Mon, Oct 10, 2022
|
With: | Eric Smith |
Tom Becht | |
Tom Grundy | |
Iris Ma |
Day four in Sedona was a full one, keeping us busy from sunrise til past sunset. The collection of summits included four from Purcell's Rambles & Scrambles, the other a 5.8 rock climb by its easiest route.
The hike to Capitol Butte is fairly straightforward, and quite enjoyable. It
helped that we had a GPX track that would make it easier to find the
unsigned use trail off the maintained one, about 15min after starting out. The
social trail climbs
the lower slopes to
the base of a
cliff feature where it follows around
the north side before
working up to the top of the cliff through the first of several class 3 sections. Above this,
views open up to
Sedona and other
landmarks to the south as one discovers there are various threads to
the trail, all with the goal of getting one to the summit. We lost the
trail briefly about 15min from the summit. While others were looking around for
ducks and signs of the social route, I decided to do some extra scrambling off
to the left with TomB
following me. This got
a bit dicey and
class 4-ish, and we used
the 20-foot piece of webbing I've been carrying to give TomB a handline through
the worst of it. We eventually met back up with the others and continued towards
the top. The others went up to the lower
west summit first, while I
carried on to the eastern one which I knew to be higher. The
views are
nothing short of outstanding as one of the highest in
the Sedona area.
We found curious objects that had been fashioned by shamans, including the
powerful
Energy Stone which we found to increase our bodies' chakras
merely by holding it up the sky. We also discovered healing powers with
mystical liquids consumed within the aura of Capitol Butte's vortex.
Cookies were pretty good, too. After a suitable time
at the summit, our
bodies revitalized, we
reversed the route off the summit, this time
having no trouble
following the trail back. We were
back to
the Jeeps by 10:30a, ready for more fun. Well, most of us. Eric commented later
that he wore himself out keeping up with what he thought was a blistering pace.
The rest of us thought it pretty standard fare.
Our starting point for Chimney Rock was the Andante TH at the north end
of town, east of Chimney Rock. The parking lot is small, holding only a half
dozen cars, but there was only one other vehicle when we pulled in around 11a.
We spent some time packing gear, including a single 70m rope that would suffice,
then headed out. It takes only 20min to reach the base of Castle Rock, following
the trail system that would take us
most of the way
there. Once
at the base, it took another 25min before TomG was
starting up the first pitch with Iris belaying. I mostly walked around
for the next hour and change to
take pictures while TomG
worked his way up and then belayed
Iris to do the same. The
crux was a very narrow section that was so tight, they had to take their
helmets off to fit through. It was convenient that the climb used only
half of the rope. This allowed TomG to fix one end for me to jug up, and the
other I tied in for
a safety belay. This would make it far less
stressful, knowing that I didn't depend completely on the micro cams and knotted
cords I used for aid. It took me about 25min to
work my way up to the
others, having an easier time at the crux because I could ascend outside the
narrowest part and kept my helmet on. Still, it was an awkward last bit working
through the narrow confines with others just above me laughing and offering
encouragement at the same time.
At the top of the pitch, I was happy to find the remainder was just a
short scramble. While TomG and Iris
cleaned up the gear, I
went up to
the top and
poked around for a register
and the rap chains. We found no register, but the rap chains were nicely
arranged for a descent off the sunny south side. Shortly we had the whole part
at the top. Meanwhile, TomB and Eric had
finished their hike of Doe Mtn and driven over to our TH. Eric came up
to the base of the climb while I had been ascending, and afterwards he moved
around to the south side to watch us rapping off.
TomG went
down first, followed by myself, then
Iris. It took us about
20min to get
all of us down and pull the rope. We then had to return
to the north side to get the rest of our gear and pack it up before we were
ready to head down. It was only when he wasn't carrying a backpack that I
noticed just how tattered
Eric's shirt was - seems this is one of his
favorites and it's quite amazing that it still holds together. Gotta love comfy
clothes. We were
back to the Jeeps by 2:45p with a few more hours of
daylight for some easy stuff that all five of us could do.
Continued...
This page last updated: Mon Jan 9 18:39:03 2023
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