The Sedona Spire Challenge
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Introduction
Depending upon who you talked to (Opie or myself), you’ll get a different answer about when this idea started. Opie can document the idea back a number of years to when he linked up the Mace with Summit Block Rock, but this type of adventure falls more squarely in my arena than his – at least it did. Who knows what’s next for Opie. The past couple of years I have been very interested in speed climbing, link-ups (or enchainments), and long days. Last year I completed an adventure race that involved continuous movement for 34 hours. This experience opened up my eyes to longer and longer climbing days. Later that summer I linked up the East Buttress of El Capitan with Snake Dike on Half Dome – what John Black and I dubbed the “Poor Man’s Link-up” since it is a pale comparison to doing the Nose of El Cap and the Northwest Face of Half Dome. I climbed the Mace with Opie many years ago and really enjoyed the beautiful scenery around Sedona. Last fall, we were talking about me coming down to climb some more towers in that area and I, quite naturally, wondered how many we could get done in a short trip. Nowadays I feel time spent away from my family climbing should be used to the fullest. I asked Opie how many we could complete in a day and he immediately responded that he thought it would be possible to link four towers and he already had the towers selected. The advantages of the selected towers were that Opie had climbed them all – almost. The one exception was Oak Creek Spire, where he failed to summit due to time constraints. Nevertheless, he knew where each tower was located and getting to the base of the routes shouldn’t be a problem. Also, the towers were all relatively moderate in that none was harder than 5.9+. Of course, taken altogether, it would prove to be plenty of challenge for us. I wanted to fly down immediately to do the towers, but Opie reigned me in, saying that he had commitments and needed time to train. We set a date for late March, 2001. Oak Creek Spire
I flew into Phoenix on Friday night, planning to just stay the weekend. After a brief, but stressful, mix-up with baggage, and some dinner, we drove up to Sedona in Opie’s truck. We bivied, in the back of the truck, near the Oak Creek Spire trailhead, and set the alarm for 5 a.m. After the ritual middle-of-the-night pee, we were up on schedule and downing some breakfast. It was cold and I elected to wear my long black pants and bring no shorts for this first tower. This proved to be a mistake only a short distance from the truck as the exertion of hiking and the quickly warming day had me sweating. Our approach to Oak Creek Spire was different from Opie’s only previous trip into the tower. Housing construction in Sedona is booming and trailheads are either disappearing or moving. We followed Stewart Green’s directions in his Climbing Arizona guidebook. Opie had previously attempted this tower via the East Chimney route, which is loose and quite dangerous. On that ascent he was running out of time and couldn’t locate the infamous “leap.” You see, Oak Creek Spire is also called the Rabbbit Ears because it consists of two towers placed very close together. From many angles they appear as one tower, but from the right angle, the twin ears are clearly seen. Like the Mace, the route on this tower actually climbs the lower ear and then you have to get over to the other ear near the top. On OCS, this is done via a very intimidating leap! The approach went smoothly except for one significant slope, steep and loose, which we descended. Opie was sure he didn’t want to climb that hill on the way out and was already plotting to take the trail that lead through the residential neighborhood. It turns out that this path probably isn’t any faster because of the longer distance. At the base of the route, we geared and Opie announced he’d be leading the first pitch. From the safety of ground, this pitch didn’t look too bad, but following I was impressed with Opie’s lead. The climbing was hard, insecure, and poorly protected. It was definitely the most dangerous pitch of the climb – of the entire day, for that matter. The climbing was up a steep gully-type system with an intermittent crack and rounded, sandy holds. It was also steeper than it looked. I found Opie clipped into a two-bolt chain anchor, but I didn’t pause here. I scrambled up the easy second pitch, which is more hiking than climbing, up to the base of a steep crack. After some trail rope snagging, Opie joined me. He informed me that the next two pitches could be combined, if I so desired. Always on the lookout for gobbling up more leading, I planned on doing this if I had enough protection left to continue. This pitch started with slightly overhanging crack climbing. The jams were good, but initially, the feet were not. I got up ten or fifteen feet before I was able to let go and place protection. Ten more feet and I was on easier ground and moving up towards an intimidating flare. At the back of the flare was a wide crack – too wide for the protection I carried – but ten feet up was thin crack where I could place some gear. I was in full-on Yosemite-chimney/flare climbing mode here and thankful I had some experience with this type of climbing. Twenty feet above the thin gear, I was able to place a tipped out #4 Camalot and then some thank-god face holds appeared that led to easy ground. I was now in a chimney/gully system and scrambled up big blocks to the base of more steep climbing. I hadn’t placed much gear on the pitch below and elected to continue. This next pitch was continuously steep and involved a combination of chimney technique and pure crack climbing. If you neglected to use chimney technique when possible, as Opie did, this pitch would prove to be very strenuous. After 180 feet of climbing, I turned the final overhang to a big ledge at the top of the first ear. It was now Opie's turn to be the hero. The next pitch involved a leap from our ledge across a five-foot gap to some footholds and handholds on the opposite wall. You're actually jumping from one summit to the other, higher summit tower. I cringed at the thought of holding Opie's weight should he miss the holds, but he executed it perfectly and quickly. It's best not to linger over such an intimidating move too long. Following this thing was exciting as well. It's just a radical move. Thankfully the footholds are good, but the handholds are only about waist height. Opie would later say this leap was "a move that probably would have killed a normal man, simply from fright." Once across Opie moved left and then up and back right to a belay slightly below the summit, at the rappel anchors. I followed and led to the top of the tower and brought Opie up. After checking out the awesome position, we had to be moving on, as there was lots to do. I belayed Opie down to the rappel anchors and then downclimbed to join him. The rappels are a bit dangerous because of loose rock and no way to get out of the way, but we survived. Our rope got stuck but some major pulling by Opie freed it. Soon afterwards we were on the ground and heading for the truck. Summit Block Rock (Dr. Rubo’s Wild Ride)This was once again a new approach for Opie, but it was on a good trail and didn’t gain much elevation and it went quickly and easily. We geared at the base and noticed that it was now really getting warm. Opie was giving me the first two pitches of this route, the burly crack pitches, because he had already led them beforeI cruised up the lower section of nice hand crack and then got to a tricky steep section. I called down to Opie, “This rock feels like limestone!” “It is!” he responded. I had forgotten that some of these Sedona towers have a thin limestone band in them. The Mace also has a thin (5-10 foot) limestone band. This is unheard of in the sandstone towers of the Colorado Plateau where most of my tower experience lies. Opie had given me a #5 Camalot to use in the first belay, but the two new belay bolts made that unnecessary. These new bolts upset Opie a bit and there were more to come. The second pitch was the most continuous climbing of the day. It starts off a bit wide and had me stumped for a time, until I noticed a nice foot ledge off to the left. Further up is a continuous hand crack and had me sweating quite a bit. Opie had told me that the crux of the pitch was at the top of the crack. Hence, as the crack started to become discontinuous, I moved more cautiously, preparing myself for a tricky move. Little did I know that I was already by the section Opie had warned me about (I didn’t find it that difficult compared to the start of the crack). Opie yelled up, “What’s the problem? It should be easy climbing up there.” I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough for him. I completely the easy climbing up to the belay ledge. Opie followed and led the airy third pitch. This pitch starts with a tricky move around a corner and then along a very fragile flake and you walk along. Even though it is well protected by bolts and drilled pins, this section is quite freaky as it seems like a small kick to the flake would send it hurtling to the ground. I know sandstone towers are transient geological features, but this flake seems like it can’t last much longer. When it goes, this route will be 5.11 or harder. Opie also discovered an extra bolt added to the face section at the end of the traverse. It used to be more runout, but now an extra bolt protects this section. After I followed this pitch, I led a short pitch up to a block and wanted to continue to the summit, but Opie assured me that wasn’t a good idea because of rope drag. Actually, he just wanted to lead the last exposed pitch. The final pitch moves out left over a yawning gap via a 5.9 boulder problem which is now protected by two bolts – right next to each other. The move is exciting, but not really that hard if you get the feet right. Once past that move, the climbing is moderate to the summit and a one double-rope rappel put us back on the ground at the notch behind the spire. We scrambled down the slope by to our packs and headed for the truck. Streaker SpireStreaker Spire is one of the Church Spires that loom above the big, picturesque church in Sedona. This church is a big tourist attraction and it created a bit of a parking problem for us. Fortunately, someone pulled out of a spot while we waited and we were set. We grabbed the packs and were off up a good trail. After a mile or so we had to leave the trail and head up technical ground to the base of the route. This involved soloing up low angle chimneys and sandy slabs until reaching the final, steep, cactus-choked gully. We dropped packs at the saddle and soloed up the 4th/low 5th class approach pitch to a big ledge before roping up. Opie led the traverse pitch on this tower and in 200’ of climbing he actually lost a couple of feet of elevation. This is a really cool traverse on mostly big ledges. I took over the lead at the cramped belay stance and immediately had some trouble with the wide start of the next pitch. After a struggle made much worse by carrying the useless #5 Camalot once again – there is no need for this unit on any of these climbs and I let Opie know my frustration, but it wasn’t fair to him. He was carrying the gear that he thought was required to make the routes safe. He couldn’t have known about the bolts on Dr. Rubo’s. I continued up low-angled rock to a belay and Opie came up. I led the next pitch, the crux, through an awkward overhang. Soon we were on the summit and then rapping back to our packs. Three down and one to go. The MaceThis would be Opie’s 14th trip up the Mace. Obviously he likes this tower. It is certainly a classic tower and offered us the cleanest climbing of the day. I had climbed it once before, many years earlier. This time Opie let me lead the pitches I hadn’t led before. That gave me the long second pitch, the crux fourth pitch, and he threw in the final step-across pitch as a bonus. I felt it was important to get moving right away. I didn’t want to lose any momentum and I didn’t want to get caught by darkness. We both carried headlamps into the base of the route, but I was confident we’d make it up and down the climb in the light and left mine behind at the start of the route. We picked this tower last because Opie knew it so well and we could do it in the dark if it actually came down to that. Over the years Opie has trimmed the Mace rack down to only six pieces of gear: #0.75, #1-4 Camalots and a #3 Big Bro. We also carried a couple of quickdraws and a couple of long slings. That’s it. Hence, while before I was complaining about too much gear, here I was a little skeptical that the rack was sufficient. It was. Just barely. Opie flashed up the first pitch, which consists mostly of a long, low angle chimney to a 5.7 roof at the limestone band. He placed two pieces of gear and soon I was cleaning the pitch. The move over the roof is short, but burly, and it feels harder than 5.7. The next pitch is mine and the crux is right off the ledge, consisting of an overhanging tight-hands crack. I struggled a bit here trying to figure out how to get my feet up over the bulge. Opie gave me some beta and soon I was moving up easier ground. Below the belay ledge are two wide sections. The first it protected by a tipped out #4 Camalot, but some face holds make this section a bit easier. The final bit is protected by the #3 BigBro and it is an offwidth struggle, but once again it is short. In fact, the Mace is characterized by very short cruxes interspersed with enjoyable, easier climbing. Opie followed and led the exposed hand traverse that starts the second pitch. This is rated 5.7, but it as hard as the 5.9 move on the last pitch. This short traverse ends at an awkward flare and the first moves up this crack are quite difficult as the bottom is undercut. This pitch ends on a small ledge and I found Opie belaying in comfort and blocking the all holds. Once past Opie, I started up the crux pitch. This pitch goes up a chimney like formation between two towers – neither of which is the Mace, by the way – until you have to commit to the right tower and a challenging thin-hand crack. I was a bit intimidated by this section because I was carrying so few pieces of gear and it took me a while to get up the lower part. Above this section is the difficult offwidth crux. The saving grace here is a flake out on the face, which allowed me to move out of the overhanging wide crack and move up the face past the bulge. I then stuffed myself back into the security of the crack and continued up past the final roof to a large ledge. We were now on top of the tower just left of the Mace. To get to the Mace, we had to do the infamous step-across move. A bolt protects this move and I fell across to the far wall with my hands, bridging the gap with my feet still on the other tower, to clip the bolt. Now I shuffled my hands across the Mace wall while moving my feet along the top of the other tower until I could grasp a lieback hold and completely pull myself across the yawning chasm. Once this is done there is one more hard move and it is then an easy twenty-foot scramble to the top. I led this pitch the last time I did the Mace and it was intimidating then, but after the jump on Oak Creek Spire, this was completely tame. Opie joined me on the top. We had done it: four towers in one day. The Mace had taken us just 1h25m to climb. We just needed to descend back to the car. This time we eschewed the classic leap from the Mace back to the neighboring tower and instead did the short rappel. Two more double-rope rappels and we were on the ground. We scampered back to the base and packed up the gear. I convinced Opie that if we hustled, we could break 13 hours for the entire venture. We ran down the trail, nearly trampling and definitely terrorizing a big group of Asian tourists, and finished with plenty of time to spare. Our total time was 12h53m48s. After a military sun shower in the parking lot, much to the amusement of a busload of Japanese tourists, we were off to a well-deserved meal of excellent cuisine at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken. Clearly, we spared no expense in celebrating our tremendous day!
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