Thanksgiving in Utah

For the 3rd year in a row, Teresa and I spent our Thanksgiving break in the desert. This year we met up with up Mitchell, Michael and Troy in St. George, Utah for 4 full days of climbing fun. 

This trip had it all - such a variety of climbing in a small area -- desert splitter cracks, huecoed sandstone bolt clipping, steep volcanic sport climbing, pumpy limestone trickery and a massive "alpine" rock ridge in Zion National Park. Best of all -- time with great friends enjoying the warm desert sun!

It was a wonderful weekend, we packed in a ton of climbing on a wide variety of rock -- I'll try to pull out some of the highlights and showcase the many pics and other media of our climbing group.

Cowboy ridge (III, 5.7) of Mt Kinesava - Zion National Park - Photo Credit: Mitchell Quiring

Its been a while since I've been on a road trip, so it was nice to pack up the car with Teresa and the dog and head out to Utah.

Teresa and I met up with the boys in St. George mid-morning and we got straight to business out on the famous Chuckwalla wall, which is sort of like an outdoor climbing gym. Steep, featured  sandstone sport climbing is the name of the game for this place.

Crag or gym? What's the difference?

Michael contemplates the meaning of life while working this 5.12

 The boys climbed the hard stuff, while me, being a lazy old man, climbed some moderate 5.10s. Very enjoyable. The sun was beating down and the crag was busy, so we grabbed some lunch and meandered to a shady canyon with some enjoyable, but short, sport climbs on volcanic rock.

Moving to the next crag

Mitch works this fun but short route. Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger

 After a great first day, we cruised off to some BLM land just outside of town, and set-up shop in the desert for the night.

Enjoying our glamping in the desert.

My "RV". Sleeping in the back of the Subaru. Classic.

The next day, we abandoned wiener sport climbing and set off in search of classic desert sandstone splitter cracks. St George has a series of cliffs right in town which host a series of Indian Creek like cracks. I was salivating at giving that type of climbing a shot. I've climbed plenty of granite cracks, but never these mythical lightning bolt like splitters that form in sandstone. Would my jamming skills be up to the challenge?

Crack climbs above St. George

 While Michael started up some garbage looking warm-up crack (hahahah!) I headed over to the collection of 3 perfect hand cracks, and led up the 5.10. I was nervous, but the jams were perfect and the steep crack was surprisingly easy.

Success!

 I fixed a rope, allowing Mitchell to rig up some fancy camera shots as Michael also led the beautiful crack.

Michael - sending the gnar - Photo credit  - Mitchell Quiring

 Teresa and Troy also had a grand time on the crack.

Teresa - crack climbing wife

 We spent the whole morning, in the shade enjoying the cracks. I took multiple laps on some of them. Hands, off-width, finger - there was a little bit of everything. 

Michael - fighting the offwidth section like a bad-ass

Petroglyphs - we are not the first humans to admire these cracks!

 

Sun is starting to hit us!

As the morning wore on, the sun hit the cliffs and it was time to chase the shade and move on from these beautiful cracks. I really enjoyed climbing these, I'm going to have to make a pilgrimage to Indian Creek to try my hand at a endless supply of this type of climbing.

For the afternoon we headed over to Turtle Rock. There was some nice sport climbing in the shade. I climbed a royally sand-bagged 5.10c, which resulted in many whips, and lots of hanging before finally sending. We TR'd some fun 5.11s. Eventually as the afternoon wore on, the sand and the head took its toll and it was time to pack it in for the day.

While Mitchell and Troy did a bit of mountain biking, Teresa, Michael, Penny and I enjoyed some time relaxing in the quiet desert.

Did you get a good shot?

Hi Penny!

Reflecting on another awesome day of climbing. I love my life. Photo credit - Michael Putnam

When we got back to the parking lot, we were in for a surprise, a nail in Michael's tire. Dang. I helped by having a beer.

Oh crap.

 Since it was Thanksgiving the tire repair would have to wait until the next morning. Back to the desert - more camping, a lovely camp fire and the quiet solitude of people driving around in their ATVs and side-by-sides. Nature at its best. Hahahahah!

Another night at camp - Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger

Troy and Penny - Friends for life

 On Day 3 - more sport climbing! In the morning we headed back to the volcanic canyon for some bolt clipping in the sun this time. I had a great time, leading a series of short and fun 5.10s. I felt like I was on a roll, but then the crag got busy, and hot. Time to move on and find some shade!

 We drove about 40 minutes to the Welcome Springs, a desolate spot out in the empty Utah desert. The place looked like it was right of a Western movie. 

We found a highly enjoyable limestone crag in the shade. We went to work on some more sport climbs! 

Approaching the crag in the heat

Teresa samples some limestone goodies. Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger

Troy working a crux move

 I must confess that I was not at my best at this point, and neither was Penny. I think 3 days of hiking around in the sun may have been a bit much for her, she looked like we maybe had broken her.

I always get a bit sad to see her like this, a reminder that she is getting old.

Did we break our dog?

 We sampled some more of the routes, technical and pumpy, quite the combo. Very different climbing limestone than other rock types.

Michael onsights this techy and tricky 5.10

 The day wore on, my fingers here soar, I was done. The others climbed a bit more.

Penny and I take a nap

Michael are you ready to back to camp?

Another short video clip of Mitch climbing, courtesy of Mr. Kellenberger

 For our final day, the "piece de resistance", an adventure climb in Zion National Park. Teresa and Penny were going to spend the day in Springdale, taking a break from all this climbing non-sense, while me and the 3 boys headed into the National park for some desert alpine climbing. 

We set our sights on the Cowboy Ridge of Mt. Kinesava (III, 5.7, 7285'). The route ascends a prominent ridge line coming out of the desert floor at the very edge of the park. The climb involves about 3200' of elevation gain and 9 miles of cross-country travel.

We set the alarm for 5am, stopped at Starbucks, and were at the "trailhead" by ~7am, just as the sun started to rise.

Sunrise start - Cowboy ridge behind -- Photo credit - Michael Putnam

 We crossed hilly desert terrain, following a rough intermittent trail through yucca plants and cactus for about 2 hours until we reached the base of the ridge. 

After some water and a "pit stop" (euphemism)  -- we started climbing the ridge. The ridge basically involves ~2000 feet of 3rd and 4th class scrambling on loose sandstone until reaching a headwall with a 5.7 crack . Mostly a vast amount of unroped semi-technical scrambling. I LOVE this type of climb.

Cowboy ridge - Photo M. Quiring - annotated by yours truly

Me and Troy scrambling on the ridge - Photo Credit - Mitchell Quiring

 After a while of easy 3rd class scrambling, we reached the first technical feature, a giant chimney - the climbing was still easy however, really just more 3rd class with a short move of 4th to exit the feature.

Mitch and Troy in the Chimney! Photo Credit - Michael Putnam

 Michael started to feel not-so-hot at this point. The combination of hot sun, dehydration, days of on-sighting hard sport climbs, exposure, plus garbage rock on the ridge were starting to get to him. But he stuck it out and we carried on.

As we got higher, the climbing became slightly harder, with sections of steep 4th class scrambling. The pro was non-existent and the rock crap, so the rope stayed in the bag.

Group scramble! - Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

  We then reached the headwall guarding the south summit which was bisected by a perfect and exposed 5.7 hand crack. Beautiful.

Handcrack! Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger

I got the pleasure and luck to be first to lead this wonderful section of rock. The climbing was really easy, not really harder than 5.5 and ate gear. Pure joy.

Me heading out on lead. Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

After the technical part, we packed up the rope and looked up at the next few hundred feet that would bring us to the top of the ridge. 

Mitch belays Michael up the 5.7 pitch. Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger

Me - looking like a dweeb, as per usual. Photo credit - Troy Kellenberger.

 After a short scramble up some loose choss, we reached the south summit. 

View of West Temple from the summit. Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

We ate some lunch, and the day was starting to heat up, so we started the descent. 

Starting to descend. Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

The descent was fairly heinous, involving a long class 3/4 loose gully, and lots of encounters with sharp painful desert plants. Why are all the plants in the desert designed to hurt weary climbers?

It took us somewhere around 2.5 - 3 hours to make our way back to the car. We met up with Teresa, had some Mexican food, and then parted ways for the long drive home.

It was truly a great weekend. I feel very lucky to have some amazing friends and climbing partners, its such a joy to share a long weekend of adventure and celebration with such great people. I'm looking forward to our next adventure together!

Crag dog. Photo credit - M Putnam