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| Independence Monument TR Sundial Dihedral III 5.11 A1 |
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| Above: Independence Monument, The Sundial Dihedral takes a line up the right side of this face, going up the prominent dihedral and ending on the right skyline. See Topo |
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| Above: Ben and I catch the sun in the red, red, landscape |
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| Above: Ben starting to aid up some small cracks Below: Ben starting to aid up the thin cracks on the headwall. |
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| We knew we were going exceedingly slow and had to make a decision on what to do. At this pace we didn't think we would be able to top out, rap, and make it back before it got dark. We made the mutual decision to bail so we fixed the rope off a bolt and a friend. Hiking out, I felt insecure and a little nervous about the climb for no good reason. The next morning we got up at 4 AM, drove to the trailhead, and were hiking before the sunrise. We did the approach again, arriving at our fixed rope at sunrise. I jugged up first with Ben coming next. Ben led the next pitch, an awkward 5.8 chimney to yet another ledge in little time. Remembering how hard it was free climbing with the pack on I decided to haul my pack. I attached our 9mm rope to my harness and the pack and just set the pack on the nice big ledge. The first move off the ledge was tricky and I strained to start off. My next attempt I tried again and backed off. Inadvertently I kicked the pack and it went sailing. As the rope peeled off the ledge I thought the rope would weight and rip me off the wall. The rope was just long enough to allow the pack to hit the ground and it bounced off, away from the wall. I hauled the pack up and set it on another ledge. At the belay I told Ben what happened and I told him as I hauled the pack. I opened the outer pocket and surveyed the damage: Broken power bars, exploded pen, and the handle was broken off my Swiss Army knife. Then I thought about my camera. "Shit!" I thought as I pulled out my digital camera and looked at its broken body. I sat on the ledge, supremely mad at my own stupidity. Well, we can't do anything about that now so I get Ben on belay for the free climbing crux of the route. |
| Above: Me jugging up the rope wearing the cool shades |
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| This page was made, and is maintained by Dan Mottinger. If you have any questions, comments, or want to contact me Click Here. |
| The morning after getting back from Mexico Ben and I got up and headed west, stopping at a friends house to borrow a 4.5 Camelot for the wide stuff. We arrived at Fruita at around 11:30 and fueled up on power food (viz. Wendy's). At the trailhead we decided we didn't have enough light for a long route so took a small rack and headed up the trail to see what we could find. About 1/2 mile down the trail we found some crag routes and picked two inviting trad lines. Ben led a stellar 5.8 dihedral with a clean splitter crack to two drilled angles. Following on toprope, I sampled the foreign rock texture, which proved quite friendly to the hands. After this nice climb Ben lead two 5.9s before it started raining lightly. Back in town we went on a wild goose chase looking for free camping, finally finding some close to the monument. We got up with the sun the next morning and started the approach for our big climb. The approach took an hour, since we were laden with two ropes, a big rack, water, and aid gear. Ben led the first pitch, a 5.8 crack system on some poor rock that makes up the bottom of the monument. Ben soon had me on belay and I struggled up the first pitch with a pack full of pins and water. From a nice ledge I belayed Ben as he went 10' higher to the true belay ledge and clipped a bolt. He tried the crack leading from the ledge and found it beyond what he wanted to free climb so started aiding up it. Ben pulled out the pins and placed his very first one ever. Ben weighted it and ping, the piton popped. He tried again, succeeded, and lead on. Ben set up a semi-hanging belay on a small shelf at the base of the hard aid. He started up the hard aid using several pitons and some tricky clean placements. The lead was a couple hours long and I had plenty of time to think. I looked at the drilled angle I was hanging off of and started to have conversations with it. Ben finally made it and I jugged up to the ledge. |
| Above: Ben below the fun 5.8 Left Dihedral |
The crux is an overhanging 5.11 off width leading to a 5.9 fist crack. Ben wanted to save time so didn't plan to use the aiders on the pitch. He led up and placed pro and would use French Free technique for forward progress between rests. At the 5.9 fist crack Ben didn't have enough gear for protection so was forced to leapfrog his cams. The pitch ends with a delicate 5.9 traverse to a small ledge. I felt like just jugging the pitch but Ben suggested I free it. With the mentality I could always grab gear I went ahead. I felt fine and made it to the overhang. I grabbed one cam I didn't have to and went into the overhang, which overhangs the ledge below and a lot of the route. Strengthened by my adrenaline I forced my way up the crux and jammed the 5.9 crack with ease. By the time I reached the belay I was really surprised at myself for basically freeing the pitch. The next pitch (5.9) started off with thin fingers on flakes to some hard stemming moves. Ben made it through the thin fingers and got pumped getting into the stems. He rested onto a microcam beneath a flake, then the whole big flake started expanding as his cam started slipping out (scary). The next belay was on top of a rounded sub spire of the monument. The last pitch from this stance is a 13 bolt/angle ladder to the summit. I got the honor of leading this last pitch, which was my first "real" aid lead. Almost every drilled angle/bolt required a lot of reach and I found myself top-stepping for every bolt. I finally made it to the top, tied off the rope for Ben to jug up and started exploring the summit. The summit is about the size of a small parking lot several hundred feet above the desert floor. I found some water pools and rinsed off my dirty hands. Looking closely, I noticed tadpoles swimming around in these small pools on the summit. Explain that one to me. Ben arrived and we were soon rappelling off into the void� |