Three Penguins, Arches National Park

November 21, 2020
Arches National Park, Utah
Three Penguins, Right Chimney 5.10+

The 3 Penguins sandstone formation stares at you as you enter the scenic Arches National Park. 200 feet tall and standing alone just as you enter the park, the formation is a desirable climb to those who dare to go to battle with the offwidth sandstone crack that defends this excellent summit. For several years Laura and I had talked about climbing the penguins, but with frequent closures to protect nesting raptors, we have never been in the park when climbing was open. This time, on our way to Las Vegas, we made a detour to Moab for a night and planned to climb the right chimney route the following morning before hitting the road. The trip to Moab went as good as you could hope with our 5 month old daughter Hazel in tow and we arrived in town early afternoon. We decided to get in a warm up on the Utah sandstone and chose to climb a 2 pitch 5.9 route called El Segundo. While Grandma took Hazel for a walk in the stroller, Laura and I quickly climbed the excellent crack and rappelled before heading to our hotel for the evening, feeling ready for The Penguins tomorrow morning. 

The following morning we woke

early and headed over to Arches. We parked just off the road and made the 15 minute approach to the base of the Penguins around 8:30 am. As we geared up, we knew that this climb would be a challenge for us, but we both knew it was within our capability and were looking forward to it. I strapped on my helmet and started off on the nice 5.10+ crack that leads over a bulge to anchors. The crack starts finger width and gradually increases in size as you climb, eventually becoming a 4 inch crack near the anchors. A double set of cams #.75 - #5 with triples of #2 and #3 made for a very well protected 2 pitches. The first pitch was great climbing and had excellent hand and foot jams the entire way. The bulge was slightly overhanging and made for a challenging few moves. As I made it to the anchors, I set a belay and Laura followed the beautiful crack climb to join me 100 feet off the ground. 

The second pitch takes only a few cams. I took doubles of #2-#5 with me and used most of them. A short step right leads to a wide hand crack for about 15 feet before you enter the offwidth section of the climb. I battled my way up the wide section inch by inch and eventually pulled over the slab to reach the anchors on the summit. Laura again followed as we watched Grandma pull up and take photographs from the road. 

We spent a few minutes on the summit looking out over the national park and waving to tourists before rappelling and heading back to the Jeep. We decided that we had time for one more climb before heading off to Vegas so we drove over and climbed Owl rock, 5.8 and then headed out.

Pacific and Atlantic Peaks

November 7, 2020

Pacific Peak 13,957'
Atlantic Peak 13,835'

Laura and I left home at 2 am to pick up our friends Isaac and Nicole. We are hoping to get them out on some more adventurous climbs to help them progress to bigger and more technical routes in the mountains. Laura had suggested we go for the Mayflower Gulch Grand Traverse at 5.7. We knew there would be some snow to deal with but what we did not plan on is fierce wind gusts. We arrived at the upper Mayflower Gulch trailhead at 5 am and were walking in windy conditions almost immediately. While Laura and I didn't give the conditions a second thought, I think our friends were a bit nervous. 

We walked in the dark, checking the topo map occasionally to be sure we were headed in the correct direction to access Pacific's west ridge. The climb is class 3 and would be a nice warm up for the remaining traverse. As we ascended the ridge, the wind would blow us around and create doubt of weather or not we would have a chance to get to the fun part of the traverse at all. Conditions were great for early November with little snow and the talus frozen down. 

We quickly made our way to the summit of Pacific Peak around 7 am. Taking a 15 minute break, we hid from the wind and ate a snack before continuing on to Atlantic Peak just a short distance away. 

The down scramble was uneventful and the ascent to Atlantic was a simple walk up on large talus blocks. 

From the summit of Atlantic, the next objective is a loose and exposed class 5 traverse over 5 gendarmes to reach Fletcher Peak. Isaac was not feeling well and was having leg problems. He was shaky and that did not inspire confidence for me. I was not sure we should continue on. He scrambled down a short section of ridge and as I caught up to him, we had a discussion about how he was feeling and the conditions of the traverse. I have climbed quite a bit with Isaac, so I felt like I had a pretty good assessment of what he was feeling. 

Today, the risk was not worth the reward and we made the smart decision to turn back and descend off of Atlantic back to the car. It was the right decision as the clouds came in and the wind picked up even more. Isaac struggled on the descent because of his leg pain and I'm happy to have made the correct decision on this day. We will be back soon and will enjoy the entire traverse as a group!