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Rich and Famous Towers

5.10+ PG13, Trad, 500 ft (152 m), 6 pitches, Grade III,  Avg: 2 from 2 votes
FA: Team Cuz 2012
Arizona > Northern Arizona > Sedona Area > Sedona > Mormon Canyon

Description

A sweet twin tower way back in Mormon Canyon. Cool route with fun climbing, interesting route finding and not all that hard.

Pitch 1 Boulder up into a gully/crack. Climb awkward hands to changing corner fists to OW to roof. Belay from bolt and gear at lower edge of ledge, poor gear and rock higher on ledge. 5.10+, 140 feet.

Pitch 2 Either layback the wide crack on the left or climb the hands to finger crack on right, traversing into the wide crack after ~30 feet. Either way, continue up crack to OW with face holds to belay by some blocks on a ledge. Without a big cam, a bit runout, but not too hard or scary 5.9 PG 13, 100 feet.

Pitch 3 Climb left to a left angling finger crack, follow up to a ledge and either layback the wide flake (#5 camalot), or face climb left past a left facing flake. Runner this part wisely, belay at rap station, 5.9,70 feet.

Pitch 4 Move belay left 20 feet on big ledge. Climb finger/thin hands to a diagonal crack. Traverse left past a finger crack and across a ledge to a roof below right facing dihedral with a hand crack in it, follow to notch. Belay from gear up on left of notch. 5.10, 75 feet.

Pitch 5 Rich Tower- From the notch boulder shelves with gear in horizontals, aiming for a 10 foot finger crack on right side of face. Above the crack go left to a bolt then up chickenheads to summit. Belay from rap station. 5.9+ PG 13, 115 feet.

Pitch 6 Rich Tower- Final pitch climbs the highest summit but the rock gets a little junky, the views are worth it though. Climb left from the upper notch to an easy crack. Belay from gear. 5.7, 50 feet. Rap is only one bolt, add one if you desire.

Pitch 5 Famous Tower- From the notch traverse the south side to moderate climbing with a few placements. Belay from tree or bolts. 5.8, 50 feet.

Location

This formation is way up Mormon Canyon, past all of the other climbs. We found this trying to climb Ambulance Ride, but airballed the approach gully and ended up below this thing. I think its about 75 minutes to the base with Andrew's Fred Beckey hiking pace. You will see the tower from the wash and then scramble up slickrock to the right to get to the start of the climb. It starts on the lowest point of the tower on the west side. Climb Rich Tower first, then rap to notch, then climb Famous Tower, then rap straight down North side of tower.

Protection

Two ropes, trad rack w/ nuts, 1X TCU's to BD #1, 2X BD #2, 3X BD #3, 2x BD #4, bunch of runners. Optional BD #5, the climbing is pretty easy where you could place it, and chances to place it are few. But if you don't particularly 'like' that size, might want one. There are rap stations at the top of P3 and both P5 of Rich Tower and Famous Tower. From Rich Tower a 40 meter rap gets you back to the notch. From the top of Famous Tower, a 25 meter rap gets you to the top of P3. From the top of P3 a 55 meter rap goes to a ledge with another rap station. Another 40 meter rap gets you to the limestone ledge N of the start, with easy walking back.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

P 5 up Rich Tower in final crack above bolt.  Famous Tower in background.
[Hide Photo] P 5 up Rich Tower in final crack above bolt. Famous Tower in background.
Famous Tower on right, Rich Tower higher on left.  Route climbs from block roof on right across left trending crack and up to the notch to the respective summit pitches.
[Hide Photo] Famous Tower on right, Rich Tower higher on left. Route climbs from block roof on right across left trending crack and up to the notch to the respective summit pitches.
Route climbs the crack on this face. P1 Belay just above roof. P2 Belay up on left shoulder by wierd block roof.
[Hide Photo] Route climbs the crack on this face. P1 Belay just above roof. P2 Belay up on left shoulder by wierd block roof.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Robbie Brown
the road
  5.10+ PG13
[Hide Comment] This was possibly the biggest choss tower i have ever climbed. Im not used to climbing new routes in sedona and am still wondering if my partner and i snagged the 2nd ascent. P1) Little bit sketch getting to your first piece but pretty good climbing after that (although super loose!) I cleaned about 35 lb of rock off this pitch with 1 kick. P2) Run out OW unless you have two #5's and im sure a #6 would be very helpful on this pitch. I took the crack on the right and placed the 5 for the switch move to the OW. Once in the OW i was wishing i had more big gear! P3) short. P4) Cool pitch. Move belay sideways into crack. Climb crack to big loose chalkstone. Continue left under 5.12-13 looking offset crack and up to notch. The rest is as the topo says but P5 of famous tower was super loose and scary!

Rap beta

The rap from the P3 Anchors to the last rap is not 55 meters IT IS 65 METERS!!! If you have 2 60m ropes you WILL NOT MAKE IT! You need a 60 + 70 or 2 70's to do this route!!!!!! Mar 5, 2013