Wed, Oct 28, 2020
|
With: | Robert Wu |
We had failed to climb Yosemite Valley's Arrowhead Spire on our first attempt the previous day, launching ourselves up the adjacent Arrowhead Arete for three pitches before recognizing our gross error. We were ill-equipped with sufficient gear to finish climbing the beefier Arete and frankly I had no business being on a 5.8-5.9 climb of this magnitude. By the time we had rappeled back down to the start of the two routes it was far too late to consider climbing the Spire route, so we headed back down to the Valley floor to recoup and try again the following day.
Our big advantage on this second try was that we had the long, devious approach
route down pretty good. We spent 45min plying the trails to
the start of the
class 4 ledges, another 20min to climb the
ledges and make
the traverse around to
the start of West
Arrowhead Chimney, and a last 35min
scrambling up
the gully
to
the start of the route. After changing into our climbing shoes, we
left our boots and some extra gear at the base and scrambled
through the oaks to the start of the Spire route. We climbed the
initial
5.4 step without using the rope, then explored the long
ledge system wrapping around the base of the Spire. The ledge goes
around to the southeast side of Arrowhead Spire, but there didn't look to be
any 5.6 climbing on that side, so we returned to
the west side where
the route described in the SuperTopo guidebook starts. The guidebook lists it
as a two-pitch climb, but we thought it better to break up the first pitch into
two shorter ones for less rope drag and easier communication. Our first pitch
goes up about 90ft, following a
broken chimney/trough, with the easy
sort of climbing I enjoy most. The only difficulty was the final reachy step
around a bulge that had me glad for a top rope. A
rusty piton with an
attached ring halfway up the pitch is the first reminder that this route dates
back to the 1930's. It took about 30min to get both of us up to
a large oak wrapped with rappel slings at the base of a wide chimney.
So far, so good.
Our second pitch (and the upper part of the guidebook's 1st pitch) goes about
40ft up a wide chimney with some stiffer, but still manageable
difficulties.
Robert again led this one cleanly while I flailed a bit,
but not desperately so. The really remarkable thing is how
vertical
the entire route feels, yet the climbing never exceeds 5.6. It really helps
make a hack like me feel like a climber, if only for the moment. We took about
45min on this pitch, finishing at
a roomy belay ledge, nicely shaded
and the best such spot in two days. With my back against a cool, granite wall
and
resting quite comfortably, I belayed Robert from below as he
made his way up the full 130ft to the summit on our 3rd pitch. The
climbing goes up some large flakes to start, then transistions to more face
climbing on knobby holds, an easier pitch than the previous two. Robert was up
in less than 20min, but then began a long pause while he worked out an anchor
strategy. I waited silently from below, watching the rope slip down some, then
taken up, then slip down again, repeatedly. I couldn't figure out what he was
doing up there because I knew from the previous day that there was a large pine
at the summit with rap slings, and I figured it was the obvious belay point. How
hard could it be to throw a sling around the trunk and bring me up? More than
30min went by and still no call down saying, "Off belay!" I pulled out my phone
and went through the day's news items and stock prices, checked email, replied
to one, then put it away. Still nothing. The rope periodically moving (so I knew
at least that he hadn't plunged over the side to his demise) but not really
going anywhere. Eventually I did what I dreaded to do, call up - "Hey Robert,
everything OK?" He was far enough away that I really couldn't understand his
reply, but at least he knew that he was taking a while. Eventually he got things
sorted out, pulled up the remaining rope and belayed me up.
When I reached him, it was clear what had taken so long - he hadn't used the
tree for his anchor, but rather created a far more elaborate
hanging belay on
the summit block above and right of the tree. He apologized of course, but I
could now see what had taken so long. He'd decided not to use the tree because
it would be difficult to protect me climbing to the top of the summit block, at
least by the route he'd taken. I surveyed the summit block, Robert and the
tree before asking, "Couldn't I just climb the tree to get up the summit block?"
Robert looked at me a little blankly. He didn't consider using the tree because
that has always been unfair means by the more ethical code he'd been taught by
his mentor. One of my mentors once said, "If you can hit it on the way down,
you can use it on the way up," which clearly puts trees and bushes in play. So
Robert watched me Tarzan my way up
about 10ft, climbing
the tree branches like a
ladder to land atop a large, roomy block. The belay was ineffective during this,
but it was no harder than a class 3 scramble. I moved across the block until I
was just above Robert, at a set of rap slings that he was using as part of his
anchor. I clipped into these with a sling and had Robert take me off belay. It
was easy enough then to boost myself atop the small,
higher perch
that serves as the highpoint.
It was a very impressive summit perch, with a spectacular view of
the Valley floor, Yosemite Point, Indian Canyon, Half Dome and a more
than a dozen other familiar
Yosemite features. Directly behind the
Spire rises the far more impressive
Arrowhead Arete we had mistakenly
played around on the previous day. And
directly below, looking straight
down the north side was the 100-foot drop to the notch with the Arete. I climbed
off the block while Robert dismantled his anchor and joined me on
the summit blocks for his own
summit pose. We spent
another 10min or so atop the summit, among other things, hiding
a register that might take a little hunting to find.
The rappel down to the notch with the Arete was
an exciting one, free-hanging for most of the distance. It took
almost the full length of our doubled 60m rope. Once at the notch, we were back
on familiar territory since we had done the last two raps from this point the
previous day. These we
executed in turn, getting us
back down
to our boots and other gear about 40min from the Spire's summit. After
packing up, we headed
back down the gully, rapping the two
dirty pitches (one at the bottom of the gully, the other at the class 4 ledges)
as we'd done the previous day and returning to
the parking lot in just
over an hour. Finally, Arrowhead Spire done right...
This page last updated: Sat Oct 31 08:27:49 2020
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