, a great trip with a great partner and splitter weather. Too bad we missed Sky and Naomi but hopefully next time!
(Photos All taken by Mike - even the one of Mike!)