| After some straight-forward climbing, lower crux was thought-provoking, well-protected, & fun. Chimney was typical funky Entrada Arches, though definitely half as weird as Bullwinkle. Sketch factor starts after exiting the chimney. Extremely glad to clip that first drilled angle. After pulling the mantle off the second one (where erosion seems to be actively eating away at the underlying rock), rope drag was killing me, so I down-aided back to the lower 'bolt' to remove my (extended) draw- extremely happy to pull that off, then to get back up it. Enormous death block atop mantle scared the shit out of me- protect there, blow it, & I'd envision the whole thing coming down. Retrieved a quickdraw & locker from the wise previous party who bailed at that point. Extremely glad to successfully get to 1st 'belay.' Crux summit mantle sketch, too. While a slip would likely be caught fine by the drilled angle below, it is still a committing move. Probably the sandiest rock I've ever been on- convinced I was going to slip right off! That crux foothold is totally going to get smaller & smaller with each successive climber- soon it'll be 5.9, then 5.10, ... At any rate, extremely happy to be at the top- great views, & a fun rap' back down. |
Arches National Park > Tonka Tower > Climber's Log
