Okay, you guys are right there is no way Clueless Tower is a tower. As for the whole Zion thing, I still don't think it counts but y'all can count whatever you want, it's your list not mine. I don't care how much you argue shiprock that is never going to be a tower, it's not even sandstone!

That's right... I forgot about ships! F yes I would think Ship Rock is desert tower. If you have ever been out next to the thing, I think most all would agree! Talk about towering...

Andrew, I wussed out on that Lighthouse mantle too. Frankly I was a bit wigged out on most of climb. Back then we had just gotten one of the original #4 Camalots... those really flimsy ones, and Poseidon Adventure was supposed to be like a "moderate" 5.9. That 2nd pitch was f-ing wild with basically one piece of gear for the whole thing! Then the last pitch with the mantle basically had no gear... I clawed my upper body over that crazy summit boulder and called it a tower.

And yes, you're right George. A tower only counts once regardless of how many routes you climb on it.

That's funny about Lighthouse. I got my upper body over the lip too and then stood there a long time debating how hard it would be to find that foothold again if I committed. I finally did the move and stood on the top simply because I didn't want to listen to Ben give me shit about how I don't get to count it because I didn't top out.

I have never considered Shiprock a desert tower because it's not sandstone. Although now you all have me thinking about it. It would mean that I could count Agathela (sp) as well I suppose. Hmmm....

51 and counting...

Congrats on passing the 50 mark Brad!

Okay, I have driven by shiprock a few times, but I must confess, it isn't sandstone??? What is it?

It's a volcanic plug.
http://www.lapahie.com/Shiprock_Peak.cfm

Hey Brad I think the rule is that you have to touch the top. You would have been fine not doing the mantle.

85 ish... Ben is the man at this point. That is prolific, especially coming from Michigan!

That was the top? I thought that was just a cairn left by the first ascent party.

Thanks John.
It's funny how the tower quest confuses my already addled brain. There have been several times when I left Moab a day early because I had climbed a lot already or I didn't have a partner and didn't feel like soloing. I am always OK with the decision at the time. However, when I get home and a day or two passes, I often wish that I had been more driven and climbed something else before leaving. I guess the grass is always greener.

Also... easy with the "Ben is the man" comments. There are a lot of questionable "towers" on his list... I think he's probably at about 50 when push comes to shove. :)

50!?! Brad are you upset that I stole all your leads on basically everything since we've met?(I was starting to be nice and then you go and edit your post and force me to edit mine.)

Brad your from Ohio.
John you've told me where you're from before but I can't remember.

Where were our other tower brethren born?

Wisconsin/U.P. ha!

Montana, but spent most of my youth languishing in North Dakota.

I see a pattern forming. We all come from flat cold godforsaken places.

Hey Frosty...recognize this (crappy photo but you should be able to make it out...we also got there at sunset on the 3rd ascent! Cheers!

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Ben,

Sorry about that typo up higher.... I meant to say 80.

Also, I added up the pitches that each of us have led while climbing together and you're only up on me about 3-1. And when you consider that I let you have all the hard and/or dangerous pitches... we come out about even.

So basically.... you're welcome.

-Jackelope


To the Group,

Do you have any partners that "enable" you to wimp out when you otherwise wouldn't?
For me that person is Ben. (not that I'm complaining)

I lead harder when I'm with just about anyone else besides Ben. It has a lot to do with motivation. For instance, none of my other partners are on a tower quest so I am usually the one trying to get people psyched about climbing on entrada or navajo or some other soft rock.

Add to that the fact that Ben climbs harder than me and it gets a little easier to wimp out.

Add to that the fact that Ben never seems to mind leading sketchy pitches and it gets a little easier to wimp out.

Add to that the fact that I'm going to be a father in July and it gets a little easier to wimp out....

The fact remains though that I have it in me to become an excuse factory....

Does anyone else have this problem?

Brad

PS. I plan to put an end to this trend in April... I'll let you know how I fare.

I'm definitely an excuse factory. I'll sack up and go when I am with equal partners or people who don't let me off the hook, but I climb comfortably into the backseat when I am with a badass. This is why I try to avoid badasses, and climb with punters like myself as much as possible. I feel like I need to put an asterisk next to towers i've been dragged up ... *cough* Dreamspeaker with the Sender(Kent Pease) *cough*...

Hey tower geeks -
Anyone climb the little tower out in Rabbit Valley, aside the dirt road? If so, does it have an actual name? And what routes are mentioned?

Tea, is that from Alien Child? Did you do the sweet splitter variation also? I was puzzled on why the FA party didn't go that way... what date and ascent did you do on this?

Brad, congrats. But yeah, you better go get after it before the kid arrives. I don't think you'll be baggin' too many desert towers once you get elbow deep in diapers instead of fat cracks.

As for where I am from? Snow. With a corn cob pipe. Must have been some magic in that old silk hat...

Excuses. Frick Andrew, Dreamspeaker is way hard. My sack shrunk on that 2nd pitch. I would have gotten up that fatty it if I could have trusted that stacked tube and hex. But no... Bail. Maybe someday soon with a bigger sack and modern big gear I will giver 'er another go.

Thin Man and Sewing Machine totally rock. Middle Sister next to Thin Man is a better route, just not as good a tower as Thin Man.

"As for where I am from? Snow. With a corn cob pipe. Must have been some magic in that old silk hat..."...dude that's classic...lol!

yup...that's it Frosty. we also added a shorty of our own on the north face of the south "tower"...5.8 A1(for the 3rd ascent according to the register..Spring 95ish I think. We did find some innacuracies in the guide at to the actual number of ascents...and since the register was in good shape, and I can't imagine getting there, and NOT signing in....I figure ours as documented in the register...3rd)...We climed most in that "group" the same trip. Got rained off Turkey the same weekend...need to go back. Let's not get too specific about these routes online though!...finding and doing these routes is half the fun!

Not everything is meant to posted up..but maybe that's just me!

I tried to do a new route on Turkey Tower a couple of years ago, but the line I picked was absolute sugar munge so we bailed. It is really a lovely tower.

There is no way I could have gotten up Dreamspeaker without being winched up there by Kent. I couldn't do those moves on toprope. He didn't put in much gear on the second pitch after a #4 camalot to go over the weird fat roof. The custom giant cams might be nice on that if you don't want a pretty big runout.

Tea, inaccuracies in the guide? Say it isn't so! I am with ya too on not everything is meant to be posted. Took me years before I even decided to submit routes anywhere. Made for better adventures. But when jokers started bolting up some of our old routes and claiming them as theirs, that's when I decided it was time to get some things straightened out.

Andrew, gotta love that "sugar munge". Out there we always referred to it as mustard powder. For that is about how solid some of the rock is. Sometimes when you topped out after groveling up some desperate crack(s) you were literally covered in... well, mustard powder.

Sam L, great write-up in that thread on FUTURE ACCESS ON THE COLORADO PLATEAU.

ALL, please to read Sam L's posting and partake. This is super important concerning access issues out there. If we all love towers as much as we seem to, then we will all contribute. Hopefully the careless damage done in Arches N.P. can be turned around and a new direction taken as a whole across the parks on the plateau. Thanks Sam.

Is that why you named the Mustard Jar what it is? Here is a photo you might enjoy...

Exactly. Sweet shot of the Mustard Jar Andrew. Thanks for sharing... Have you climbed Mustard Jar or any of the other towers around there?

sweets shots of the thin man frosty! did you guys do the side hill forever aproach to the tower on the west...or approach from the wash to the east?

I took a nice upsidedown whipper from his neck!....biggest peice we had was a #3..I stuffed it way back in there kinda blind like...stood up on it, and when I got a look...said

"whoa...I can't believe that peice of shit is gonna hold! BLAM!" and away I went over backwards looking down at the belay! Next time...I used a stick (had a long branch of cedar clipped to me as it looked like a bolt was missing on that second pitch...couldn't see the fixed wire..and with an approach that long...was making sure we wouldn't get shut down) to stuff it WAAAAAY back in there (and to punish my partner who threw the 4 back in the truck when I wasn't looking)

Anyway...it was funny watching him stuff his whole body in the "neck" to get it......

what a cool view from that summit! don't forget to praise jah and the desert gods!

I haven't climbed Mustard Jar yet, but its on the list(Twin Ravens even more so). In that area i've done Paul Ross's route on Worth the View Spire, and I did a new route on a small unclimbed tower near Secret Pillar. I love that whole area.

Great pics Frosty of the Corn Dog (mind passing on some beta? looks very cool/and a good addition to the tower count.) and the Thin Man. You have me energized.

Tea, what are you doing tomorrow? I am heading to Swaseyland, wanna go?

If you didn't have to work and could climb full time...
How many towers could you climb in a year?


If you said 100 towers or more...
How long could you keep up the 100 towers per year rate? Of course repeats don't count.

Brad and I have talked about this before and I think that we decided that starting from scratch we could keep the rate up for 2 years. The biggest problems would be maintaining motivation and partners.

Ben