Get to the North Face of Bubo Tower from Balanced Rock as described on the "Rock Page." There is one feature on this face... a yawning chimney that splits it.
Climb up a soft slab for perhaps 10-20 feet, I don't recall exactly how high... and enter the chimney.
I slowly picked my way up this, first more or less squeezing, then with my back on one side and feet on the other, then finally in a near-splits, which was slow-going. Much to my surprise, my partner followed at great speed as he got to the top- with hands on one side and feet on the other- walking up that way. Of course, placing gear like this would be no fun.
The route was originally 3 pitches. Given the little amount of gear and shortness of the climb, doing it in a single pitch as we did seemed much better.
Rap from anchors on the top via 2 ropes (50M will do). A single 70M might get you down. The condition of the webbing on the anchors up top is unknown. It was total crap when I did the climb and I replaced them, but that has been 7 years of desert sun and wind atop a tower.
As always when doing towers, take some new red/brown webbing just in case.
Protection
Not much for pro. You can get a few large cams here and there, and a few smaller pieces in cracks in the side walls. The best plan is to take a light rack + a few big pieces and plan on running it out a little.
I believe it is closed seasonally for the cliff chickens. I don't think it is closed all the time (I hope not, or "oops"). The recent rains have really softened up the Entrada, and this chimney was obviously running with water. I would call it 5.8 X. There is no gear at the top and you are facing a very long fall into a chimney. There is no way to get in gear up there, unless you own a #14 Friend, and you have to do some smearing on the entrada. I'm 5'10" and was in a wide stem. My girlfriend is 5.4 and could not stem wide enough... if you are much shorter than me this is gonna be 5.9X. I got in a couple of mid size pieces on the first pitch and at the start of the second pitch, but other than that there wasn't much gear.
I climbed this a few years ago, and would agree with the comment about the bad fall at the top of the chimney. If you fell at the top, it seemed to me that you would deck on the chimney floor below you. Although the rock is soft and sandy, the climbing is not overly hard.
By toddgordon From: Joshua Tree, California Apr 25, 2007
I did this climb with my wife (to be) in March of 1999 and we were surprised at just how hard and scary 5.7 in Arches can be. It's not a horror show, but it was a bit tricky and "head's up" for the 5.7 rating. We liked it!
Bubo Tower
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