On an approach this summer Vitaliy and I were talking about the contradiction between how many people say they would love to explore vs how difficult it is to find partners for exactly that. We joked that even if we invited everyone we knew on a trip it would still probably be only us at the trailhead.

We have October birthdays and decided that we should plan a trip for sometime that month. I then decided to test our hypothesis and spread the word, despite Vitaliy's objections :) Supertopo, facebook, word of mouth, sky writing and billboards were all fair game!

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2692169/Vitaliy-and-Limpingcrabs-Backcountry-Birthday-Invite-to-All

To my surprise there were actually eight people who wanted to hike 12 miles into nowhere to climb unknown rocks! But alas, one by one, the excuses rolled in and the group size dropped. Two days before the trip it was me, Daniel and Vitaliy, with Brian coming in a day later.

"Sorry guys, this sucks, but I feel terrible and am going to the creek for two weeks so I need to rest and get better." -Vitaliy M.

It turns out we were correct all along, it's tough to get partners for type 2 fun. So tough in fact that even Vitaliy, due to some sort of issue with his lady parts, had to bail!

We were sad to not have Vitaliy along as he's great to climb with. But, I must admit I smiled a little. I've been reading V's trip reports and getting jealous all summer and I knew how bad he wanted to go to this area. The tables were finally turned.

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But worry not, it only takes two to tango and team Daniel and Daniel were ready to roll at the Crown Valley trainhead near Wishon Reservoir at 10pm Thursday night! To keep things simple I dubbed myself Awesome Daniel and the other half of the duo Old Daniel.


We left a radio hidden for Brian to help him find us the following night.

Long story short, we lost the trail 20 times thanks to the recent snow, fallen trees and ash mud from the rough fire, and the dark of night. Our planned meeting spot, a tarn north of the Obelisk, was hemmed in by steep cliffs, covered in ice, and inaccessible. By 5:30am we passed out on a dirt patch under a tree in the middle of nowhere as the eastern sky began to glow.

We awoke at 9:30am to find ourselves on the low spot of this ridge, between the Obelisk and the other cliffs along Tombstone Ridge.

Our objective for Friday: find the longest route up the unclimbed buttresses of Tombstone Ridge.

We quickly learned that ash + snow = weird sinkholes and difficult travel. We called it pyroclastic flow. And it sucked.

Life will find a way!

We finally came to the low point of the central buttress and started climbing by noon. Not exactly and alpine start with 1000ft of unknown terrain ahead.

After making a slow job of the 5.11- first pitch, where we both had to hang, the summit was feeling very far away. But, the climbing was excellent!

Old Dan flew up the second pitch of cracks and jugs and the stoke was palpable at the belay.

Pitch after pitch after pitch of fun, varied, moderate climbing took us all the way to smilesville below the final headwall!

This pic was taken during a quick trip from smilesville to thirstytown. We took the left side, near the sun/shade line, for the final two pitches.

Just in time for a magical sunset! A small lightening fire behind Tehipite Dome only added to the beauty and we agreed that the growing fatigue was absolutely worth it.

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Tombstone Ridge
"Tephra"
5.11-, 7 pitches, 1000ft
MANY variations possible, it was a "choose your own adventure" up the arete.

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We arrived back in camp after dark wondering if there was any possibility that Brian would find us at his 10pm ETA. Or ever. We weren't where we planned on meeting and he didn't even have a GPS or good map. Little did we know that he lost the trail at dark less than halfway to us, took a compass reading, and just started walking in our direction.

At 9:30pm he came on the radio.

"I passed Geraldine Lake and I don't know where I am."

"Ok" I said, "we're camped on the ridge to the east of the tarn we were supposed to be at."

And that was it. A little over an hour later we hear hollering from a small peak above camp. Suffice it to say that it was a miracle he found us and you would have to do that approach to appreciate it. It was the first time we had met Brian and we were immediately impressed, though a little miffed that he somehow bested our approach time.

We awoke the next morning to realize that our camp was in a beautiful location overlooking Crown Valley and Tehipite Dome and set off to Saturday's objectives.

The upper and lower Knobelisk at home below the Obelisk. Two more reportedly unclimbed formations, both over 500ft tall and just waiting for anyone willing to earn it.

What was expected to be a heinous bush whack turned into a fairly pleasant walk to the base of the lower formation.

The south face of the lower formation looked impassable along the base and extremely high quality higher up. I didn't see a way to access the upper pitches but Brian saw potential in a series of overhangs.

Vitaliy said Brian was a great partner for new routes and we found out why. He was super optimistic and just went for it!


Holy crap! He made it without any problems and went directly over all three roofs! This was one of the most fun pitches I have ever climbed and two of the three roofs required huge reaches to jugs and cutting your feet loose to pull up and over.

From there to the top was a big jug haul where we could climb wherever we wanted. The two followers would each take their own route as we explored the incredibly featured rock.

We arrived a the ledge separating the upper and lower Knobelisks for lunch. Unfortunately the south buttress of the upper formation looked fun but somewhat uninspiring.

Fired up from two consecutive successes and infected by Brian's optimism we set our sights on the massive and sheer east face of the Upper Knobelisk.

If it turned out to be as featured as everything else it just might work. The biggest unknown was a band of reddish, flaky looking rock that formed a roof across most of the face.

I took the first pitch and headed straight for two cracks that split the first roof. Before I knew it I was out of rope and looking up at terrible rock jutting out above me. The roof went as far as we could see to the left but the rock appeared to increase in quality to the right.

Brian took the next lead and traversed right to a ramp that lead to better rock.

Brian felt a little robbed by having a traversing pitch so Old Dan offered up his lead and away he went. Meanwhile, I sat in a hole to avoid any raining chicken heads.

With every vertical foot the rock became more and more amazing and fun!

A bit of summit socializing, a bit of admiring our work, a bit of walking and we were back at camp. A day for the record books.

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Lower Knobelisk
"Improbable Overhangs"
5.10, 3 pitches, 500ft

Upper Knobelisk
"Trust Issues"
5.9, 4 pitches, 500ft

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The rest of the trip consisted of great campfire time, an ill-advised and unsuccessful 3/4 moon attempt at summiting the Obelisk, lots of walking, and a farewell to the last dying breath of the Rough Fire.



Thanks to Daniel and Brian for the happy Halloween, great climbing, and being some of the few, the proud, the morons who walk really far to climb on rocks!


PS: All of the good pictures were taken by Brian.