Seeing Star… Drives (weak bolts)

Posted: September 15, 2010 | Author: ericodenthal | Filed under: Climbing, Stories |Leave a comment

I have seen this tower for years as I drove out to the Fisher Towers, east of Castle Valley. The CROOKED ARROW SPIRE sits just off of Parriot Mesa, the first mesa you see as you enter the valley.

I’ve never heard of anyone climbing a route on this… the route we were looking at was named the LONGBOW CHIMNEY 5.8 A1. Most people see the approach and decide there are better things to do with their day. I see this thing as to obvious not to climb. Then you get there and see the talus field approach.

There are a few ways to get to the base. The “safe way” and the “thank god I made it to the base way.” We chose the later of course. Russ drove his new old rig down Ida Gulch to what I thought was the parking (1/2 mile at least shy of the true parking). We rigged out gear and charged up the slope directly toward the Spire.

yeah… we were not even close.

The approach was wild… we hiked directly up steep loose gravel to the base. There would be no slips on this, or you would be take the fast way down. It was all about the momentum of running, digging your feet in and hoping to grab the next band before gravity started pulling at your feet. Most times you would be just about ready to puke when you got to the next band of rock. As I grabbed each chunk of rock I would hope it wouldn’t rip off in my hand and send me flying. Higher up at one band we pulled out the tag line to haul the packs up and over, which was still sketchy. I was looking foward to an epic time, but this was starting it a little to early. About half way up we were found some shade, making the steep talus more bearable to endure. Corncobs (from the ancients?) were laying around the base of the wall.

Russ on the first pitch.

Russ racked up for the first pitch… we had a 57 meter rope and stretched it all the way to the notch between the spire and wall. I got to the notch, exchanged some pieces from the anchor and headed up the next pitch.

The topo said there were around 30 or so bolts on the ladder leading up. We brought about that many quick draws, but still had to back clean a few. From the first piece to the last, just about every bolt was a star drive. Star drives must have been the bolt of choice in the early 70’s. A few pieces cam placements and a dubious stopper got me to the upper section of the bolt ladder. It had been some time since I’d aid climbed, so after working out the kinks, I was still gripped. There were bolts that I was sure wouldn’t hold 10 pounds, but they worked. I stepped up in the etriers slowly, then reaching to the next spinning homemade hanger, clip it and keep moving. There were new bolts spaced on the route to stop you incase you zippered a few bolts on a fall. We were in the shade, had a great view of Castleton tower to the South and air all around. The summit was good size. I fixed the rope so Russ who was bored out of his mind from watching me eek my way up the wall could Jumar. He was on the summit pretty quick. Crooked Arrow Spire, ticked! We rapped to the notch, then to the packs and made it to the road at dark. Good day to be out in the desert!