Wednesday, March 13, 2013

White Rim


Bill, Matt and I were able to go to the desert on Sunday and Monday to climb a little on the White Rim.  I told Bill to be at the City Market in Moab at 6:30am, my mistake was telling him that Matt was meeting me in Durango at 4am.  Apparently Bill's truck does not usually make the Durango to Moab trip in an easy 2hrs and 30min, because he decided there was no way we would be there on time and slept in.  We arrived at 6:32am in Moab because of a bathroom break in Monticello and finally at 7am Bill rolled into City Market.

First on the list was Hardscrabble...
Hardscrabble from the north.
The troops.

Pitch 2 belay.
Bill jugging, Ben belaying, Matt leading

Summit!
 We got back to the car at 4pm.  Next on the list was Charliehorse Needle...
Hiking in.
Bill on pitch 1
Pitch 2

Bill on pitch 2


Matt on pitch 3.
Exiting the summit.


Back at camp...



Candlestick was the objective for Monday...

Finishing pitch 1

Belaying pitch 2




While I was driving home Bill and Matt were food shopping for Tuesday.  They managed to drag themselves up the Tombstone and Cenotaph. Still not sure how they managed without me.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Whorehouse Hoses


Lisa, Dale and I headed out to Eureaka yesterday and climbed the uber classic Whorehouse Hoses.  Lisa lead the first half of pitch one. (To be fair pitch one is a massive pitch at about 215′ long.) Dale led the second pitch and we finished on the left hand option third pitch.  It was a great day with warm temps!  Great climbing with both of you!
BK
Lisa leading pitch 1.
Lisa belaying.
Dale and Lisa finishing the first pitch.
Dale leading pitch 2.
Lisa following pitch 3.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Valley of the Gods

Saturday Night:


Bill pulls up at 5:30 am on Sunday morning to pick me up.  The sun is coming up as we walk out of the grocery store in Cortez.  We should have left at 5.  By the time we start hiking to Mcyetta's Loaf and Hidden tower it's already 9:30.  We should have left at 5.  

You have to love Cam Burns routes, Mcyetta's Loaf is clean and safe all the way to the top.  I climb pitch one and Bill gets pitch two.  Check and check.  It was great hearing stories about the FA from Jeff Widen.  Apparently the batteries on the drill died and they had to come back the next day to finish.  Although it's not that surprising that the battery died with the number of bolts.

Bill on pitch 2

Summit
Summit anchor on Mcyetta's Loaf

'Hidden Tower' with 'Lady in a Bathtub' in the distance.
 Hidden tower is another story.  It is pretty damn loose and has some heads up climbing.  The two nut anchor on top of pitch one left something to be desired.

Starting up pitch one.

The two nut belay anchor. 
Bill on a cool section on pitch 2.
Opting out of the run out chimney.
Sunday night Jeff Widen informs us that the tower we were going to do a First Ascent of just got climbed by Jeremy.  Bummer.  
Monday morning we head towards what Jeremy called Tighten Up Tower with no intention of climbing his new route since we don't have 23 peckers with us.  We are able to climb the analog crack on the back side of the tower for our own FA.

Tighten Up Tower

Bill at the crux