Tower Rock

The family wanted to climb today and I wanted to climb some cracks, so we headed to Tower Rock.  Tower Rock is one of two freestanding pinnacles in the Red and is home to some of the best moderate crack climbs.  There is also a perfect boulder for the kids to climb on.

Shawn had never been there and wanted t lead Arachnid, a gorgeous 5.8 hand crack that was capped half way by a huge roof.  I wanted to get some photos, so I said I would lead the pitch and Ken would clean it.  That way I could take photo on rappel as Shawn led the pitch.

It was hot and the holds were slimy under the roof section.  I worked down and across to gain the best foot holds.  The crux of the route is turning the roof pitch.  You have to reach up and lay back the edge of the roof.  The mental crux is next, 10 feet of squeeze chimney.  I made it through, despite the slippery holds.

Ken cleaned it and soon Shawn was on lead.  He placed his first piece of protect and I was taking a shot of him in a solid position, stemming in the corner, when I heard a yell and the sound of gear rattling.  Ken arrested the fall and all was well.  The holds were dust from the lack of attention and Shawn’s foot simply slipped.  With the advent of the new sport climbing in the private preserves, the northern gorge sees little traffic these days.  This is great for me, as I love to climb the trad routes, which are in great abundance in the northern gorge.

My wife Christine took a turn on the rope and looked like a pro.  She had not climbed this route since she was pregnant with Ada 6 years ago.  At that time she was 7 month pregnant and got stuck in the squeeze chimney.  This time however, she styled the route moving fluidly and without pause up the thin hand crack.  It was if you she had been climbing hand cracks for the last 6 year.  Unfortunately this was not the case, kids demand time.  But she sure made it look as if she had been climbing all this time.  I was impressed and delighted to see her having fun again on the rock.  I know she has been working out a lot to get back into her old climbing shape again.  She misses climbing and the kids are getting more interested in climbing too.

Kristen, Shawn’s wife, has not been climbing as long as Christine and had not climbed too many cracks.  I talked Kristen into climbing with me as Shawn was going to lead Africa and Christine decided to go to the swimming pool with the kids.  We roped up and I worked on her crack climbing skills.  At first, she lie backed the whole dihedral without any jamming.  This is a strenuous method given the quality of the jamming.   She was a great student and listened well while I instructed her on how to hand jam.   I had her take repeated runs on the best section of the crack so she could master the hand jam.  Next, we worked on foot jams.  She was soon jamming the entire dihedral like a pro and marveled at how much easier it is to jam than lie back this.

Unfortunately the day was cut short.  Just as Kristen was applying her new found skills on Africa, we heard a yelp.  Shawn ran off to see what was wrong.  Mattie, Shawn’s dog had wondered off around the corner and came racing back.  Shawn thought that she had gotten into a hornets nest, but I thought otherwise.  Sure enough, snake bite to the muzzle.  Mattie had the classic signs of a copperhead bite, two puncher wounds 1.5” apart.  This was a fairly large copper head that bite her.   Ken and I clean the routes and we packed up to get some medical treatment from my wife.

Patrick Weaver

Appalachian Mountain Institute