jeff8v7
May 7, 2006, 2:37 PM
Post #1 of 1
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Registered: Nov 28, 2005
Posts: 5
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I sent blow job rock yesterday and left a note in the DB about the rap anchor placement. It's difficult to find, so I thought I'd post it here to save someone else the time of finding it. You have to down climb to a ledge on the N side and traverse the ledge to the west further than you think you should have to.
The rappels are not 110' each as listed in Castles in the Sand, more like 170' and 140', so don't bring a 70m rope and think you can get off this one! Conveniently, the rap drops you right onto your packs at the bottom (which is clever since they don't follow the route).
Also, if you follow the terse Castles in the Sand description for P3 ("Chimney up to a ledge"), I suggest climbing past the first ledge on P3, up the dihedral under the roof, to the false mini-summit. You can get a good anchor from there and reduce rope drag on the 4th pitch.
This is a very fun route if you like chimneys (which I do!). The 2nd pitch actually goes through the spire from N to S - more like caving than climbing. Cool stuff.
Another entertaining part of this climb is watching the endless stream of screaming tourists in pink jeeps on the Broken Arrow 4wd trail. Shortest approach appears to be 4wd up Broken Arrow to Chicken Point and hike from there. You can get a little closer taking your first left while coming down the 4wd trail. Drive past the round-about rock, past the bottom of the steep downhill section to your left, and park out of the way on the rock. You'll pick up Broken Arrow hiking trail from here and follow it south for a ways before heading up the long gulley to the climb. I should also mention that you probably don't want to try this 4WD trail if you're not used to off roading.
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