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The Iron Chef

5.7 A3+, Trad, Aid, 550 ft (167 m), 5 pitches, Grade IV,  Avg: 2.4 from 8 votes
FA: Chip Wilson, Steve Crusher Bartlett, May 13, 2007
Utah > Southeast Utah > Fisher Towers > Echo Tower
Warning Access Issue: RAIN, WET ROCK and RAPTOR CLOSURES: The sandstone around Moab is fragile and is very easily damaged when it is wet. Also please ask and be aware of Raptor Closures in areas such as CAT WALL and RESERVOIR WALL in Indian Creek DetailsDrop down

Description

Three sustained pitches. Pitches 1 and 3 are open faces with thin seams. Pitch 2 is a meat-and-potato pitch: long, muddy and strenuous.
1. Climb easy slabs for fifty feet to a steep wall. Follow a seam (A3) to a three-bolt belay (130', A3).
2. Move left into a slot angling up and right. Up this and the long continuation crack in the obvious muddy left-facing dihedral to a tiny perch and three-bolt belay (170', A3).
3. Gain a poor seam ten feet right of the belay and follow this for thirty feet to a bolt (invisible from below) and jog right into a better crack leading to a zone of broken and dirty ledges. Finagle your way through this zone to a crack in a flare. When this ends, tension left into an crack in an obvious deep slot; up this to the big ledge and a three-bolt belay (130', A3+).
4. Move right to join the North Chimney route. Grunt over a bulge, pass a few bolts, then climb mostly free up the chimney to the large ledge under the final bolt ladder (A1, 5.7R, 90').
5. Up the North Chimney/Phantom Sprint bolt ladder past about ten bolts (A0, 30')

Location

The Iron Chef starts about forty feet right of Phantom Sprint.
Descent: Rappel the route (or rap Phantom Sprint)

Protection

1 Rurp, 8 Birdbeaks, 10 Toucans, 3 Peckers (large), 2 Spectres, 2 Knifeblades, 4 Leepers, 6 Lost Arrows, 4 Standard Angles, 2 each larger angles to 2". Selection of nuts. Cams: 2- to 3 each from 0.5" to #5 Camalot.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Toucan, pitch 2 of Iron Chef
[Hide Photo] Toucan, pitch 2 of Iron Chef
Summit!
[Hide Photo] Summit!
Mud gear
[Hide Photo] Mud gear
2 leeper z's and a long angle girth hitched
[Hide Photo] 2 leeper z's and a long angle girth hitched
Chip Wilson cleaning Pitch 2 of Iron Chef
[Hide Photo] Chip Wilson cleaning Pitch 2 of Iron Chef
Chip Wilson, Pitch 1 of Iron Chef
[Hide Photo] Chip Wilson, Pitch 1 of Iron Chef
Iron Chef in blue. Phantom Sprint in red.
[Hide Photo] Iron Chef in blue. Phantom Sprint in red.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

George Bell
Boulder, CO
[Hide Comment] Kudos, Crusher! Excellent name. What is the "secret ingredient"? Mud? May 16, 2007
Brad Brandewie
Estes Park
[Hide Comment] "1 Rurp, 8 Birdbeaks, 10 Toucans, 3 Peckers (large), 2 Spectres"...

Well there's a gear list you don't see every day!

Nice work Crusher and Chip! May 17, 2007
EB
Winona
[Hide Comment] How are the rap anchors on this for descending Phantom? Is a bolt needed/helpful or are the anchors fairly new? Looks like the FA was 2007, is that correct? any info would be great! Oct 20, 2012
Steve Bartlett
  5.7 A3+
[Hide Comment] Three bolts on each belay. All good bolts, placed in 2007 (all are 4", most are half-inch). Top anchor has a good ledge, next one down has a small ledge for one person to stand or sit, lowest anchor has very little, semi-hanging with a sloping footledge as I recall.

Yeah, the rap line is pretty direct, might be quite convenient for rapping Phantom Sprint. Apr 17, 2013