DESTINATION Cochise Stronghold / Whale Dome 1 Photoset
2013-04-14 | |
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| Climbing | 2.57 Miles |
1,398 AEG |
| | Climbing | 2.57 Miles | 11 Hrs 12 Mns | | 0.23 mph |
| 1,398 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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|  | | Moby Dick |
| | 5.8 | Trad | | | | | | Bring two 60 meter ropes if you are climbing with three people. | | | We camped out overnight at the trailhead for Whale Dome. We enjoyed baby coconut juice and meat, dutch-oven pork tenderloin with carrots and potatoes, and dutch-oven brownies.
In the morning, the culinary delights continued with veggie burritos (also available with sausage) thanks to Donald. We took our time and left camp around 9 AM as originally planned. There were four of us instead of the original six; the other couple had cancelled. We originally planned to do two groups of three.
We started up the drainage towards Whale Dome. We stopped a couple times for pictures and to adjust our load. There was a trail that meandered through the dry creek bed but once in a while we lost it. The drainage was full of large boulders which would normally be a lot of fun to navigate if we weren't each carrying a rope or a huge rack of trad gear. My hat blinded by upward view and I managed to run into a branch hitting my head and arm. Luckily, this was my only injury for the day.
After almost a mile, we saw cairns leaving the creek heading up a very steep drainage. We stopped to pull a few things out of the packs and prepared for our day of climbing.
We got close to where our route started and saw another route, which Donald had heard was runout and likely dangerous. Then we arrived at the start of Moby Dick a 5.8 6-pitch climb of 700 feet. There was a guy hanging out and two ropes already strung up on the first pitch. Apparently, another group of climbers were there. We discovered it was actually just one guy who had self belayed while leading the pitch. He had planned to do the whole climb by himself but he lucked out and took one of our guys to belay.
We had to wait while they took off up pitch one and then had evacuated the belay station. We were told that there is very little room at that station. As they climbed we saw that our friend had left his hiking shoes. We knew his climbing shoes were terribly uncomfortable so I strapped his hiking shoe onto my pack. We thought we'd catchup with them at some point during the climb.
Donald belayed Joel first and then me. When I arrived I was fastened to the bolts with my redundant personal anchor system (PAS). To say there is very little room is probably an overstatement. There was no room at all! I basically was clinging to a steep section with just a little spot for me to rest a hip and no real good feet placement. Talk about uncomfortable and scary! My feet were either in pain or falling asleep. I also was getting cramps in different areas in my hips. I was so glad when Donald left and I could take his position and adjust myself.
Joel belayed Donald while I managed the two ropes. It was imperative to feed the rope through Joel's belay device without loops and knots to ensure a safer climb for Donald. Each of us were attached to Donald via a separate 60 meter rope. Never disconnecting the rope meant that we shouldn't have any knots but the loops definitely tried to form a rats nest.
Donald belayed both Joel and me at that same time. Joel started first then I followed just a minute or so later. It was fun climbing at the same time as Joel. It enabled us to go up the mountain somewhat quicker. We had to pay attention not to climb to fast and to make sure that there wasn't too much slack in the rope.
The second belay was a tiny shelf with a tiny pine tree. I strapped one of my PAS around the tree and another onto the anchor Donald had built off a chicken head. We were able to sit a bit more comfortably. In fact, after the first station it was luxurious!
As we climbed, Joel had another job - cleaning the route. He had to go everywhere Donald went and release the cams, nuts, and webbing that Donald placed to protect himself as he climbed further from the anchor he left us at. While collecting the gear, Joel had to balance on just his feet in what felt like precarious positions. He was protected all the time, but still he didn't want to slip. In this case, he accidentally dropped a couple of the pieces of gear before it was clipped to his harness. One piece went flying by me, just an inch from my grasp.
At the third belay station, there was again no shelf. Instead we were tied into three chicken heads on a steep slope. I was now comfortable with these crazy stops. I stood on the slope with my redundant PAS' taught and hands free. Amazingly, I could look around and not be afraid. The human brain is amazing. You can put it in the scariest situations and with focus you can prevail! I remember thinking to myself that I should be crapping my pants!
We climbed again to the next station. This time we had to transverse a short distance in a diagonal direction up and over a couple obstacles to another tiny shelf. The going was pretty easy.
The next pitch was to be the longest as we were going to try to combine to pitches. We didn't know for sure if our 60 meter ropes would get us as far as we wanted to go. It's was along the steepest pitch. The rock was vertical. Luckily, it was also a series of eroded rock that had a lot of features. Some holds were chicken heads others were just paths in which the water had ran down and left rough drainages. It was easy climbing as long as you were comfortable with the exposure. The other difficulty was the wind. At times gusts came up and threatened to blow us off the rock.
Donald went up. He climbed and climbed. We watched the mid-mark on our ropes come and go. After a bit we couldn't see him any more. Finally, he stopped but we couldn't hear him. We stood there waiting, listening, waiting for a clue as to what was happening. Then suddenly we hear a desperate shout! We had no idea what Donald said but we braced ourselves for the worst. Then, flying straight down at us, was Donald's water bottle. It flew past us and hit the wall below us and water went everywhere! We were flood with relief that it was just a bottle. We were also extremely thankful for our helmets since the bottle could have hit us.
Finally, the prearranged three tugs came to tell us we could start to climb. Up we went. The climbing was easy. But the wind and the steepness made it challenging. I still had to pause now and again to let Donald's belaying catch up. I was glad to finally see Donald at the top of the pitch. From there we scramble the rest of the last pitch to the top.
We all decided to purge our bladder. Not a problem for the guys. But I had to wiggle out of my harness. Squat and hope that the pee didn't blow back or splatter on me! Not easy on a windy rock!
Then the scariest part came. Everything else seemed so simple and childish compared to our next challenge. Originally the plan was that our other friend would go down first but him and his climbing partner had already descended. Therefore, Donald would have to go first. He tied the two ropes together. We all made a mental note about which rope would be the one to pull as to not catch the knot. Donald had to go down and feed out the ropes from the sides of his harness to prevent the wind from tangling them. Plus, he left us at the top to set up our own rappel devices. It was the BIG test. A failure could result in death. As Donald started down, Joel and I looked at each other. It was kind of the look of two scared children being left alone by their parents for the first time. We discussed who would go next. I spoke up quickly that I wanted to go next. I didn't think my nerves would hold out.
We didn't know if we'd hear Donald from the bottom so I tugged the rope a bit. Donald responded. We could hear him! That was a relief! Finally he yelled "off rappel!" Then it was my turn. I attached my two PAS to each of the bolts. Then I pulled up the rope and Lightly rested my foot on them while I inserted the rope into my rappel device and secured it with my locking carabiner. Joel checked it all. I tested it before releasing the PAS. A quick, "I love you," was said and I was off. Joel was left by himself on top.
Donald did a fireman's belay at the bottom to add some friction as we came down. A first the rappel was gradual. The rock was beautifully decorated with lichen. The rock was nice and flat so there was no obstacles to go over. Everything was going well. I keep my feet up and my butt down as I always had been instructed. Then, the rock was gone. Without the rock I was being unable to keep myself oriented in one direction, I started to slowly spin. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut. SCARY!!!! I forced myself to keep my eyes open. I also kept a pretty steady pace with the rope sliding through my rappel device. I didn't want to experience this any longer than necessary! The view was incredible but I was fighting my nerves. I think if I could have done the rappel twice I would have adjusted to my fear and loved it. Finally, I made it to the bottom. Donald agreed with me that it was scary!
Next was Joel's turn. He decided to try his new rappel device. He had tested it twice the day before successfully. He slide down the rope with a big smile on his face. He loved it!
We packed up our ropes and started scrambling down. The route was full of huge rocks to get over and around. We were glad to have our hiking shoes. I was kind of laughing because we never caught up to our friend to give him his shoes. He was probably down the route wondering who stole his shoes!
We all met up at the area where we started the climb. We quickly left to finish the downward route. We finally made it to the main drainage and collected the rest of our gear. We put on our headlamps as darkness was approaching. We navigated the trail in the creek bed and made it back to the cars after dark without any issues. It was another successful day of adventuring in Southern Arizona! |
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