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Show A0I1fnin Climbers Again Try Local Spires with Mixed Success . (, Cot .01 - ,.,ft-i-s. 1 " ! ' , j Ohio, v i- ;'!; rw -"' 1,1 ' S'' I Vv k M'U'' '".".'xi Nh'H olimh- 'j; v,;y I ' A ,, i J.i-iiuiuIuk Vs...:-1- the sotic-r V P we.kth.it pivvai s " V , the iVW 1 u'-Sv-.-ilins sheer ( Uv.-use the !-' !-' sre normally I '"v orsA and ere-to ere-to s'svr ay iu 9ti Last Fall ;s. a.Tiv u". v'-i introduced to an "" :.t &V-fM spire in 4 .V..O c.ui.on not fa r v;;, by' Kval tour - 0::ir..r. Hie ' ;er.i set up i' amp ; W ef their sou!, - "' named "The w.'-'twuse from down-L.;:r.-r1;b'.tS the pro-I; pro-I; v.-r,n in bridal Tfr- ri vei1, ho!l!'ii:s a 4 .;: From straight on. V Hi is knife-blade -.-v days spent u: workiKiT up ths -:- :i;e of The Bride. izi Ejornstad ab--i- t c'.-rab for two . t-j. They had reaehed h;re a large. L tit expanse ii I : r.k would have J t be sciled next, rc-li-s- anehor bolts Uir? hid with them, fit :::: reaehiaj the un-l un-l Jri ::T;e Bride's buo-y.-.? had seen that rsise chuck of rock, al splinter of rock i ,7i sheared to be on I ! --; of filing. ?js!pon Plans --.-( of this hazard, f izi sh.Ttaje of equ'p-ie equ'p-ie two climbers t.::-i ".heir plans to r.2 The Eride, but fr::c .'iturn to the chal-s'za. chal-s'za. They then spent : "in of Their time rec- :.i"i'!:g S-il another.. : irrer, spire called P.k" or "Moses." -5i 400 feet tall, and '-' splendid isolation at the junction '.Z2:ot canyons, just -;: cf the northern v-'-l of Canvonlandi Park. K-i7 and Ejornstad (Jpacid about Moses. If p-r.ed the kind of f--'- -Tet manaeaule . r.;:e 'hat they were ' li'v"' ai a'so met t,ne'r ' F- ;rT.e requirement. Fi never been scaled. ' , ,r;-; )Ic,s5 stood a les- ' 1 It-' a finger of rock '. " feet high. In the they had left be-;: be-;: ''-! had to return to tnes, Fred Beekey ;M as ground crew, tnck Ejornstad solo-shorter solo-shorter p'inna-according p'inna-according to a J;,a-T-f'r-g the small ;:' of men who seek 'floor previously un- f and spires, I ---it 7eus." ;TS' r Han t0 Return ! men left can-;.::iS can-;.::iS C0,Jntry planning both The Bri(e :.'ring they did just ce again the un- ",;7e hazards of de-:e de-:e climbing li-,-!tteir succe.ss. vf Hudock, also itf r tii ?round sijp- 0 !:;;team first tackled (r;d" th north side of l5r, f Pn which Mo- J"1 rf eir heavy iar P the steep r itothe base of ' 0D ,anous Possible :' L spire they 9iw7 ?med to be H-s delayed :-.r-,n-' both advert ':a"d M'cs, the fZ Welded to this rJ4r rt.s '-0 I 14 dlff'cult mo.,)- bib until iiot .ill. ''u, touio tho h.ul , hoscn luri;--l out to U-.ul t,, a Vt,,v il.it.oult o. tion i t k, w liu h w oukl h.u i i-i'nuii-,.,1 SO 01 .ll il.H S of OIK-llol' boll u.lk. ;uid otbor iippioaoh-es iippioaoh-es .ippoorid to bo oiy litilo l-H'tt.r. Alter a "ioiiiu iI of w:ir." it ;is ibvidod that Mosos u.i-x .simply too imuh .r suili ,i stn.ill to.im. Hookey ;uul Hji nutad K ft mueh of their eiu.pont :till in plaeo on tiio sp.iv and nuulo ll.ms to return in iK-tober with th.e adilttion.il oxpon-eiuod oxpon-eiuod "di soi t i liinboi s" that are rnvdal to luunblo M.sse.s. Net tho team dooiilod to oomph, to thmr mifiiii.sheil business w i'.h The r.ndo. Tins proved to l,0 faiiiy easy up until the last low yar.is. I's.i.i; an entirely ilitTor-lent: ilitTor-lent: olitnoir.ir route, this t mo up tho baok or eastern east-ern riil.ce of Tho llriilo, the oliinb was routine. T.eokoy and l!ji i t'.staa took turn's, eaoh oMoiidiuir -the route anotlur doon or so yards up the sheer spire by plac-in.ir plac-in.ir pitons. anehor bolts and ropes. Honors on Top To Kiornstad foil the honor ho-nor of svahr.i: the last few yaras ar.d st.uulin.i; on the very top of The Brule but when lu- reached the 'poiat whore he could see Vae top of her head, he iloehtiej to scramble up the List f'v feet. When asked w hy he had passed up this ultimate Kosture of triuniph. he explained that the whole top of The Kri 1-e's 1-e's huaj was "rotten rook." that is. loose, eruti'.bly and scalir.jr away. He Said that he co-aid have "free-climbed" the last few feet, had he been iil.ntr to run the rsk t-f handiiolds irivinj away. Further, there was no rook on tiie top solid er.ouv'h to serve as an anchor an-chor for the ropes he would need in his descent. So today, finally, The Eride stands conquered, yet no man has set foot on her bridal headoiece. Where is The- Bride? Last fail Becky Be-cky and Ejornstad requested request-ed that those who knew her location keep it confidential, confi-dential, so that other clim bers ,-ould ,lot ,,, ,hom to ""- "iVst." Now, how-i'. how-i'. tho need for .sivrtvc ls "Ver. Oiher eliml.,s alv Ullo weleonio to "S1.,m,-;llul- iiceonliiijr to I'.iorn--l-id. even the firsi" , '"I i"!'.' that last few foe'. onto t ho lop i f The llride's head. Only n I'ew f.lilrs The la ldo is Ie; - I h in ten mill a from Mo.ili l.Y l'o;ul an. I trail, and souie-'I souie-'I 1 1 nit u nd. r si 'i n as I lie raven II. i s. Over hall Iho way is by paved road, but I lie re.;. re, piircs some 1 1 1 i 1 1 : v more llian a Hlan-dard Hlan-dard lani ly auln. Ol'l'-ruad vehicles of various snrU can i , sily handle the je-n 'I i ail part of the trip, lis can (C(.nl inatd mi Paj;e tt-'l) 1 i " ' ' f- - i, .'. :- i H j i . 'i. H-'i. f i . ... .-r- , ., . . . ..v.. v . !, : '-yr.r - - " ( i"l '-i - ,. -j 1 l rV-.'.'..- .J r- ..':;-?--r--v-4 "Moses" or '".Monkey Rock" stands 400 feet tall in a remote canyon some 40 miles from Moab. This photo was taken last year, before this spring"s abortive attenmt to scale Moses, when Eric Bjron- r V'; ' ' , I ; -v". ; : "....:. s "-'.vs. i ! - - - . j ; " k - 1 ' , . " -t -r , ' " ' -; r -1 - ' , 1 V-Tlt& PV - i 4, -.vs. jr t a . - ' : " ' ' ' ' .-w-te. ' . - . ' '".-'' " " I . . - ,'.' " --'- " 'J Climbers Eric Bjronstad (left) and Fred Beckcy pre-p pre-p " to carry some of their special climbing cqu.pmcnt toThc base of Moses for an assault on that uncltmb- stad climbed the 200-foot spire to the left of Moses "just for practice." Bjronstad Bjron-stad can barely be seen in the photo, as a tiny dot on the very top of the. rock needle he named "Zeus." ed monolith. Their attempt failed but they plan to return re-turn next fall for anot.icr try, this time with a larger team. (Photos by Lin Qttinger) Mountain Climbers . . . (Continued from Page 15-1) low-geared pickups, and with cartful driving, standard stan-dard Volkswagen buses .and sedans have been known to mak? the trip. To get to The Bride, drive north out of Moab on U.S. 103 to just past where the railroad tracks emerge from the deep cut near the crest of the grade that begins at the entrance to Arches National Monument. Monu-ment. There, watch for the Ifirst gate through the f)enco that is on the left, or west, of the highway. Go through this gate, cross the tracks, then turn left again on the dirt road that travels the length of the embankment that protects the tracks from rain runoff. run-off. Stay on this embankment embank-ment road for about a half (mile, then turn right onto a trail that heads toward the cliffs. Stay on this trail as , it angles steeply upward, ascending through blood-red Cutler sandstone then following ledges just below the Chinle forma tion. Gap in the Cliff Shortly, the trail enters a gap in the high, looming Wmate cliffs, crosses a cat-lie cat-lie guard and drops abruptly abrupt-ly down into Little C.u.-yon. C.u.-yon. Continue on the tnil as it winds clown this strangely sloping canyon with its several intriguing side-canyons. After something some-thing over a mile, watch fur an inconspicuous branch inthe trail that turns left linto such a side canyon. If you see an old corral in some trees on your lei'-, within a hundred yards or so after turning, you - are in the correct canyon. Follow the trail up thtf unnamed canyon, watching ahead. Shortly, you will see near the upper end of the canyon, to the left, the tall silhouette of Thfi Brifde, standing out from, ithe rounded cliffs and fins that top that wall of thg canyon. If you stay on the jeep trail until it ends, you will be close to the base of The Bride, viewing her edgewise, where her shape more nearly resembles th:t cf a knife blade. If you hike over to the base of The Bride, or study her with binoculars from the correct angle, you wi l spot an ascending row cf bright spots across the '. dark desert varnish thti colors her long, full skirts. These spots arc where tht placement of anchor boii.i' chipped away the blue-fblack blue-fblack surface of the Win-gate Win-gate sandstone. And if you look very closely, you wdl discover the long vertical crack that forced the aban-dnoment aban-dnoment of this route. A Bonus Canyon As a bonus to those who choose to visit The Bri.Je in her lonely canyon, this canyon also contains several sev-eral fine arches, two of which can be spotted from the jeep trail. One, dubbed The Owl because it resem-foles resem-foles the huge eyes anc1. back of an owl's face when viewed head on, is neat the mouth of the canyon high on its eastern wall Here, two gigantic spring-seep spring-seep caves have finally joined, leaving a free-standing arch like a half rainbow. rain-bow. The second arch visible ifram the trail can be seen in the back of The Bride, just down canyon, and iaimong the rounded domS and .fins that top the wf. 11 behind that spire. The arch can be seen from the trai), just a stone's throw from where it ends. There are. other arches back among these same fins, but reaching reach-ing them takes either special spe-cial climbing equipment, or something special in the way of free-climbing ability. abil-ity. These well-hidden ai-ches ai-ches were spotted by thof climbing The Bride, but Mke The Bride, will not be easy to completely conquer. |