Bullwinkle Tower 5200′ and Owl Rock 5240′
Rock Climbing– Utah
Total Time: 4:10
Distance: 0.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 400′
Crux: Class 5.8
Pitches: 2
Protection: Double to #4 for Owl rock. Optional #5 for Bullwinkle
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Garden of Eden, full services in Arches NP
In Arches National Park near the west side of Elephant Butte is a series of desert towers that make up an area the park service calls “The Garden of Eden.” Two towers in that collection are Owl Rock and Bullwinkle Tower, arguably two of the easiest desert towers in the Moab area. That’s not to say they are easy, but just that they’re the easiest. After a fun morning scrambling to the summit of Elephant Butte, the park highpoint, I wanted to try my hand at some of the nearby spires. There was a group of three climbing Owl Rock as we retrieved our gear from the car, and decided to head to Bullwinkle Tower to give the group a chance to summit and descend.
It was straight forward cross country through the desert, dropping through some shallow washes to reach the sandstone saddle below the West Chimney of Bullwinkle Tower. Rated at 5.6, it is for sure the easiest tower in the area. I had brought some larger cams for the chimney, and after racking up at the base, started up the low angled slabs up the pitch.
I was a bit surprised to find I needed to make a tricky mantle to access the chimney with really nothing for protection. The hands were a bit gritty and slope-y but the move was not all that exposed. Pulling myself up to the base of the chimney, I plugged in a cam as a redirect for Holly then started up the chimney.
It was more of an off width crack than a chimney down low, a bit awkward and strenuous for a 5.6 with a slightly bulge midway to work around. My BD #5 protected this well, and I pulled around the bulge to a ledge partway up and start of the much wider, more genuine chimney section.
There was excellent hands and feet and I slowly squirmed my way up, plugging a cam or two into the crack in the back, although the rock was a bit chossy and suspect for holding a fall. A few chokestones block easy exit at the top of the chimney, but some cord was hanging down to clip for easy protection for the final move, working out and around the lodged rocks to the notch between the summits. I was disappointed to find that the three bolt summit anchor had been reduced to one, with some cord wrapped around the wedged summit blocks for back up. I quickly scrambled to the summit to tag the highpoint, then dropped back to the notch to figure out an acceptable anchor.
Although not great in the way of nonextending, I decided to belay off the single bolt using the cord as a back-up, feeling like this was safer than potentially dislodging the rocks using this as the primary anchor. Holly started up, mad by the unprotected mantle I did at the start, then equally surprised by the lower tricky off-width given the 5.6 rating. This surprise turned to anger when she saw the anchor situation.
“Next time we do a climb and it’s something like this, I’d rather not come up.” Noted.
We decided to rappel off the single bolt, something we had done in the past but certainly less than ideal. Holly went first and I followed without incident. Hopefully we would find a better anchor on the much more popular Owl Rock.
The group of three had finished their climb (I think only two made it up) and we cut across the desert to the west side of Owl Rock. Most comments on MP suggested this climb was quite easy for a 5.8, and I confidently started up despite being surprised by the trickiness of the 5.6 route on Bullwinkle just moments before.
I traversed over from a ramp, and plugged in a cam down low for an easy low fifth class move. This cam would become my undoing and would ultimately cause an incredible amount of rope drag with a tight bend in the rope. But it was hardly noticeable at the beginning of the route as I started up the crack, moving briefly to better holds on the face right off the crack to get around an early bulge. As I started up, I had to agree that the hands and feet were excellent, but I was a bit surprised by the sustained nature and lack of no-hands rests with multiple bulges and slight over hangs preventing a full rest. As I climbed and placed a few pieces of protection, I started to notice the rope drag due to a combination of the first lower piece and the deep nature of the crack despite extending with slings. About half way up, I reached a decent no hands rest and radioed down to Holly that I was taking a break. The second half of the crack required a bit more hand jamming, made harder by the cactus spines deep in the crack thanks to packrats. I cursed as I plucked the spines from my hands, hanging precariously off the rock face. This easy tower was proving to be more difficult than expected. The final 20′ of the climb angled up and to the left, and I could see easier ground just out of reach. I started working out left up the crack, the rope drag becoming horrendous with the additional jag of the line. It was the only spot I thought I was going to fall, not from the difficulty of the climb but the rope pulling me backwards. I was able to grab a Jesus hold to prevent a fall and pulled up the rope behind me, plugging in a cam and taking another long needed rest despite being only about 10′ below the anchors. My arms were starting to get pumped from pulling myself up with the drag, and I needed to pull up the rope behind me before making each slow move up to the anchors, situated a few feet below the summit. I clipped into the three bolt anchor and painfully started pulling up the slack, throwing my body into each pull just to gain a few feet. I honestly can’t remember the last lead that created this much drag, even with the crack slotting issue I had on Munginella. The lead and pulling up the slack took me nearly an hour combined and the temperatures were quickly dropping as sunset approached in the late winter afternoon. By the time Holly could start up, her hands and feet both numb and she was far too cold to enjoy the climb. Not to mention the cactus spines she also received while jamming.
We briefly sat at a notch below the summit and I slapped the summit rocks before rappelling down.
We quickly packed our things and drove around to the windows area to watch the sunset from the warmth of our car before heading back into Moab for the night.
