Sven Towers 3273′
Rock Climbing
Total Time: 7:40
Distance: 3.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 1150′
Crux: 5.6 for both Sven Tower II and III
Companions: Colin Pickles
Trailhead: Tom’s Thumb Trailhead, toilets, no water
Tucked above the main Toms Thumb trail on the eastern side of the McDowells sits a serious of spires known as the ‘Sven Towers’. Named for the Sven saw used to cut an approach route when they were first climbed, they host a number of multipitch routes on interesting lines to small granite summits. Sven Tower I isn’t much of a tower, and holds six routes on some granite outcroppings north of the rounded, nontechnical summit. While Sven Tower II only has one route, it has three quality beginner pitches to a small summit with an interest crux down low. Sven Tower III has at least 10 different routes and is the most ‘tower-like’ of the bunch, with a large exposed summit that can only be reached by technical climbing. I had not climbed any routes on the Sven Towers, and the plan for the day was to climb the Sven II Arête 5.6, and check out Sven Tower III depending on time. Colin and I met at the Toms Thumb Trailhead at 8:30 and quickly left the main trail for the Feldspar Trail heading more directly south.
We passed by the ‘Girlie Man’ climbing area continuing past up the drainage towards the Towers on the ridgeline. Although the climbers trail was thinner than the main trail, the signs were excellent and we quickly found ourselves at a saddle below Sven Tower III.
A sign directed us further along the trail to the east, and we racked up near the here. I knew our descent route would take us down the backside and bring us here, saving us a second scramble back to the base. Harnesses on and a rope slung over Colin’s back, we rounded the corner to find the 3 pitch arête directly ahead.
The climber’s trail thinned considerably here, and staying on route was made even more difficult by the thick grass that had grown since the previous rain. But we eventually made our way to the base of the route and flaked the rope to start climbing. The first pitch had the crux at a small bolted roof, but from below it looked straightforward.
With a few quick safety checks I started up, placing a cam early to protect a huge drop past the belay into a deep crevice. I found a carabiner at the bolt at the crux- obviously someone found the 5.6 rating to be quite sandbagged. I clipped a quickdraw into the bolt and started up crimps above the roof… then immediately backed off. I was weighting a flake of rock that seemed like it could break without warning, and the better holds required a committing step out left towards the arête proper. I studied the rock closely, then started back up, moving slowly past the crux up to a second bolt just left of the arête. I would agree the move felt a bit harder than 5.6, more like 5.7-5.8. But the difficulty eased considerably past the first bolt, and I clipped a few more bolts as I slab climbed up the arête, placing a few cams in some horizontal cracks higher up. I passed the first belay station and continued climbing up the second pitch, rated 5.0.
I am by no means a great climber, but I thought the 5.0 rating was a bit overkill- the second pitch was very low angled slab, class 3 at worst. I didn’t place a single piece and built an anchor off two bolts at the second belay station to bring up Colin. With only a few cams to clean, Colin followed and cleaned the two pitches quickly and met me at the second belay station. He also agreed the 5.6 rating seemed a bit sandbagged at the crux, but the rest of the route was very casual. The third and final pitch to the top of the Tower was rated 5.4 and only 15 meters. I started up, working through an early mantle to the first bolt, continuing on the final bit of the arête to the summit.
I think it took more time for me to pull up all the rope slack than for Colin to climb the final pitch to meet me, and we untied and enjoyed the first McDowells summit of the season. It was only 10:15, plenty of time to try our hand at some of the routes on Sven Tower III, sitting directly to the west.
After a short break we rappelled off, finding a use trail heading through a small tunnel to bring us back to our packs.
After some water and additional sunscreen, we followed the signs to the base of Sven Tower III, this being much more well traveled compared to Sven Tower II. We planned to climb the Right Rib, another three pitch 5.6 that was similarly a mix of sport and trad. We again flaked the rope, and I used a giant flake to climb up to the first bolt.
The start of the route was fairly straightforward slab climbing, bringing me to an off width crack that was the crux of the route. I stuck a cam in deep and started up, finding excellent hands on feet on the right side of the crack obviating the need for any off width technique. As I continued past the crux to more low angled slab, I couldn’t help but note that the crux for this 5.6 was far easier than the first route. The climbing was a bit more varied on this route, with large cracks and seams to use, along with the rib of rock the route followed and the usual McDowells crimps. I stopped at the first belay station and brought up Colin, who paused briefly at a section a few bolts below that required a step around to the left of the rib. Similar to the route on Sven Tower II, the second and third pitches of this route were quite short with a forgettable, easy second pitch. I decided to link them together to the summit, and headed up the easy low angle slabs of the second pitch to the Y-crack finish. The third pitch was probably my favorite for the day. After a continuation of the easy slabs, the route cut left to the Y-crack, requiring a jump across a deep chasm.
I started placing cams in the Y-crack, made a bit more challenging by the flaring nature of the crack deeper in. The best part was where the crack branched into the ‘Y’ and I could get one hand in each side with decent feet straight up the middle. At the top of the crack, I was only a few feet below the summit, but needed to walk about 20’ left across a shallow catwalk to one final bolt and a mantle to the summit. The meandering nature of the final pitch meant that there was considerable rope drag, and I had a hard time bringing up the slack until Colin was at least to the jump across the rock gap. This also meant the cams were prone to walk, and despite some sling extensions, my first cam had walked itself into a fully cammed position, giving Colin some great practice on working to free it. His orange helmet popped into view at the top of the Y-crack, and bobbed just below the summit slabs as he walked across the catwalk to the final summit mantle. We broke out snacks and drinks for our second summit of the day, 6 pitches in and only 12:15. Of the two routes, I enjoyed the Right Rib of Sven Tower III more, although it was certainly easier.
Our break on top of Sven Tower III was much longer, and after about 30 minutes, we rappelled off the west side back to the use trail. We still had plenty of daylight left, and decided to try some harder routes at Girlie Man since we would pass by it on the way out. I had climbed everything there aside for Girlie Man and Sphincter Boy on the north end, the two hardest there.
We hiked to the base and found the routes empty, and Colin scrambled up to set a top rope. Without going into brutal detail, I’ll say climbing those two tough pitches on top rope took just as long as one of the multipitch climbs. I can only imagine how much more difficult those routes have become over the years with small crystals popping off and erosion making the start lower and lower. When we had finally bagged the two routes, we packed up our things and headed back to the trailhead, our fingers too raw to try anything else for the day.
