Lotus Flower Tower

Running to catch up with Craig, near Watson Lake, YUK.  

"Watson Lake! We will meet you somewhere near Watson Lake.  There is only one road right?"  I inquired with Craig over the phone.  This would be our last communication before whisking him off his bike in the middle of Northern Canada.  From there we were to catch a Beaver plane to Glacier Lake and the Cirque of the Unclimbables.  

The plan hatched a few winters ago.   I was offered a guiding gig in the Phoenix area, and took it.

My parents had moved to Phoenix sometime near the end of my undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota, so I had grown to enjoy Arizona.  My parents live in East Mesa, 5 miles from the Superstition Mountain Wilderness area, nice access to climbing and trail running.

Packing at the grocery in Watson Lake

Winters in Arizona are amazing...back to the story.

I posted on Facebook of my desire to rent a room in Phoenix for the winter, living with the parents was not an option.  Love you mom and dad.   :)

Sure enough, my friend Craig and his lovely wife Rae responded.  I didn't know Craig super well, we climbed together a few times winters ago.  We met via MountainProject.com, as I was looking for partners.  Since, we stayed loosely in touch.

Rae and Craig

Upon moving to their home in early December of 2010, Rae mentioned that Craig was not actually home.  Fortuneatly, they both had taken an "early, early, really early retirement."  Rae decided to pursue her Ph.D and Craig played outside!

Craig, though, had been scheming a bike trip from Florida to Alaska and hoped to round up some peeps to climb the Lotus Flower Tower along the way.  Along the way!!!!
Therefore, Craig was in Seattle doing some contract work with his former employer Intel to help fund the adventure.
(Craig has done many bike tours throughout the U.S and is an amazing all around athlete, ex-gymnast etc.)

Rae passed all this information on during our first delicious dinner.

Wes enjoying the hot springs

"Well, has he found anyone to go up there with him?" I asked.
"Not yet," she responded with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

Two weeks later....just in time for the Holiday party they were hosting, Craig arrived home.  I hadn't seen him in almost 3 years.  He exploded with open arms, a fantastic humor, and even haggled his new roommate to participate in a pull-up contest.

By March, Craig had decisively gotten the ball rolling.  He contacted Warren of Kluane Airways, had made our deposit...we were headed to the Cirque of the Unclimbables!!

End of April 2011, I departed for summer in my beloved Estes Park and Craig departed for Florida to begin his bike ride.

Sometime near the end of May, Craig made it to Colorado.  We did a slide show to promote his cross-country bike adventure and our Canadian one to come.  We also climbed a little...sadly too early for the Diamond.
I also joined Craig for a little bit of the bike on 287, finishing just north of Larimer, Wyoming.

Glacier Lake

July 14, 2011.  Driving through Northern Canada and tracking Craig..... trying to think like a guy who had been biking for months.

We stopped to soak at the Liard River Hot Springs, hoping to run into Craig.  We were a half day drive from Watson Lake...turns out we were just hours behind him from the hot springs.  We ran into him later that day, Craig was stopped at a little cafe eating a second breakfast...I spotted his bike along side the road.  We lightened his load as he continued the ride to Watson Lake.  From there we purchased food, loaded our packs, and headed all together down 300k of dirt road to Finlayson Lake.

One trip, shit ton of gear.

A 20 minute flight landed us to Warren's place, Inconnu Lodge.  The following day a gorgeous 45 minute flight took us to Glacier Lake, passing by the Vampire Spires.  We landed and promptly began the 6 mile trudge up to Fairy Meadows, home of the Lotus Flower Tower!


We climbed, we laughed, we bouldered, we sport climbed new and old routes (some put up by a Korean team), and played may games of Trivial Pursuit.  After 3 weeks, 16 days of them rainy....we hiked out on the most bluebird day of them all.

Giovanni bouldering around camp.  

The Penguin.  Fabulous and picturesque!

Head wall, heading up!

Headwall!  Heading down!

View down the headwall to bivy site, Korean team taking over!

Camp

We returned to Watson Lake.  Craig hopped back on his back and continued to Alaska, Denali was his final destination.  I returned to Colorado the slow way, climbing Liberty Bell and others along the way home.  My lovely friend Giovanni returned to Colombia!  What a great trip with wonderful people!

Thanks Craig for dreaming big!

The Posse!!!  (aka the Estonians) Quinn, Wes, Giovanni, and Craig

The day we hiked out!  Beautiful!

NIAD Trip Report

Jes' and her shadow.  Pitch 13--Tom Evans Photo

"Oh, you want to hear something with beats?" Bill Wright says to me as he fiddles with the car stereo. Four twenty seven on Sunday, June 10th, Jes and I were carpooling all of 500 yards---from the Manure Pile pull out to El Capitan Meadow with Bill Wright and Hans Florine.  After climbing the Nose and descending the East Ledges we new we would be pretty excited to have an extra car stashed --shortening our hike.

Roughly 10 hours and 19 minutes later, "I got the moves like Jagger" floated-- fully orchestrated-- back into my head as I clipped up the bolt ladder on the last pitch of the Nose.  "Yes, yes I do" I thought, as I stomped on a bolt for a foot hold.  Aid climbing!!

Jes reached the top anchors minutes after me.  Simultaneous with her finish and clicking stop on the timer, she was handed a Murphy's Stout.  Strange order of events.

Swollen Fingers

Instead of yelling on and off belay, we often yell this phrase.  

Piton Pete, a valley legend, cracked and passed one in our direction.  He, his partner, and another gal from Joshua tree (whose 2 partners were still down below) were all at the last anchor of the Nose.  The giant gong show included but was not limited to; 2 strewn single portaledges--both fully inflated, 5 ropes all in full use, wafts and visuals of well traveled poop bags, and a lottery winnings worth of climbing hardware.   It was like a where's waldo game of climbing paraphernalia.

Tom Evans Photo, Quinn leading above Eagle Ledge

Aside from the over populated top pitch, the climbing day went pretty much without a hitch.  I started climbing slowly, reaching the top of the first pitch in 18 minutes.  I gradually increased my pace, finding a nice solid rhythm and reached Dolt Tower (top of Pitch 11) in 2 hours 40 minutes.  Jes and I switched leads here.  She took off up to El Cap Tower.  We simul-climbed up through the bolt ladder and the Boot Flake.  A party of 3 young men from Michigan let us pass, seeing us coming from a few pitches off.  Thanks boys!
Jes stuck the King Swing first try, pulled me over with our short tag line and I took over the lead again off of Eagle Ledge.  The last time we were here on a practice run Piton Pete was living on Eagle Ledge.  We had to crawl through his nest after the King Swing.  He even offered and made Jes coffee!

Eagle Ledge on first go around, Jes finishing the King Swing

At Camp 4, Jes and I swapped leads once more.  She approached the Great Roof quickly, as well as another party of two.

These gentleman were awesome, full of enthusiasm given their previous epic evening.  They didn't sleep much, having to work well into the night trying to free their haul bag, it snagged somewhere along the grey bands.  Dave, from Colorado, was hollering with excitement the whole time Jes and I approached and passed!  Thanks guys!

From there Jes and I just kept plugging and chugging.  Somewhere around Camp V I realized that if we were off in less than 3 hours we would break the record.  Somehow we had cut 4 hours off our previous attempt and were still feeling strong.

Last pitch madness.  

"Lets GO!" I hollered at Jes, "we can do this!"  We traded leads for one last time at the base of pitch 27.  I free climbed the bottom section of the Changing Corners, short-cut up the bolt ladder and crack jummared my way up to the last pitch.

 I arrived to find the other 2 Joshua Tree girls (Bernadette, Mitzi, and Beth are their names), at the anchor starting the last pitch.  "Do you mind if we pass?" I gasped.  Jes and I had passed the girls on Sickle Ledge days before on our first run on Wednesday and they were quite friendly.  This time I was met with a few F-bombs--- directed mostly at their predicament, not entirely me.

Meadow

The Nose essentially follows the sun/shade line

Apparently, the girls had been chilling at 'the wild stance' for 2 hours, waiting for Piton Pete and his cluster to get out of the way.  I explained that we were really close to breaking the record, I wouldn't be a bother...its a bolt ladder easy to work around, and I don't leave anything behind really anyway.  I looked at my watch to make sure it was worth it.  It was 3:09, we started climbing at 5:22.  We were close.  We chatted for a few more minutes, waited for their leader to get a little further along, and then I made my moves, like Jagger.

Sorry, no leather pants!