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| Climbing | 5.00 Miles |
200 AEG |
| | Climbing | 5.00 Miles | | | |
| 200 ft AEG | | | | |
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|  | ••• | Regular Route |
| Lead | 5.5 | Trad | | 3 Pitches | | | | This is just such a fun climb — and an even better rappel. I tagged along as a second a few months ago and have been itching to go back and lead it, so I finally coaxed a friend along to belay.
We left Lost Dutchman State Park at 8 a.m., but had a longer-than-usual hike because the park was already FULL and we had to use the overflow parking. Nice to see so many people out camping and enjoying the great spring weather, though.
It was a cool morning, so we took a leisurely pace for our approach, arriving at our pack-drop spot at 9:30. (In terms of exertion, the hike/bushwhack between the Siphon Draw trail and the base of the climb is absolutely the hardest part of the whole outing.) We ate snacks, drank water, visited the shrubbery, and geared up, then made our way around to the start on the east face of the pinnacle around 10 a.m. (By which point I was chilled and grateful for the morning sun.)
The climb was as much fun as I remembered — although everything is just a little spicier on lead.  The first move is pretty much the hardest, since you have to clear a small roof in order to leave the ground. But it's not actually difficult (if in doubt, stay left) and you can reach up and pop a cam in (.75, I believe) before you make the move, so it feels safe. The traverse that follows is a little harder to protect, but the climbing is easy, so I amused myself by shopping around for pockets and cracks that would take creative gear placements. By the time I got inside the chimney, the route was both easier and less exposed than the bushwhack. 
There's only one belay bolt inside the chimney, so I also slung a big boulder and combined them for a belay anchor. Worked well.
The second pitch is a grab-bag of moves. Stemming up the chimney, then traversing right across the face, then up a sweet vertical crack, then traversing back left onto the face and finally waltzing up a ramp to the solid belay anchors. NOTE #1: there's a bolt directly above the belay position, right where you step out of the chimney and onto the face. It was the only protection I could find for the first section of the traverse, but once I was around the corner, there were some more reassuring placements. NOTE #2: At the top of the vertical crack, there's a piton below a large diagonal chimney. After clipping the piton, a lot of people seem to aim for the chimney (because it looks less exposed, I guess) but the climbing is pretty sketchy there. Instead, move onto the face directly left of the piton. It's a little exposed, but there are plenty of hands and feet if you just trust them.
For the third pitch, I believe some people scramble around to the left and up the arete, but if you go straight up from the belay anchor, the climbing is chunky and fun and there are decent cam placements most of the way (including a bolt to protect the start). The last section is a bit run-out, but the climbing is only around 5.3 or 5.4 at that point. It's technically harder than the scramble, but also more fun (IMHO).
We lounged around for a while on the top and ate snacks and enjoyed the views and the visiting birds. We had lots of swifts zooming around us all day, as well as a red-tailed hawk swooping below us. And we especially enjoyed watching all the busy little ants crawling along to Flatiron...
But let's talk about the rappel, because that's the best part. Not the first rappel, which is just a little hop down to a ledge. Oh! NOTE #3: Yes, there is a cactus on the left side of the ledge. And yes, it is tempting to move far to the right to avoid it. But there is also a short overhang near the bottom of the rap, which means that your feet will come off the wall and if you're too far right, you'll actually pendulum directly into the cactus.  Better to walk carefully down the middle of the face instead, allowing you to keep Mr. Cactus at a friendly but controlled distance.
However, the second rappel is just such a treat. 150 feet long and most of it is free-hanging. Wheeeeee! All the way to the ground. Really a great time. I stopped a couple of times on the way down just to enjoy the sensation of being suspended in mid-air with beautiful rocks all around.
Anyway, after that thrill, we hiked out carefully (wish we could have rapped past the bushwhack!) and were back at the car around 3:30 p.m. On the way home, we passed a parking lot carnival, with rides spinning people upside down and around in circles, and we decided that we liked our kind of excitement better. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
The first pitch only has a couple moves and then rest is a scramble, the second pitch is where most of the technical climbing is and is fairly sustained with a couple exposed moves, and the final pitch is mostly scrambling to the top. Great views from the belay stations and of course the very top and we all took turns going to the very top. The first 50ft rappel I was leaning to the right to avoid swinging into a Saguaro and the next 150ft rap is pretty sweet though on the rope pull we had some trouble with the last bit of my rope getting stuck in a flake... 
Thankfully Steve got to work pretty quickly on it and ran the rope up the opposing slope and was able to spot the rope stuck in a flake and freed it with a twirling motion. 
