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.