Sandcastles Made of Rock

Since the first time, I visited Moab and it's surrounding areas like the Canyonlands, Arches or Indian Creek, the Utah desert always had a somehow appealing  flair to me. It gave me this never ending call in my mind to go back whenever I can. From chossy mud in the Fisher Towers to perfect splitter cracks in Indian Creek. The desert has it all. So as soon as I had time off from school, I took the opportunity to make the seven hour drive down to Moab, to warm up from the cold Wyoming winter and to finally get some real rock climbing again.

Castleton and the Rectory 

As soon as I got out of my lecture on Friday, I ran back to my car and drove down to Denver International Airport to pick up Alex, my dad/sponsor/major climbing partner and then headed down to Moab fully psyched for some adventures climbing. The list of ideas and dreams about routes we wanted to climb was long, and so the major topics of the seven hour drive where topos, climbing conditions and what was going in in our climbing lives, since I moved to college last summer. But next to all the psyche, I also had worries. Especially my uncertainty about how I would perform concerned me. Since prior to the trip, I climbed twice outside in three months, while Alex was climbing almost every second day.

Day 1

On the first day due to very strong winds, we decided it would be best to hit up Wall Street/Potash Road close to Moab, to get some climbing in and for me to get some feeling for rock again. The day was very relaxed, with climbing multiple routes in the 5.9 range like the glorious Flakes of Wrath (5.10-) and finished the day out with a good 5.10d called Unemployment line. However we tried to climb very relaxed the entire day, since we planned on climbing "The Moses" in Canyonlands the next day. A route that goes free at 5.11+ or 5.10 A1. 

Day 2

Waking up at 7 am. It's warm in my down filled sleeping bag and cold outside. The standard annoying alarm from Alex phone goes off. An alarm, which basically just ask for taking a big baseball bat and smash the phone until this god damn thing is quiet and never makes a sound in your life again. But unfortunately neither do I have a baseball bat handy, nor do I want to buy Alex a new phone. So I keep my thoughts for myself. Got out of my sleeping bag as fast as possible, got dressed, run to the car, turned the seat heating on full volume and go crush. From Moab, we drive about an hour to Dead Horse Point, and drop into Canyonlands National Park, where we meet up with Alex friends from California. John and Paul, two real badass m****. We continue the drive over a dirt road towards Island in the Sky and the Moses.

The Moses, Canyonlands

When we arrived at the parking lot, however we had to see that there were already four cars parked at the trailhead. When we arrived at the base, it was even worse. A line of four parties was already formed and the first party, just started up pitch one. Since it was clear, that our chance of summiting was very small, we decided to drive back to Moab and spend the time at Wall Street again, climbing some 11's including the awesome 11a Astro Lad.

Day 3

Same game again, 7 in the morning, it's cold, Alex alarm goes off, 100 different ways of killing his phone go through my head, get up, run to the car, go climbing again. Since the weather report released a wind warning that day, we decided to do something shorter and not as hard and drove to Castleton Tower to climb the ultra classic Kor-Ingalls Route (5.9). We met up at the Castleton parking lot with John and his dog Sage and started the long approach towards Castleton Tower, which took us about 45 min.  The climb itself wasn't anything special. The typical, pushing yourself through chimneys and a basic set of legit hand jams. But it didn't matter, it was a good get back in shape training and Alex's first tower. We did Castleton Car to Car in a party of three in approx. 5 hours, which was good I but nothing special I guess.

Alex, John his Dog Sage and Me in front of Castleton

Day 4

After we failed climbing Moses two days earlier, it was time to give it another shot. This time, the idea was to leave camp at 6.30 am, with the hope to be the first party at the base of Primrose Dihedral. We met John and Paul somewhere below the White Rim of Canyonlands, hopped in their car and drove out to Moses. At about 8.15 am, we arrived at the Moses parking lot. Luckily, there was nobody else. In full excitement, we hiked the one mile approach to the base and  racked up. Paul and John went first, while Alex and I followed as second party.

Primrose Dihedral, Moses

 Primrose Dihedral goes free at 5.11d, but at that point, I most definitely wasn't in the best shape, I fell on the 11d pitches or french freed through them, instead of loosing time while trying to free them. Throughout the entire route, Alex and I switched leads and four hours and seven pitches after our start, we stood on top of the small vertical world named Moses Tower. We ended the day, with a full team dinner on the canyonlands rim, before Alex and I said "goodbye" to John and Paul, who were leaving back to California the next day. While we headed back to Moab.

Right to Left: Paul, John, Alex and Me on top of Moses

Day 5 

It was Wednesday, and time for a rest day. A rest day for us, however didn't meant that we wouldn't be climbing. It actually just meant that we could sleep till 9am, before we broke down camp and headed over to the famous home of mudantaineering. The glorious Fisher Tower formation, just north of Moab. The plan was, to climb the world famous Ancient Art, with his corkscrew summit. A delicate column, made of mudstone, that has the form of a corkscrew. The climbing was casual and not especially difficult. The summit however, was spectacular. 

Alex summiting Ancient Art

Two hours after we started the route, we were back at the base and since we felt like our rest day wasn't going optimal yet. We decided for full regeneration, it would be better to spend the remaining time before darkness, with climbing another tower. Skimming the guide book, our sights fell onto the Owl in Arches National Park. Even though the route is only one pitch long and goes at 5.7, we decided our trip wouldn't be a full desert trip, if we hadn't stopped at least for a couple of hours in Arches. We drove back an hour to Arches, and cruised up the Owl,while capturing some beautiful pictures and gazed through the landscapes. 

Arches Nat. Park  

After finishing the Owl, it was time to drive down to the home of perfect splitter cracks, Indian Creek. 

However, as closer we got to the Creek, we had to realized that the temperature was constantly decreasing and as soon as it got dark, instead of having a comfortable forty degrees at night, the temperature was in the high twenties. 

Day 6 

After spending a night in fleece pants, a down jacket while being wrapped up in a down sleeping bag, Alex and I got up ready to crush. After the essential warm beverages, we headed towards the Supercrack Buttress, so Alex could experience the perfect splitter hand glory. After a warm up on Generic Crack, we cruised through Incredible Hand Crack and Super Crack, making short process of routes, we thought would take a full day. After looking through the guidebook for a while and considering the cold nights, while laying around at the base of Supercrack, we decided that we should head back to Moab and continue our mission of climbing towers. But not without climbing the iconic route Scarface (5.11) at the Scarface Wall. Both Alex and I agreed, that this route would be a good check to see if I am back in a decent shape. In the afternoon, we hiked up to Scarface and 30 min later descended the wall again. Having Scarface in the bag, after I surprisingly cruising the route without any problem. Even though the route's crux was in my fully anti-size, the red Camelot #1. A size that is to wide for ring-locks and to tight for hands. So pretty much that size you never want to encounter on a perfect splitter crack. Anyway it worked out and shortly after, we were back on the road driving back towards Moab, to tick of more beautiful towers.

After crushing Scarface 5.11

Day 7

We woke up at around 8.30 am, with the plan to climb the Lighthouse Tower above Big Bend. However while eating breakfast, both Alex and I decided it would be cooler to switch things up and head over into Castle Valley to climb the supposedly amazing route Fine Jade (5.11-) on the Rectory. The long lonely standing sandstone monolith to the left of Castleton Tower. Vibes were good and with a good confidence from Scarface, we hiked up towards the Rectory with full enthusiasm. While traversing towards the Rectory from Castleton Tower, we noticed that there were at least 8 people waiting in line at the base of Castleton Tower. However, there was nobody at the Rectory. Which set the base for perfect stressless crush conditions. It was perfect. The route Fine Jade itself, was probably one of the best splitter cracks, I have ever climbed in the Desert. From rock quality, movement, exposure and landscape, this route has definitely the title "The Rostrum of the Desert" in my personal opinion. We topped out Fine Jade approximately 2.5 hours after we left the ground and chilled at the summit for a while, before we headed back down again. Back at the base, we were flirting with going over to the Priest or Sister Superior, to tick of another classic tower. However, this plan failed after realizing that we didn't had any big pieces of gear on us, and none of us felt in the mood for soloing bunch of chimneys. Since we didn't had enough climbing tho, we headed back towards Moab to spend some more time at Wall Street, where we made short process with a couple of 5.11 cracks and other easier routes. 

The Perfect Splitter Crack of Fine Jade

Day 8 

It was a Saturday. The last day of our trip. The last day, before I had to get back to real life. The daily schedule of lectures, homework and exams. To finish the trip of right, Alex and I decided we should finish everything off, with one last tower. So in the morning, we hiked up towards Lighthouse Tower a solid 5.10b. The first two pitches of this route, were your typical sandstone junk. Sandy or chossy cracks, which were solid climbing without having anything special to it. The third pitch however, was again some of the highlights of our trip. A beautiful 5.10c stemming box, with fine wingate sandstone. Alex had the honor of leading it smooth and solid.

Below the top of Lighthouse Tower

We finished the day, with some more cragging and being unproductive and that was it. The end of our desert trip.

Now that I am back in the windy and cold Wyoming, I look back at the awesome time and really wish I could just drop everything and straight go back to climb more towers. But life is how it is, and there are obligations we have to fulfill. With that in mind, I already started to look forward for new objectives and routes that wait for me somewhere in America.

The Author of this hella legit text can not hold responsible for any possible writing mistakes made during the production of this piece of literature, which will most likely replace Catcher in the Rye in High School English classes.