Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Indian Creek Fall 2010

Wow, another great time climbing at Indian Creek this Fall. This place is so magical for me, the climbing and beauty of the desert is so inspiring and hanging in the desert with good friends is what makes this place even more special.  It always great to visit beautiful places and climb amazing routes but more importantly is who you share these experiences with, thanks to all who made this another great Indian Creek trip. Only negative is I did not take enough pictures.

Me redpointing Swedin Ringle 5.12
Will fighting the pump on Quarter of a Man 5.11++
Chris on Disco Machine Gun 5.12

JAH MAN

Sister Superior is the tower on the right

After arriving in Indian Creek, Utah at the end of October and climbing for about a week, Will and I decided to climb JAH MAN (4 pitches, 5.10) on Sister Superior Tower in Castle Valley. The hike in was casual althought we parked my truck not to far up the road because you needed some serious clearance to make it very far. The climb was a lot fun and a cool summit.

Entering the Sister Squeeze







Epinephrine

Will and I bailed out of the Valley to escape the rain and plan to head east to Indian Creek, Utah, along the way we would stop in Red Rocks, Nevada. We decided to climb the long classic moderate called  Epinephrine (2000' 17 pitches 5.9). I had wanted to do this route for the last year or so but it was always to cold in Black Velvet Canyon to get on it. When we woke up the wind was really blowing and the sky was dark and looked like it could rain and any moment. We drove over to the canyon and begun the approach, half thinking that we would be bailing due to the weather, but I always like the saying "you never know til you go". We made it to the base with a couple of drops falling, but decided that we should go up as we could always rappel the route if the weather got bad. Will led the odds and me the evens. At the top of pitch 3 another team showed up and began to simul the route, they asked if the could pass, we agreed assuming the would be faster than us. The pass was made at the start of the main chimneys. I let the leader go by and after waiting for a while for their second to arrive I began climbing, turns out the second was really slow. Turns out we ended up riding these guys all the way to the top, they felt like total jerks for slowing us down, as we were actually a faster team than them and we were pitching it out and not simul climbing. The route itself was  a lot of fun with excellent chimney pitches, cracks with face features and some fun face climbing on in cut holds. We ended up climbing the route in a little over 5 hours and had lunch on the summit and were back to the car in the early afternoon and had the rest of the day to sit around at camp and relax. Always fun to cover so much ground quickly,and turns out the weather was great all day. Next up, INDIAN CREEK!
Me enjoying one of the Chimneys
Will Squeezing
High on the Route
Topping Out