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numbnut
Sep 13, 2004, 9:25 PM
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Registered: Aug 31, 2004
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South sixshooter is a relly cool tower for those not yet learned in the ways of the desert. Its got it all. Funky 4 wheel drive approach. Cool hike through beautiful desert. Interesting, if brief, moderate climbing. and not one but two uniqu summits w great views of North sixshooter and the needles district of canyonlands. Another cool moderate tower is called Cleopatras Chair and is located in the Glen Canyon recreation area west of Canyondlands proper near the Hans Flat Ranger station. I remember it being a really cool adventure just finding it.
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ddriver
Sep 22, 2004, 11:14 PM
Post #27 of 37
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Registered: Oct 6, 2003
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For some reason the Washer Woman is my favorite. It may be the crazy rappel and having Monster Tower right there. Maybe its the White Rim setting.
Ancient Arts and Lighthouse rank high for stupid summit tricks.
No mention of King of Pain, Easter Island, etc at Bridger Jack.
For crazy climbing, my faves are the Honeymoon Chimney on the Priest and the West Window Route on Echo Pinnacle, aka Airport Tower. The former is well known but the latter has some climbing that's just as varied and ridiculous.
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jsj42
Sep 22, 2004, 11:51 PM
Post #28 of 37
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Registered: Dec 24, 2002
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In reply to: Ancient Art The Titan Echo Tower Cottontail Tower Castleton Tower Sister Superior The Priest Moses Washer Woman Monster Tower Islet in the Sky Standing Rock The Three Gossips Tower of Babel Texas Tower Dreamspeaker North Sixshooter King of Pain Lighthouse Tower The Hindu That is probably a good list to start. I've done about half of those so far.
Andrew is pretty much the Man when it comes to Desert tower expertise... Amber's question is tricky though, because there are traditionally "classic" towers, then there are high quality free-climbing routes, add in aiding and things get even more complicated. Since I only aid climb on high gravity days, I'm going to go out on a limb and list my favorite tower routes to date, in no particular order:
Learning to Crawl
North Face (w/ original, right-hand starting pitch), Castleton
Fine Jade
Infrared, Big Bend Butte
Lightning Bolt Cracks
Holier Than Thou to Salvation, the Nuns
Honeymoon Chimney
Excommunication, the Priest (the pitches I could get up, that is)
Jah Man
Hollowpoint, Castleton
Dolofright
Stolen Chimney
And, in case a potential partner stumbles across this... a wishlist: =)))!
***Moab
Clearlight
Iron Maiden
Satan's Revenge
Lonely Vigil
***Miscellaneous Desert
Tippin' the Bottle
Cooler than Jesus
Texas Tower
Dreamspeaker
***Indian Creek
Rimshot
Rites of Passage
Sacred Space
Wildflower
Friendly Corner
Vision Quest
Hoop Dancer
Liquid Sky
***Castle Valley
Coyote Calling (Rectory)
Ministry (Rectory)
West Face of Castleton
North Chimney (Castleton)
Ascended Yoga Masters (Parriot Mesa)
Sacred Ground (Castleton)
Off to See the Allah (Rectory)
Find Shade (Rectory)
Hail Mary (Rectory)
Where Have the Wild Things Gone (Nuns)
Bad Habit (Nuns)
***Canyonlands
Primrose Dihedrals (Moses)
Dunn Route (Moses)
Sisyphus (Zeus)
Thracian Knightmare (Thracian Mare)
East Ridge/Wafer (Aphrodite)
Standing Rock
In Search of Suds (Washer Woman)
Through the Looking Glass (W. Woman)
North Ridge (Monster Tower)
Monster of Rock (Monster Tower)
Various climbs near the Crow's Heads
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tradmanclimbs
Sep 23, 2004, 12:03 AM
Post #29 of 37
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Registered: Apr 24, 2003
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The tower that you guys refer to as echo tower. is it airport toweras well/ Is this the really skinny 300 ft? tower that is just outside of moab? it sits on some slickrock and looks like it might fall right on your campsite :shock: first pitch is scary loos looking 5.9 and second pitch looks hard fingers ? is there a guide book description for it?
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calamity_chk
Sep 23, 2004, 12:25 AM
Post #30 of 37
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Registered: Apr 23, 2002
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w00t.
;)
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ddriver
Sep 23, 2004, 1:41 PM
Post #31 of 37
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Registered: Oct 6, 2003
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Yeah tradman. Echo Pinnacle sits in Courthouse Wash below the Monitor and Merrimac. Its the little tower you get a glimpse of when you're heading south on 191 near the airport, hence the name "airport tower." The base of it is Moenkopi or Cutler or some other such crud, but it climbs surprisingly well, more like granite than sandstone, stylewise. The upper pitches are on Wingate I think though it could be Navajo. The second pitch of the Window Route is perfect hands, not fingers. It starts off a table-like boulder in the window through the tower. You reach up into jams in a roof crack and cut your feet loose. Then the fun starts.
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jsj42
Sep 23, 2004, 2:49 PM
Post #32 of 37
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Registered: Dec 24, 2002
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I'd go out on a limb and say that atg and dee are referring to the Echo Tower in the Fishers, but all other references are to the one in Tusher Canyon, which by the way, sounds really crazy!
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atg200
Sep 25, 2004, 3:56 PM
Post #33 of 37
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Registered: Jul 27, 2001
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yeah, i was referring to echo in the fishers. phantom sprint is still my favorite desert route. echo pinnacle looks totally classic as well.
in the last two days i did disappearing angel near moab, and dark angel and owl rock in arches. all are worthy, though owl rock is the only real classic of the bunch. i can't believe i waited as long as i did to climb the owl - that is some of the coolest face climbing i've ever done.
the weather in the desert is perfect now!
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atg200
Sep 28, 2004, 6:40 PM
Post #34 of 37
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i just did chip tower along the white rim road, but i had to bail 15' below the summit because i didn't have a cheater stick and there is no nailing allows in canyonlands. it is definitely classic and one of the best desert routes i have ever done. anyone ever done it clean with no cheater stick?
josh - you should go free that thing. the rock quality is very good wingate. the aid on the second pitch looks like it'll go at mostly hard 5.10 or 5.11 hands and fingers with a harder traverse(hard 5.11 or easy 5.12 most likely). the last pitch is protected by bolts and looks like incredible 11+ or 12 arete climbing on steep varnished rock, with some runout hard moves.
http://images.climbingmoab.com/beta/source/146.jpg
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jsj42
Sep 28, 2004, 7:12 PM
Post #35 of 37
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Registered: Dec 24, 2002
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In reply to: josh - you should go free that thing. the rock quality is very good wingate. the aid on the second pitch looks like it'll go at mostly hard 5.10 or 5.11 hands and fingers with a harder traverse(hard 5.11 or easy 5.12 most likely). the last pitch is protected by bolts and looks like incredible 11+ or 12 arete climbing on steep varnished rock, with some runout hard moves.
Which Desert Rock has it listed? Thanks for the recommendation...
BTW, when you went up to Disappearing Angel did you have a look at Satan's Revenge? It looks SWEEEEEET. Supposedly the aid line has also been freed, but looking at the start I have serious doubts.
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atg200
Sep 28, 2004, 7:17 PM
Post #36 of 37
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Registered: Jul 27, 2001
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hi josh,
chip is listed in desert rock 1 national parks and also the craptacular cam burns guidebook(along with bullsh!t it'll definitely go clean to the next party beta). i posted a pic of the route here and more details on climbingmoab.
i also have a really hard time believing the bjornstad route on disappearing angel went free. maybe clipping the good bolt with a cheater stick and if you go way right, but otherwise it just looks impossible. the last pitch also looks harder than 5.11+ for sure. go talk to crackwhore about the other route - he whipped big repeatedly before bailing i guess. looks like a great line though, and more natural thean the bjornstad boltfest(many unnecessary bolts on top of the blank ladders).
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dangle
Oct 7, 2004, 10:47 PM
Post #37 of 37
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Registered: Apr 2, 2004
Posts: 814
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Just happened across this thread so I thought I'd add two cents.
Philosophically the MOST classic desert tower is the sleek elegant virgin on the horizon that you are heading towards. It is the prospect of an adventurous and rewarding sojourn that taps the breadth of one's skill on hard varnished sandstone.
The reality always proves to be at least just a tad less, but enough to have some continue to strive in pursuit of this concept of perfection. Perhaps quixotic but definitely pragmatic I have been among those who continue.
There have been some excellent recommendations and its no surprise for me to see the Owl. When I found it on 2/1/78 I was amazed at how user friendly it was (and by the way not only used no pins, but didn't carry a hammer and tied off the summit knob as rap anchor).
Thank you for the comment about the CB Craptacular. You probably know that I don't hold the Bjornstads high as well. If you read into my description of the MOST classic then its easy to see why guidebooks can destroy the very thing that its readers are seeking.
That said I went back and did Charlie Horse and the Witch last year with Crusher and Donini and had a blast. They were as classic as I remembered.
To my mind one of the most classic towers also incorporated the adventure of the approach. I found it on a solo canoe trip in '83 and kept coming back until I summited on the third try. There (quite legally) I hauled out my pistol and fired some celebratory rounds into the air. My kind of place!
As if that wasn't enough I named the tower for the recently deceased Edward Abbey. I happen to know that he had seen this tower several times although not visible from a road.
Want to find it?
Well I'm not going to give you a topo, or even a gear list. I'm not even going to exactly identify which rock it is. Hopefully these bits of information will be hard to come by for a long time.
But if you float through Labyrinth Canyon look for the most elegant tower on the southwest side of Bowknot Mesa.....
And by the way; jsj must be a bit masochistic. After climbing the satelite of Moses I named it the Tracian Mare not for the horses of Diomedes but more like the struggle of Achilles, because it WAS a thrashing nightmare. Apparently someone else agreed.
D(rilled) Angle
Ron Olevsky
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