Well I've wanted to do it for a while but never actually managed the task in the past.

As fate would have it I ended up doing a bit of aid due to bad weather this fall. I wanted to see what I was capable of so I got on china doll. took me 3 trips due to messed up circumstances (which can be read on the page for china doll). Long story short I rapped in to the crux and rope soloed it as I was sick of my partners holding me back.

In the process I came to realize I was held back by my partners. I posted up looking mostly for an aid/wall partner as big walls are where I want to be in the future. Eric Harvey dropped me a line and next thing I knew I was taking time off to climb some hard desert aid and push myself with a random hopefully capable stranger. We met up and took off thursday night never having even seen each other and having only very limited conversation. I could tell the energy was high though as we were both pumped to get there, and rightly so as we had some big plans. The goal was to get zenyatta entrada (tower of bable in arches) done in a day and head over to cottontail tower (fisher towers) and get on west side story asap so we could hopefully summit and replace bolts down a more direct rap.

Friday morning we get a decently early start but waste a bit of time looking for the john. Eric leads P1 and starts short fixing P2 (we were planning to lead blocks the whole trip but these were actually the only pitches short fixed). I get upto the top of P1 and realize I left our water on the ground. Eric is persistant and we keep moving as I tag the rack up to him to finish his block. Right before I clean P2 I think I left my cordelette and extra lockers at the base(later I discovered they were on my harness the whole time, when I took my harness off I realized it).

Eric on the lead:





I lead P3 and we decided to bring the belay up as it would be quick considering the lack of gear I left on P3. It was nice to be in sight at the crux pitch I must admit. I thought P3 was curiser, my first penji was a pretty easy, and followed up with leap frogging cams(.75,and red tcu till the end where I used a orange alien and a purple alien turning the roof and above the roof) out the dihiedral and roof atop. The cams were bomber so I didn't leave any till near the end as I was protected by a good bolt and it would make cleaning easier.

I then lead P4, which was awesome. It was a step up from china doll mostly due to the entrada sandstone as opposed to granite, the placements were mostly small offsets and brass hb's. They mostly seemed solid(in comparison to the next route we climbed anyway, probly not while I was leading but I don't remember now), but just incase I clipped scream aids as I didn't want to deck on the ledge. I learned a new trick on this pitch. Getting off the ledge low on the pitch below the upper bolt I actually managed to lasso a bolt stud even with the hanger on it!

About to lasso the bolt:


The rest of P4:





After eric arrived I checked the time and we had about an hour left so with out head lamps we decided to bail and fix lines to fire it in the morning.

I got a couple cool shots on the way out though:

Sheep rock:





not sure what this formation is:

That evening pretty much set the fate of the trip, our slow progress made me think twice about west side story, mostly considering the rain forecasted for sunday and not wanting to be on a fisher tower as it turns to mud. Although we had no route description or topo as I had left what I had at home on accident in the excitement, so that didn't help. Reguardless we went back and raced up our fixed lines in the morning and Eric jumped on the sharp end promptly.

Eric leading P5:








He cruised up the remaining pitches to the top and next thing we know were on the summit.

Looking down for the belay above P4:



Looking down from the anchors above the bolt ladder.



So after that we were a little unsure of what we were going to do. Funny thing is Eric mentioned artist tears to me and I had been eyeing it before we left. He said he would belay me on it so I suggested that as an option. We also tossed around phantom sprint and gothic nightmare, after looking on the net and talking about it some more artist tears seemed to be a good option. so over to the gear shop we went just incase we wanted to do artist tears we would need to buy a couple tie offs and pins for hand placing. Once there luke prompted us by printing out a description and topo and we talked about the other routes. He said phantom sprint was good but the crux was only like C2+, I wanted more challange as I lead the crux of ZE flawlessly. So I was more tilted toward artist tears with 2 supposed C3 pitches. He knew nothing about the gothic nightmare and as much as we knew it made that a slim option. We bought the tie offs and a couple pins and decided to go look at artist tears on the way to the fishers or doric collum. We didn't make it any further then artist tears as it was such an aesthetic line up an awesomely steep wall.



Eric asked for the first pitch and I let him have it. it's kinda funny though as it was pretty cruxy too with out the fixed pins that used to be there. The pins we had seemed too small most of the time. Eric was looking at about a 20 ft run out above a low angle slab, he managed to get one of the pins to slot (we only hand placed them and pretty rarely at that) in decently about 10-15ft up but was pretty skeptical. Rightly so as he got clipped into the first bolt that sucker came right out (he left it for pro with a scream aid and the rope pulled it strait out). He didn't seem to be a happy camper on that pitch but pulled it off perfectly.

Eric on the lead:


you can see the pin slid down to the first bolt

He seemed much better when it was my turn at the section above. I got pitch 2(originally part of pitch 1)which goes clean at C3. I get an alright hybrid alien off the belay and lasso up the fixed pin above.



I clip it and then work up to clip the next one(not lasso).
As I continue up I get a green dmm offset above the pin which I equalize with a good looking cam and throw a scream aid on it to hopefully keep me off Eric's head. I get a #5 HB brass offset above that but am skeptical as I think I notice it creating a groove as the rock is so soft and I figure it could rip pretty easily(I still use it for pro with a scream aid to keep me off eric). I continue up onto another dmm offset but this one is only 2/3 in the crack I know it's a time bomb so I get a piece above it which I think is fairly bomber. I get the ladders clipped and before I can clip my daisy the DMM offset rips with me on it. It all happened so fast I didn't even know if gear was ripping or not, but I came to a stop softly just above eric. I look up and the sketch nut with a scream aid actually held!



Unfortunately my ladder was still up there so I was going back up.
I managed to top step the nut that caught my fall and start testing the piece I left my ladder on after I put the daisy on it. It held so I got on it. As I stood there I watched the rock crack away around the outer edges of the cam lobes, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside(I made sure to replace the scream aid that just caught me moments earlier). I just tried to keep moving from one dicey piece to another. It was so wild! the rock is so sugary, what would be a good/decent placement in granite was not working, hell even a couple textbook placements ripped out by hand. Most of what I got to stick was far from text book. Funny. I finished the pitch unscathed, still buzzing from the adrenaline, I fixed the lines and we called it a day, leaving the cleaning for tomorrow so I could take pics of the pro I left as I jugged up before Eric cleaned it.

This was deffinately my hardest lead up to that point, it put china doll and ZE to shame. I was so amped after that but a little scared for what tomorrow had in store for me as I had another C3 pitch to lead right off the bat. I was surely glad to have a night to ease my mental fatigue as that lead was pretty damn scary, and I'm not sure it would have been fun with out a break back to back after that nerve racking fall. I was positive that night though and knew if I made it through that pitch I could hopefully make it through the next and that I had all the time I needed to do so.

The next morning we get up with cloudy skies over head and go start jugging back up the ropes, I got some shots of all the gear I left for pro on pitch 2.

The equalized green dmm offset and green alien to hopefully keep me off eric:



The nut that held my fall, notice how soft the rock is?





The pro just keeps getting better!





This was my favorite and last piece on that pitch:





SPICEY!!!

So on I go up P3, more thin offset nutting and akward cams(including hybrids) get me up to the bolt 15-20 ft above the belay. Fearing I might need the scream aids and small nuts above I opt to place another piece above the bolt. Then procede to clip the bolt with a screamer, and double lengthen my ladders by clipping into the bottom step and back clean everything to the belay.

I feel better now and procede upwards on more trickery, glad to have back cleaned as I used what I cleaned to keep going. One nut was sketch and seeming like it was grooving out to a blowout so I got another crap orange alien above it and the cable ran in a way that it pinned the nut more into the crack. as I equalized them and left them for pro. This pitch was just as tricky if not more so as I ripped a bunch of pieces trying to get something to work, alot of them would be text book in granite. I was testing a hybrid alien and it ripped and nailed me right in the nose and mouth. It took about all I had mentaly to get up this pitch(untill the bolt ladder at the end). I was top stepping a small hb offset to reach the bolt. Felt solid by now so I was just smiling for the camera with ladder in hand ready to clip:


I continue up the bolt ladder to the belay where I am not stoked to see this after all my hard work and fear:


Although this made up for it:






Also the fact that I was done leading eased the mind, but I was still bummed.
Eric got to lead to the top, he mostly placed gear for pro on what is the rivet ladder of a fourth pitch. He wasn't really pumped on most of the studs as alot of them were pointed downward slightly. I kept thinking, man it would be ugly to slam into one of those suckers or just snag one on the way by.... good thing it's super steep and you don't touch a thing if you fall.

Eric leading the rivet ladder to the top:




On the way down from near the top:




I'm going to bed, enjoy!

Awesome pictures, but I to am sorry about the grafitti at the top of the belay.

Seth

Really awesome post, thanks!

Nice work! Great intro to the 'desert.' If you are like many of us, you have just started a love affair to which other places just don't compare. It gets into your soul.

Sweet! Nice desert intro...some softness! Zion will seems super bomber now!

Nice! I'm glad you all enjoyed my efforts. Hopefully others will continue to enjoy my labors. Hey Eric, I'm not sure I did justice to your perspective, if I fell short feel free to fill in the gaps. Again strong work bro, it was a blast! Lets keep in touch and keep getting after it!

I can't wait for the next outing.

I still maintain that I don't aid climb!

Wow... Great trip report!! A well told story of adventure with awesome pictures, what else could we ask for. THANKS!!

Looked like fun. We saw you guys on Sat. We parked next to your car and climbed the river road dihedrals. What route were you on?

Greg that would have been artist tears off the river road. I think the formation is called the anasazi buttress. Those routes you guys were on look like fun for short cragging.

Nice report. Glad you had fun.

Couple things real quick.

Regarding scream aids....you may want to look at the over all breaking strength. It's 7Kn...which isn't much. Ideally you want to clip a long runner to the piece as well, which will be weighted after the scream aid deploy's and (supposedly)absorb's energy. This is not the case with the other screamers available, they are much stronger.

Also becareful with screamers on fixed Pitons, inlcuding drilled angles. There are stories of the vibration from deployment causing pins to "rattle" out.

Also do you use only 1 Daisy chain? What method are you using to attach yourself to your aiders?

No go back and replace the rap's on Road Kill will ya? I don't want to do it....

cheers

josh

I use 2 daisy's, one conventional and one adjustable screamer. I generally leave the screamer adjustable one on my lower piece as a back up so I don't have to fall all the way to the piece of pro below if I'm not in that ladder (the lower set) when the piece above blows. The problems I encounter are having to swap them all the time, and previously I had problems top stepping with the adjustable screamer as it was too long as tight as possible clipped into the loop of my aiders, I figured out that if I clipped it directly to the biner the aiders were clipped to the piece by I could high step easier.

I know about the 7 kn breaking point on the scream aids, I thought it was 6 though. Way I figure if I need the scream aid it's because I think the piece might not even hold 2 kn, otherwise I would just use a normal screamer. I feel not much need to back it up as I don't plan to whip on a scream aid, I string them closely with many marginal placements if I must to prevent that. I figure any piece I use a scream aid on won't hold 7 kn anyway so I'm good to go, although if I was really worried about it I would clip a screamer to the scream aid so it would rip before the scream aid failed, also putting less force on the piece. Seems like a better idea for a back up on a super sketch piece.

Great reporting and images! Thanks for sharing Eric's and your adventure! Once you get red dirt under your finger nails it stays there forever!

sometimes those random encounters of a goal-oriented-kind work pretty well eh..?

congrads & thanks for the trip-report photos specially the sweet littl salvation-nut. Curious what type of camera used for the gear shots
Nice focus for being so macro-close... thx again

zenyatta entrada for a new partnership? interesting. poor eric, dude musta been cursing himself by the time you couldnt find your cordolette.
great trip report though, keep em coming.
mark

I would rather have a partner stair`in at the lump in the front of my jeans than being worried weather he decided to remember his belay device 4 pitches up....especially if he didnt know wtf a munter was. STARE at my ass all you want...its going up...not down....;)

Hey Kirra, it is a Canon Powershot G9 that I used to shoot those photo's. It really does do a good job on the macro-esque shots. Just consider that these have been shrunk down from the original file size origionally they were 3000x4000 pixels in size. Photography is pretty cool.

Oh and Mark, you assume too much. I have used the munter on many occasions. Even for getting down. I'm actually pretty crafty when it comes to making the most of nothing. I can easily rig a belay with out cordelette also BTW.

Glad you all have enjoyed the TR so far, I look forward to posting more up for anything big I do next year.