Type: | Trad, Grade II |
FA: | Bill Roos, Burnham Ardnt, and Denver Collins September, 1969 |
Page Views: | 29,456 total · 150/month |
Shared By: | Andrew Gram on Mar 22, 2002 |
Admins: | slim, Andrew Gram, Perin Blanchard, grk10vq |
WET ROCK: Holds rip off and climbs have been and will continue to be permanently damaged due to climbers not respecting this phenomenon. After a heavy storm the rock will remain wet, sometimes for several days. PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB IN MOAB during or after rain.
RAPTOR CLOSURES: Please be aware of seasonal raptor closures at the Cat wall and Reservoir wall. They occur annually from March 31st until August 31st. *Due to the federal hiring freeze in agencies such as the BLM of Monticello, no official closure for 2017 has been issued and the laws which have been put in place in previous years are not being enforced. Please, for the sake of fragile desert ecology, DO NOT CLIMB at stated walls. These raptors return to the same nesting sites every year to raise their nestlings.
RAPTOR CLOSURES: Please be aware of seasonal raptor closures at the Cat wall and Reservoir wall. They occur annually from March 31st until August 31st. *Due to the federal hiring freeze in agencies such as the BLM of Monticello, no official closure for 2017 has been issued and the laws which have been put in place in previous years are not being enforced. Please, for the sake of fragile desert ecology, DO NOT CLIMB at stated walls. These raptors return to the same nesting sites every year to raise their nestlings.
Description
The route climbs the left side of the face first reached from the trail. The start begins where the ground starts sloping downhill sharply.
Pitch 1 - Climb broken rock to a fun chimney. Belay on the big ledge at the top of the chimney. No fixed anchors, but there is a good chockstone to sling and placements for large cams(watch for hollow and loose rock). 90 feet, 5.6
Pitch 2 - Climb the low angle slot to a ledge system. Walk along the ledge system, and climb up to a higher ledge with rappel slings around a block. An excellent harder variation is to climb the steep clean thin hands crack to the highest ledge system. 80 feet, 5.4
Pitch 3 - Continue on the ledge to a crack. Climb up to a hard for 5.6 mantle to a ledge. Clip the bolt and climb to the summit tower. 50 feet, 5.6
A single rope rap from the summit leads back to the top of pitch 2. A double rope rap from there gets to the ground. You may want to move the knot over the edge to help with pulling the rope.
Pitch 1 - Climb broken rock to a fun chimney. Belay on the big ledge at the top of the chimney. No fixed anchors, but there is a good chockstone to sling and placements for large cams(watch for hollow and loose rock). 90 feet, 5.6
Pitch 2 - Climb the low angle slot to a ledge system. Walk along the ledge system, and climb up to a higher ledge with rappel slings around a block. An excellent harder variation is to climb the steep clean thin hands crack to the highest ledge system. 80 feet, 5.4
Pitch 3 - Continue on the ledge to a crack. Climb up to a hard for 5.6 mantle to a ledge. Clip the bolt and climb to the summit tower. 50 feet, 5.6
A single rope rap from the summit leads back to the top of pitch 2. A double rope rap from there gets to the ground. You may want to move the knot over the edge to help with pulling the rope.
Sacramento, CA
Lexington, KY
Tucson, AZ
One 200 foot rope works perfectly for the rappels--don't drag two ropes up here. Mar 28, 2003
Salt Lake City, UT
Do the variation second pitch (5.7), you only wish that crack was a little (or a lot!) longer!!
Just one comment on the descent. From the top of pitch 2, one single 60 meter rope will make it to the ground (it's probably around 95 feet to the ground). -Cheers! Oct 27, 2004
piquaclimber.net/past/south… Feb 15, 2006
Dolores, CO
Buena Vista, Colorado
My partner, Turtle also lead a crack system to the right of this which went up at around 5.9 to the bottom of the second summit. Both routes better than standard route. Apr 22, 2006
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO
Moab, Utah
Lander, WY
This anchor WAS about 250 feet of tat, some of it probably 20 years old, strung around decaying boulders on a decaying ledge. Its now two half inch bolts in overhanging varnish. The new location means easy pulls and no stuckage, but make sure your ends are even.
The top anchor is updated as well and is simply two halfies in the summit by the old spinners. Chains for all.
For what its worth, the mantle is not 5.9... I think 5.7 is fair, its just that its a mantle and you can't practice it in the gym. Mar 15, 2008
Lander, WY
This is to be expected sometimes in bolts placed vertically in sandstone. I am currently laid up and thus cannot get up there to fix it for at least a few weeks. If someone is going up there I will provide the equipment for replacement. Just get in touch with me
One other option is that there have been a couple people complaining about the upgraded anchors... maybe they tried to remove them. Nov 19, 2008
I've seen a few of Sam's anchor replacements in the desert, and he does a great job, and is preserving these routes and making them better for everybody else. It is hard for me to see that it is from a bunch of rain or lightning, as I have used anchors on the summits of desert towers for the last 18 years, and have rarely worried about anchor failure.
I appreciate the work Sam has been doing. When you think about it, the first ascensionists of these routes are using brand new hardware, and there is no reason that everybody else should use 30 year old anchors when a perfectly safe alternative is available, especially when people are spending their money and time replacing old, unreliable hardware with new, safe anchors.
This opinion of mine has been formed by lots of experience and also many conversations with people who established these routes. The majority of these people want others to enjoy their routes with good belay and rappel stations. Nov 20, 2008
Secondly, I agree with what you said entirely. It seems pretty suspect that those anchors would be bad already. I have rapped off of many of Sam's bolts and they have all been bomber. If someone is out there messing with these anchors, please stop before you get someone hurt or killed.
Brad Nov 21, 2008
Lander, WY
Boulder, Co / Jervis Bay , Aus
Boulder, CO
I also do not understand the bolt on the last pitch. It is too high to protect the mantle, so you have to do the mantle unprotected. However, once you stand up on the mantle ledge so that you can clip the bolt, you can easily get in a cam about 6 inches above (and more in the horizontal crack below the top). It seems to me that the bolt should either be a foot lower to protect the mantle, or it isn't needed at all (probably the latter). I guess it is an artifact of the FA party not having cams? Mar 16, 2011
Revelstoke
Climbed both of the S Six Shooter summits last week. A cool tower, and nice wild feeling (compared to most Indian Creek cragging days).
It's true that not much gear is needed, just a handful of cams and a 60m rope for the rappel(s). Nov 14, 2011
Salt Lake City, UT
Thanks in advance folks! Jun 4, 2012
If you're climbing it bring a coat hanger or two and you could probably reach it. You could booty it or get it back to me for some awesome karma, but it would be a shame to let good gear go to waste.
Otherwise I agree with previous reviewers, it's two star climbing in a four star location; a long approach and lots of scrambling to a few short but sweet cracks. Still, a perfect outing for people new to multipitch, desert rock, or with very basic racks.
Also, I the move directly after the mantle and bolt is as or more challenging for the follower because if you're being belayed from the anchors it and you missed the move you would take a tremendous swing. As a leader I would put a directional in that horizontal crack or belay from a gear anchor to protect the follower. Apr 7, 2013
Salt Lake City, UT
The second pitch is longer and more wandering than you might think. Don't be fooled by some of the rope marks, the pitch continues up another level after passing through a small slot on the ridge. Rather than climbing the south face with the nice handcrack (which my partner did following) I was more on the west ridge than anything. Don't drop down to the tat you can see near the top of the second pitch. Keep going along the arete and find the bolts.
Make sure to have a #2, it nicely protects the crux mantle on the third pitch. Bring a small cam (blue TCU) or a smallish nut to protect the traverse for your second on the third pitch.
The second, higher summit is very protectable with nuts and cams and has bolts/tat to get down. Easy climbing but pull gently on those death flakes! May 6, 2013
moab, utah
we found some gear up there. ID it and i'll shoot it back to you. Jan 30, 2014
VT,CO, Bar Harbor ME
New Paltz
I think some of the comments about the mantel are a little extreme. You can get several quite good cams which will be at your feet for the move. I think 7 is pretty fair.
People are quite right about needing a tiny rack. A long piece of cord is handy for the first belay. We did the low traverse, 7 layback variation. If I had it to do over I'd do the p2 traverse and belay at the base of the 7 layback, and go for the summit from there.
There is a big chalked "x" on the TOP of the block sitting on the top of p3. Pretty hard to see it there when you're pulling onto the summit, but presumably this means that the block moves! Nobody in our party or the several following used the block though, so that's lucky! Mar 18, 2015
thanks! Apr 22, 2015
West Jordan, UT
Estes Park, CO
Durango, Co
Also, I thought the "crux mantle" was easier than the moves from that ledge and the bolt to the summit. Both felt like around 5.6 or 5.7 though. Nov 11, 2017
Moab, UT
Only a light rack needed (nothing over a #2 camelot) and there are lots of good nut placements. We did the 5.7 handcrack on pitch 2 and it was a lot of fun. Mantle move is easy once you actually do it. I would add a piece on top of the tower to protect your follower from a possible big swing getting to the summit (smaller cams/TCUs).
2 star climb in a 3 star location Feb 25, 2018
Moab, UT
Brunswick, ME