Fall Moab Trip, September 2013 (Retrospective Reflection 2)

Ahh, the desert... Do I need to say much more? To me, Moab is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was great climbing, great sights to see, beautiful rivers, and renowned canyons. That is why it is my go-to for a spring or fall destination. Once again, Isaiah Branch-Boyle are back in the desert. We first went to Moab together as not complete desert amateurs, but pretty damn novice, in the Spring of 2013. We did 4 days of adventurous canyoneering in the Blue John and other southern areas and then 2 days of climbing in actual Moab. Having no idea what was really good and not completely over our heads, I made the decision to go to Ice Cream Parlor. Though it was fun, it really wasn't what I was looking for as far as desert climbing... So I made it a mission to get back and do it for real. Hence, this fall 2013 trip.
After much research, (spending endless hours dreaming on Mountain Project, of course) I figured we could do Castelton Tower via both the Kor-Ingals and the North Chimney, Ancient Art, and Lighthouse Tower via Lonely Vigil, and also hit the Creek and Potash a couple of days. It sounded like a very intense and bold plan, but at the same time overwhelmingly exciting. So, after Isaiah blew off his brand new job by lying and saying it was shitting outta both ends all week, we took off at 10:30pm Wednesday night. After hauling ass to Moab in exactly 6 hours, we made it to the base of Castleton at around 5:30am and found an empty site and pitched our bags underneath the stars for a quick nap.
Shortly after (much too shortly after...) we woke up at 8:30 and started to get ready. Afraid we would have crowds at the base of the route, we took off as soon as possible.

While hiking up, we encountered a tad bit of wind... ok, yeah, that's a lie...if you've ever been to Castle Valley, you know...it was CRAZY wind. We even encountered 2 gentlemen who turned back due to it... But hey, we were here, and we were notttt going to bail. Finally we got to the base of the tower and racked up.
P1 was an absolute blast! Despite the horrendous amount of calcite, we still both managed to have quite a bit of fun. P2 was Isaiah's pitch and, even through all of the wind, he managed to send with somewhat ease (except choosing which crack to climb...but he figured it out!).

Next up was the infamous 5.9+ pitch...ha, .9+... Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Don't trust that "+" ever if it's after a 9 established 50 years ago... Needless to say I got my ass kicked. I sent! But oh man... It was awful. Probably the most type 2 fun I've ever had in my life. In retrospect, it wasn't thatttt bad... well, maybe it was. It sucked. At least I didn't puke!? In any case, we got passed that part and started P4 (after much yelling telling Isaiah that I was off him and that he was back on belay...) So Isaiah lead P4 and undoubtedly had a blast (from the endless hooting and hollering) and I quickly followed just wanted to summit and get the hell out of that obnoxious wind...
Andddd whalah!

Summit. Probably the coolest topout I've ever been on so far. It's just so isolated it's unbelievable. The fact that Layton Kor and Huntley-Ingalls did this 50 years ago now is mind blowing.
Next up, the plan was to rap off and do North Chimney really quick...that didn't happen. It was so windy and we were definitely way too beat after the 3 ours of sleep we had. So we called it a day and started thinking what was next...
We ended up not being able to do Lighthouse Tower due to rain and just spent a day on Potash and 2 more in Indian Creek. Then, on the way back, we hit Ancient Art, a must do on the list. Although the chimney was absolute shit (and I'm used to shit...I learned to climb in Garden of the Gods...the king of it) but the last pitch was just soo good, and so cool. We had to take pictures.

Until next time...