After a couple days of pretty chill sightseeing and mineral collecting, Ryan and I were looking to go out with a bang. Throwing out ideas earlier, I thought it could be neat to do some scrambling route up some backcountry buttes in Zion or attempt to find a way to the top of Kolob Arch. In looking, I came across a couple beta sites' accounts of ascending West Temple, the signature capped peak visible from miles and miles around, forming Zion NP's tallest peak at 7810'. From every vantage it looked formidable, if completely unscalable. For all the adventures I have had in Zion it sounded like it would be something different. I was pretty intimidated by the descriptions including some challenging route finding, hours of exposure, sketchy obstacles, and a legitimately exposed lead climbing crux. Throw in a 9.5 mile round trip and a 4000' elevation gain, and it clearly would add up to a big day we would need an early start for. I was prepared to consider lead climbing and we packed gear appropriately, but thankfully Ryan and I both approached the ascent with the same caution and mentality: if we didn't do it or decided it was too much it was not a big deal to turn around. The summary description I developed for it in my mind was that it was the adult-version of Angel's Landing, and I think that is exactly what it was.
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| West Temple on approach to Zion's west side |
One of the best parts about this hike was that we parked at a brand new trailhead between Rockville and Springdale, thus completely sparing ourselves the cesspool that Springdale and the southern park entrance have become. We set off from the truck a little after 7:30a, carrying all the water we thought we might need for the day. We started up the immaculately paved Anasazi Way, spotting a nice petrified log embedded in the roadcut. We then followed the Chinle Trail along the rim of a cliff to skirt around the $1.5M vacation homes, then up a wash and under the road bridge. From here it was mostly beelining up the scrub-covered alluvial surfaces and then ascending faint trails along several ridges and benches. We made pretty good time on the way up, gaining the second bench in about an hour, where we ditched our jackets for the return.
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| Gain the low notch at center then follow the ridge to the right to the red-capped peak... |
We cross-countried across the second bench following a faint trail and our noses to gain the final hanging debris chutes leading us up to the bedrock cliff faces. We knew the distinctive notch in the ridgeline was our initial goal, but even this look difficult to get to, seemingly armored by cliffs. Sure enough we found a series of ascending ledges that led us up to the notch. I recall feeling a little uneasy at some of the exposure on the way but this was nothing compared to what would follow. We gained the shade of the notch at 10:30a, and used the scenic spot to catch up on some water and a snack. Now it would just be the simple matter of following the ridgeline...
Almost immediately I went the wrong way and found myself at a deadend staring down 600 ft+ of sheer exposure. Climbing out of the notch onto the ridge, we first got a closeup view of Peak 7085, which ominously stood in our way. Cautiously, Ryan and I worked our way up and along the ridge, sometimes staying on the meter-wide crest of it with dropoffs on both sides, other times having to skirt around one side or the other. At one point we had to shimmy through a narrow slot, at many others we had to tackle exposed lower fifth class climbs to continue. It took considerable effort to reach the summit of Peak 7085; from here the view forward was somehow even worse. I was thoroughly intimidated looking for a way off this peak and handed over route leading to Ryan for a bit. Honestly I was pretty close to having enough along this stretch and fought the desire to turn around. For nearly this entire 0.5 mile long ridgeline there was no mental or physical rest. Each obstacle suckered you into a slightly harder or scarier next obstacle, and then a next, and then a next. Since we would have to return the same way the burden was not lessened.
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| On approach to formidable Peak 7085 |
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| Looking forward from Peak 7085 towards Temple Butte |
On the backside of Peak 7085 there was a particularly exposed downclimb that relied on climbing down a tree and fully trusting its weather-torn branches. The view here was one of the most dramatic of the entire route (frontispiece); real life felt vertically exaggerated! A couple more tricky climbs Ryan and I did not like and the ridge flattened and widened for a mere 300ft length, an easy snack break. The route ahead looked terrible but the views around us were spectacular at least. Despite all the little cars trafficking their way through Springdale only 1.5 miles away, we felt thoroughly isolated. Continuing obstacle by obstacle, we approached the crux section that had an exposed face climb, a sloping traverse into a loose chimney system, and then a grungy slot to ascend. The traverse was hands down Ryan's least favorite part. A little more route finding found us at a prominent juniper on a ledge, just below the final rock climbing cap to gain the top of the main cliff. We left some extra food/water/gear here and collapsed the remainder into one backpack for the rest of the ascent. One more short climb brought us to the base of the rock climb. We geared up, it was my turn to lead. Looking up I was happy to see that it was much better protected than the route descriptions had led on. I could anchor off a bush, then clip into three bolts in series, to then reach a two bolt belay station. Thankfully we had planned well and I had all the gear I needed for this and then some. Along the route I had gained a lot of confidence in the sticky rubber of my 5.10 guide tennies, such that I did not even bother switching into the rock climbing shoes I had brought just for this occasion. I could not recall the last time I had lead climbed and shot up the route as quickly as I could before I psyched myself out. With relief, what was advertised as a 5.8 climb felt more like 5.6 to me. I made quick work of it and then belayed Ryan up. We made it to the top of the Navajo Sandstone (1:30p) with only a scrub stroll to continue. We were stoked other than the return ahead of us.
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| Looking up at the crux lead climb |
Dropping climbing gear, we crossed the hanging garden of scrubby chapparal to the red cap of the Temple Cap Formation. A trail on the one obvious scree slope led us to the top. Not feeling completely pressed for time, we ventured through the thick scrub over to the unceremonious high point of the flat summit (2p), then enjoyed some clifftop views looking west, north, and east before taking a break at the cell tower at the southern rim. Another snack in the shade here. We signed the register at the top of the scree slope- certainly a more popular ascent than its online presence would suggest, averaging perhaps an ascent per week. Some crazy guy marked that it was his seventeenth ascent- I remember thinking I was sure I would be content with completing the one. We entered a comment along the lines of "we made it, now what!?", which pretty well summed up our thoughts on the coming descent.
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| The unceremonious true summit |
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| Looking west |
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| Looking back the way we came with Peak 7085 and the notch |
We were back at the top of the climb at 3:30p and put our harnesses on for the rappels back down. The first one was straightforward, then the downclimb back to my pack. Instead of returning down the loose chimney, traverse, and face climb, we had anchors that would allow us to do two 50ft rappels down the chimney instead. This still took some time but was comparable more comfortable and lower stress than our ascent. There were several obstacles weighing heavily on our mind as we worried about the reverse versions of our ascents. Climbing back up the tree was not so bad and neither was a different climb that had us worried on the ascent. The climb that Ryan was most worried about was near the notch. I thought this would be easy to downclimb but upon approaching the top I had to agree it looked kind of scary. We opted to rig a nearby tree for one more rappel, which was a good decision. Once down we took off our gear and breathed a huge sigh of relief. A short jaunt to the notch, the scaries were behind us and it would just be several more miles of travel back.
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| Final view from the notch |
It was still a lengthy hike back to the truck but largely straightforward, following some different trails and the wash lower down instead of going through the scrub. My feet were starting to feel pretty raw so I opted to take the road instead of the trail like Ryan; they both took essentially the same amount of time. We made it back a little before 8p. Ryan had the amazing forethought of packing us some cold beers, which were much enjoyed on the tailgate. It was a thoroughly satisfying day and an impressively intricate route that we had just completed. It left an impression on both of us.
The following day we chilled around Ryan's place. I cleaned and sorted rocks, we chatted about upcoming trips, and in the evening we rode his ATVs (my first time on one) up the hillside behind his house, stopping to check out petroglyphs, views, and fossils. I had to admit ATVs are way less annoying when you are on them. The week was really a nice getaway for me and a nice catch-up. Happily the drive home in my overloaded Prius went smoothly despite my concern. My tally of rock collecting was 657 lbs (343 lbs magnetite/apatite, 280 lbs jasper/agate, and 34 lbs selenite)!!! Photos of me by Ryan. Big thanks to Ryan for hospitality and driving.
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