Colorado Ridge – Kingfisher (IV, 5.8, C2)
Jah Man – Sister Superior (5.10+)
10/17 – 10/18

Last weekend Chris and I headed out to the desert to enjoy the perfect fall weather. The long drive distance to the desert is a bit of a deterrent, but once you get there it suddenly seems entirely worth. We pulled in to the Fisher Towers parking lot around 1AM, not surprisingly to a full campground. No problem, we just threw down a tarp and enjoyed the beautiful starscapes from the parking lot. We made sure to get up pretty early Saturday morning to make sure we were first on one of the most popular (i.e. easiest) routes in the Fishers. As it turns out , aside from Ancient Arts, lineups arent too much of a problem here.

The cartoon like landscape of the Fishers makers for a nice wake up panorama

From Desert Towers

The approach is a great tromp through a maze of muddy towers. A small amount of scrambling brought us to the base of the route.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

In the previous night’s Rochambeau match, I drew the free pitches, meaning I got to bring rock shoes, but Chris would have to contend with the with the short, but tricky aid crux. As my fist aid climb longer than a pitch, I moved remarkably slow. It is amazing how something super easy, in an unusual environment can seem a bit hard. The bolt ladder was a nice mix of modern spinners, drilled angles, and rivets. All fixed pro, but not my usual domain.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

The pitch linked in to an awkward, sandy chimney. Again the climbing was easy, but the pro was suspect and our big wall gear sling made reaching back to place protection an ordeal. Luckily I could get the last laugh when Chris had to follow with our backpack

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

At the end of the two linked pitches, I was rewarded w/ a ***** belay on a great bench linking the Kingfisher to its smaller neighbor. From here I could comfortable relax while Chris contended with the crux. The climbing seemed to start out easy, with decent pro linking free and aid moves. Eventually chris reached an impasse. He made repeated efforts to place gear, but the continually ripped. Finally, he was able to equalize a camalot and a skyhook, meaning we could get past the numerous bail slings of other parties. I followed the pitch with a body hoist, as i hadn’t taken the time for good jugging practice, although this seemed like maybe more of a hassle than it was worth.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

The next pitch was a very long a steep aid pitch, starting with some C1, followed by more of the typical funky fixed gear, with an easy semi-free move thrown in for good measure.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

Next was some more aiding out a roof and into a good wide crack above. Chris made good time up this short pitch, but it gave me just enough time to FUBAR our tagline into an impossible looking rats nest. 20 minutes later, after chris had rearranged the rack, done his nails and sculpted a masterpiece, i was on my way jugging the nicely exposed roof.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

The final pitch of the day involved some steep moves up a handcrack to a ledge with another awkward chimney (rated somewhere from 5.5 to 5.8 depending which decade you were born). A wiggled my way up and made my way up to the summit block. The summit was an amazing mesa with lizards running around. I looked over to see another team who we would soon learn had just completed a difficult new aid line on the south face. After some summit wandering, I set up an anchor and brought Chris up.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

I did my Karate Kid impersonation:

From Desert Towers

Tomorrow’s agenda:

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

Weird Science:

From Desert Towers

The descent went painlessly aside from a memorable steep and spooky rappel that led to some high-friction rope pulling. Soon we were at the base where we could enjoy our victory beer and prepare for the nice walk back to the car.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

Our original plan would have us spending two days in the Fishers, with a climb of echo tower on the second day. After much discussion about returning to boulder at 1AM, we decided something faster (and possible less muddy) might be in order for Sunday. A quick perusal of the guidebook suggested that Jah Man on Sister Superior would be the perfect choice. The guidebook left us with a few uncertainties that would play out.

1) Would the “not exactly well protected” 5.8 chimney be a runout horror show?
2) Would the dangerous hollow flake below the crux turn us around at the half way point?
3) Would we have enough red camalots to protect the classic hand crack (we didn’t pack a rack for splitters)?

After chatting with Paul and Jeremy (who just completed their new route), we headed out in search of the approach road for sister superior. Fear that the Moab marathon would close the river road forced us to drive the approach road at night. Still, we managed to find a great camp spot, giving us a jump on what would turn out to be a pretty crowded route.

Sister superior, rectory, castleton tower:

From Desert Towers

The approach was somewhat arduous, following a road before heading quite steeply up a loose hill side. Still, we were there well before anybody else, and we would definitely be first on route.

From Desert Towers

Chris began with what we though would be the gimme pitch of the route. An umimpressive blocky 5.8, that still managed to give a nice sting for the grade (5.9??). This set us up to address one of our first concerns of the climb, the infamous Sister Squeeze chimney. Immediately, I wasn’t convinced. I placed some good pro from the ground, noting that it would be a while before I got anything else. I started wiggling my way in to the tight chimney, but even my relatively skinny ass couldnt make it though the squeeze. It seemed that I’d have to lie back a flake outside the chimney to gain entrance. The pro quickly became useless, but the moves were secure enough, and soon I was wiggling my way through a slot that I could actually fit in. Towards the middle of the chimney i spotted some protection, so I made it my goal to reach it. Along the way I found sufficient other protection to keep the heartrate down. Aside from entering the chimney, the moves were easy and enjoyable. Eventually i exited to a nice couch-like belay in the sun. A great chimney pitch and a good place to hang out.

From Desert Towers

Next, Chris would have to lead the spooky crux. True to the guidebook, the pitch started on some very hollow sounding rock. It took a few false starts, but eventually Chris committed to the moves. The flake held (as it probably has for 100s of ascents), and soon he was facing the traverse. About this time, the shakes started. Protected by a newer bolt, the climbing was safe, but it didnt look easy. I was almost certain Chris was coming off, but he held on, reaching the easier climbing above. Following the traverse was not looking very fun, but we improvised a solution by having chris lowering his end of the rope to me, allowing me to follow without a huge swing potential. The moves off the belay, and the traverse were both challenging, but very enjoyable.

From Desert Towers

Up next was the classic splitter thin hands crack. This pitch was about as fun as it gets. Challenging thin hands moves with perfectly spaced edges to place gear from. I bumped the first few placements to save gear, but the pitch protected just fine with the rack we had. After a steep sting to finish, the pitch lead to a perfect belay couch just below the summit.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

Chris led the last short “sport” pitch to the summit. Surprisingly for such a popular route, where all other hardware was recent, this last pitch was protected by worthless 1/4″ bolts and thankfully one good drilled angle. The crux move was about 3 feet long, but it was a pretty hard 3 feet.

From Desert Towers

On the summit we watched a bald eagle fly around below, while Chris partook in some shenanigans.

From Desert Towers

From Desert Towers

We rapped down past far more parties than I would have expected, happy that we would be getting back to boulder at a reasonable hour.