Shangri-La 

I climbed this route with Dave Evans in the Early 80's.....We had a blast. On pitches one and two, I pulled out about 6 or more pitons which someone left behind;....with my fingers. The last pitch , we found, to be very loose and dangerous, and about 5.6. We found No anchors on the summit, so I rapped off of Daves body weight, placed a few pieces on the way down, and Dave down-climbed the whole pitch;....knocking hundreds of pounds of rock flying down the chimney;...I was huddled behind some rocks, trying not to get hit by any missles. We knocked so much rock off while we climbed and descended, that at times , the formation looked like a factory with a smokestack going strong....(Here's how WE broke down the pitches and found the climbing...Just another reporter's opinion;...probably ball-park for us, anyways....On these sort of climbs...we free, French-free, and hop in our aiders , and then change back again;....and that's all in a few feet!)Pitch one we found as A2 and 5.9.Pitch 2 we went around the left side of a roof (5.10a), then cut left (FP) to a bolted belay. Pitch 3; up a 5.9 squeeze. Pitch 4 ; 5.6 chimney loose/dangerous. There; two different descriptions;....all to confuse you more! Guess there's only ONE way to figure out what the pitches REALLY are...... that's right;...go do the climb!...(Oh wait;...too bad it's presently illegal....)...Maybe someday.....It's a great adventure;...legal or not. When we climbed the route, we had no information about the climb;...didn't even know it's name or if it had been climbed before;.....We went over wondering if the thing had ever been climbed;....on pitch one, when we saw all the pitons;...we know someone had been up the thing....later , I heard it was called Castle Butte...and when I talked later to Eric, he said it was called Shangri-la.

On the summit of this formation I encountered a translucent scorpion. The only time I have ever seen such a critter in the desert!

I still have a prized Layton Kor piton from this climb.

SCORE!

(The piton that is.
The route sounds like it's for a certain type of twisted climber.)