The Castle Aaaaargh
5.12b/c,
Sport, 400 ft (121 m), 4 pitches,
Avg: 2.8 from 5
votes
FA: Kory Kowallis
Utah
> Wasatch Range
> Southern Wasatch
> American Fork C…
> B-52 Wall
Access Issue: Located in a National Forest Fee Area
Details
Description
I'll be brief...kind of. Enjoy the adventure!
Pitch 1 - Climb up a few bolts to a dirty dihedral. After 10 or so feet, exit the dihedral to the left and climb the face to the top of the pitch (30 m - 5.8ish)
Pitch 2 - From the anchors atop pitch one, climb up pretty solid rock (maybe still a little dirty due to the newness of the route) to the anchors. (25 m - 5.6ish)
Pitch 3 - Let the hardness begin. Follow the bolts up through easier, contrived (5.9+ish) terrain to a good rest below the headwall. Get a good rest and fire up the face/crack and through the little roof. (30 m - 5.12a-ish).
Pitch 4 - From the top of pitch 3 the route angles left and through some steepness and pockets. Don't let vertigo get to you. Finish up on easier terrain. (30 m - 12 b/c-ish).
Side notes:
-This is a new route so be prepared for some dirt and loose rocks...especially on the first pitch.
-Don't let the first pitch scare you away. The higher you go, the better it gets.
-Because the last pitch is so steep (as a matter of fact, it's steeper than it looks), you most likely can't rap back to the bottom of that pitch if you are going to work on moves for the redpoint. Instead, you can either rappel back to the bottom of the 3rd pitch (top of the 2nd) or just go to the bottom and come back another day.
-Also, because the route is so steep at the top, this makes the rappelling interesting. There are a few ways off:
1. Once at the top of the route, you can walk 40ish ft. right to a set of anchors. From there, set up your rope and walk straight back from the cliff. (There are little rock wall thingys - if that's what you want to call them - to guide you down to the next rap anchors.) This way bypasses the roof rap and gets you down to some hanging anchors (you can see these anchors left of the top of the 3rd pitch). From this hanging anchor, you can rap back down to the top of the 2nd pitch. The last two raps will be down pitch two and pitch one. One 60 m rope will work for this descent.
2. The second way is more confusing so I would recommend the first way to rap. This option to get back down is to rap straight down from the top of the 4th. You have to have a 70 m rope to make this work, otherwise you will be hanging in midair. If you go down from the top of the 4th with your 70m, you will end up on top of a balanced boulder. From here you can look down about 5 ft and see a set of anchors to Suspect (they are pretty old) where you will do your next rap. Next you can do a short 20 ft rap to a lower set of anchors on Suspect (these are a little better that the ones you will be on), or you can skirt left another 10 ft around the cliff and find some newer anchors (these are for the route 30). From the better anchors on Suspect, you will have a choice to rap another 20 ft or so and search for another set of anchors for suspect, or you can get to them from the upper, older anchors. With either choice you will be ready for your next rap. Either way, you can rap straight down to the last set of rap anchors which will put you on the ground.
3. The third way down is to walk off. From the top, scramble up to where you can start traversing left across the mountain. Traverse left all the way to a talus ravine. After the ravine you will be at the far end of the Forgotten Trails. Head down the trail back to the base. The ravine will also get you down but is unpleasant.
Location
Facing the crag, from Suspect, walk 60 ft to the right and look for the route with its first clip 30ft up a chossy scramble heading up a dihedral. Belayer works from on a mound of dirt resting up against the cliff.
Protection
18 Draws, or 16 + a personal anchor system for the anchors
[Hide Photo] Suspect (red), The Castle Aaargh (yellow), Green X's are the rap anchors - at least for the most straight forward rappel.
[Hide Photo] Looking at the upper section of the third pitch. The red circle shows the hanging anchors (the first ones you come to after rappelling off the top.
[Hide Photo] Trying to work out beta on first roof of 12.b/c pitch. Nick on belay