Rick and I had been kicking around the idea of a spring trip for a while. We talked about Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, but we have both been working too much and planning too little, so eventually we settled on (and I’m paraphrasing here…) “Dude, let’s just go down to the desert and climb a shit-ton of towers.” Unfortunately, on the day we were to leave, I was extremely sick and the weather was all rain across the entire state. So instead of our tower-sending rampage, Rick and I settled for Plan B. It went something like “Well, shit. Let’s just get in the Sportsmobile, drive south, and see if we can get something done.” Without much of a plan, we camped out in Hell Roaring Canyon while rain continued to fall outside.
The next day, after things dried out enough to climb on rock that doesn’t react well to moisture, we rapped into the canyon, hiked to the base of the Cauldrons, and started up. A couple pitches of fantastic climbing put us on top, then a couple raps, a jug out of the canyon, and a hike to the van put us inside about two minutes before it started raining once again. So, once again without a plan, we celebrated our perfect timing with some Bulleit.
The weather was looking even more unsettled on Sunday, so we decided to focus a bit less on climbing and more on exploring. The standard approach for the Kachina Spires is quite involved (especially for so little climbing), but Rick figured that the proper combination of GPS navigation and a massive 4×4 van could eliminate much of the approach. It turns out that he was right, and we found ourselves within a short hike of the first pitch during a rare brake in the weather. Two quick pitches found us on top of the South Tower, and more rowdy driving got us out of there and down to the Green River.
Sometimes I feel bulletproof. I can climb high above questionable gear far up a route and know that I’m a good enough climber to not blow it. Other times, like when Rick and I started the hike to Moses on Monday, I feel like a complete chickenshit who has no business tying into the sharp end of a rope. Luckily for me, my rock beat Rick’s scissors, so I pulled pitches 1, 3 and 5. My pitches were chill compared to Rick’s, which included lots of climbing above very questionable gear, and the route’s crux. Given my headspace, I don’t know how I would have fared on Rick’s pitches, but either way, we got to stand on top of the best tower route I’ve ever climbed.
By Tuesday I was back to my old self, and Rick and I finished off the trip with three fantastic pitches of climbing on Sister Superior’s Jah Man. For the first time in the trip, we sat on a summit wearing T-shirts in perfect weather. It wasn’t the trip we had planned, but four towers in four days is just fine with me.
