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December 30th: West Face on Argon Tower

Shirley on the pretty approach to Argon Tower with The Three Gossips and Tower Of Babel dominating the view. Chilly and windy New Years Eve 2005.

Cold Moab! From upper (sunny) 60’s we’re now back in mid 40’s (and cloudy 40’s!). We’ve been feeling an aversion to waking up early on this trip. OK, what’s short and close by? West Face of Argon is 4 pitches and 20 minutes from the parking lot. And the promise of 5.9 hands (thanks Cameron Burns) even on Entrada sandstone is irresistible. “Bring extra #2 and #3 Camalots” Cameron will tell you. Yeah, bring lots of those so that they can piss you off in the squeeze chimney of pitch 3! As expected, I aid the flaring finger crack of pitch 1 (C1 or 5.11). Pitch two is the first kick in the nuts! I place 1 #3 Camalot right at the belay ledge (my nice hands), 1 #3.5 Camalot 10 feet higher (nice fists for me) and am soon looking up at 40 feet of #4 Camalot sized crack (rattly fists, borderline OW for me)! I have two of those with me and use them to hang and curse my way up this 5.9-my-ass pitch. The next pitch is also a kicker – the going starts OK (hard for a 5.9 but the “+” in the rating is ambiguous enough so as not to leave you too disappointed) – up a squeeze chimney, followed by short #4 crack which quickly turns into short but fun #3 crack.

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Shirley on the subsummit of Argon Tower after our climb of West Face…the little pitch seen here was sandier than it looks (New Years Eve 2005).

The so-called 5.8 bulges higher up are bullshit! Crumbly rock and HARD climbing (or shaky hangdogging) bring you to even worse rock and finally a belay. The purported 5.8 face pitch to the summit looks kinda thin too and the promise of 2 or 3 bolts (thanks Cameron and thanks Eric) fades away as you see only 1, halfway out and ancient peg. I grab the peg and mantle onto it. Even with this “free” move, the going is tough and the last 20 feet have no protection. We got the summit but earned little style points here (to this day I’m hurting…). Consulting Green’s guidebook (should’ve done this BEFORE the climb) in the car, we see that pitch 1 gets 11a/b rating (consistent with Burns); pitch 2 gets a 11+ rating and has “fists” next to it (Burns gives it 5.9 hands); pitch 3 is 10b (Burns gives it 9+); pitch 4 is 10c (burns give is 5.8). Good times on a desert obscurity.

December 31st: Colorado National Monument Failure

Pulling the ropes down after our climb. Three Gossips are in the background.

We’ve been climbing for a few days straight now – not that many pitches per day but plenty for us. And so we should’ve known better than to drive out to the Colorado NM that morning with a goal of climbing another tower. In short we got lazy and climbed nothing. Grand Junction is a nice town though – with culture (they had pre-made sushi at the Albertsons) and sophistication (and a Starbucks also at Albertsons). Could see ourselves living there. We bummed around town and the Monument. We drove back to Moab checking out the views of towers from the River Road. We did some more tourist stuff in Arches including a nice short (<1 mile rt) hike up and down Park Avenue to snap photos of Argon. We decided on the next day’s climb – opting for a confidence builder (after the Argon episode) instead of a tough classic. We picked up some Provo Girls from the local market. We forgot that it’s New Years Eve and hit the sack early only to be startled couple hours later by the explosions of fireworks.

Photos

Shirley on the pretty approach to Argon Tower with The Three Gossips and Tower Of Babel dominating the view. Chilly and windy New Years Eve 2005.

Argon Tower from NW. View from standard approach to base of tower (up the gully on the right; December 30, 2005).

The west face of Argon Tower as seen from somewhere on West Face route on the North Gossip (Oct. 2005).

Shirley gearing up for West Face of Argon. The Three Gossips and Tower Of Babel are in the background (New Years Eve 2005).

Leading pitch 1 of West Face of Argon Tower (C1; New Years Eve 2005).

Shirley on pitch 1 (C1) of West Face of Argon Tower (New Years Eve 2005).

The east face of the Three Gossips as seen from high up on Argon Tower. Speak No Evil route (among others no doubt) climbs this face. South Gossip is on left; North on right (Dec. 2005).

Shirley topping out on pitch 1 (C1) of West Face of Argon Tower (New Years Eve 2005).

Leading the second pitch of West Face of Argon Tower…this here per Burns guidebook was supposed to be nice 5.9 hands. Green’s book gets it right: 5.11 fisting! Or to some, like me C1 cam jug (thank goodness I brought 2X #4’s C4; New Years Eve 2005).

Belay anchor atop the second pitch of West Face route on Argon Tower (Dec. 2005).

Shirley fighting (& also aiding) her way up the 5.9 hand crack (rated 5.11 OW…Dec. 2005).

Starting up the bomb bay chimney on the lower half of pitch 3 of West Face route (Dec. 2005).

Shirley at the mouth of the chimney that forms the lower half of pitch 3 on West Face of Argon Tower (Dec. 2005).

View towards the Organ Towers from the subsummit of Argon Tower…muddy just a tad (New Years Eve 2005).

Shirley topping out on the third pitch of the West Face on Argon Tower (subsummit; New Years Eve 2005).

Aiding the final short (but …interesting) pitch on Argon Tower. This was supposedly 5.8 according to one gudiebook but I found it to be strenuous A0 (New Years Eve 2005).

Shirley on the subsummit of Argon Tower after our climb of West Face…the little pitch seen here was sandier than it looks (New Years Eve 2005).

Shirley topping out on the summit of Argon Tower after our climb of its West Face route. This final little gem of a pitch was memorable….New Years Eve of 2005.

Yours truly on the summit of Argon Tower with the massive Organ Towers in background…gotta be careful how I punctuate it (New Years Eve 2005).

Shirley on the summit of Argon Tower with the parent cliff in background (Dec. 2005).

Shirley almost down after our climb of the West Face route on Argon Tower (Dec. 2005).

Pulling the ropes down after our climb. Three Gossips are in the background.

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