Tezcatlipoca 5200′
Rock Climbing– Utah
Total Time: 3:45
Distance: 3.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 950′
Crux: Class 5.7
Pitches: 1
Protection: Single 0.4-4, one quickdraw, webbing for anchors
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Sunshine Slabs, no services
Our last day in Moab was set to be another cold one. We were planning on driving to Vegas to finish our trip in Red Rocks that evening, so we needed to do something short, and ideally with some sun. But true to form, I was most interested in tackling another tower, and after pursuing the options, decided for an attempt on Tezcatlipoca just north of Arches National Park. The single pitch spire is named for an Aztec god associated with night, as the first ascent was done by a full moon. Although the climbing is reportedly not memorable, the approach is a nice hike which would allow us to warm up, and the spire itself looks like a fat penguin overlooking the valley below. The second part was more than enough for me to give it a go. We left Moab fairly early given the long drive to Vegas later that day, turning onto a well graded BLM road towards Sunshine Slabs, a south facing crag with free camping at the base. We were the only car there when we parked at the base of the slabs and set off from the car on the far west side of the crag, about 100 yards from the crag itself. The use trail was easy to find, heading directly back from a campsite at the first spot where it looked like you could walk up without getting cliffed out.
The trail led us to a broad slanted sandstone bench, climbing above the crag climbing routes to our right with higher boulders on the ridgeline above to our left. Many had commented that the approach hike was long but pleasant and I had to agree. The bench very slowly gained elevation, never steep or brushy with plenty of sandstone. The hardest part was avoiding stepping on the cryptosoil, although there were plenty of slabs to avoid the sensitive crust.
We followed this bench for over a mile until it met the ridgeline above at a pile of boulders, following the use trail over the crest and starting down the other side. As we descended, the route became less defined, the occasional cairn leading us around boulder piles and short steps. At a broad saddle not far below, we aimed for a blocky free standing pinnacle which I had seen in pictures.
My beta here said to cut hard right, although our objective was not clearly in sight. Walking over to the rim of sandy hanging valley, Holly was the first to spot our route, not looking like the penguin at all in the photos from our angle.
Now we just needed to scramble down to it. Dropping straight down the slabs required some steep slabs that seemed less than ideal. I moved to the left and found a ramp system down slabs that brought us into the sandy valley, followed by easy walking up to the bench and base of the spire.
I had to admit, it looked pretty cool. But the route to climb it, not so much. Rated at 5.7, the lower portion of the route was a dirty off width crack that was entirely in shade, meaning I would be fighting up cold dirty rock to get to the “cleaner” slab above.
We racked up in the sun, and I found Holly a belay spot to keep warm before I started up the climb. The start of the crack was fairly easy and took decent pro with some hands and feet. But the upper offwidth became more slick, and the flared walls were covered in sand, preventing me from making any real progress upward without blowing my feet every move. Not to mention the rock was ice cold, and I was quickly losing feeling in my fingers. I briefly contemplated downclimbing and calling the whole thing off, but managed to reach all the way back through the offwidth to pull on the back side of the crack, giving me enough leverage to pull myself up to the notch between the summit and the smaller spire to the west. I placed a marginal nut at the top of the off width then started up the steep slabs. Although there were plenty of flat steps, there was a layer of sand covering everything that I could literally wipe off with my fingers, and I felt very tenuous as I climbed up. I place a lousy small cam in a horizontal crack before moving to the piton and completely blew a foot on the sandy rock. I had two good hands and my other foot was solid, but it was enough to spook me that I took a nice pause at the piton once clipped into safety. There was probably only 3 more climbing moves to reach the anchor but I was officially no longer enjoying the climb and was happy to be topped out at the summit. I yelled down to Holly that the climb was not fun, made worse by the cold and sandy rock (likely no ascent since October based on MP ticks). But we were here, so she decided to climb it in gloves, making much quicker work of the off width section by stemming out wide on better hands and feet.
She moved up the upper slabs quickly on top rope and met me at the summit glad to both be in the warmth of the sun. From the top, it was hard to see much of Arches to the south, although there were many interesting spires in the immediate area that were all probably mostly unclimbed. Plenty of options for first ascents if you were willing to take the risks on the crummy sandstone.
The summit anchor was webbing that looked to be in decent shape, although considering how infrequently the spire is climbed, seemed worth replacing. I had brought up some fresh webbing and tied a new anchor, heading down first to get photos of Holly on the unique summit.
After her photo shoot she rappelled down as well and we packed our things for the hike out. We similarly lost the route in the slab beyond the free standing pinnacle but aimed for the boulders on the ridgeline above.
It was about 1 PM when we reached the car and figured we might have time to climb a route or two before heading to Vegas. There were climbers on the main wall of Sunshine Slabs so we climbed some of the shorter top rope lines to the left before packing up and heading west to Vegas for the rest of our extended climbing trip.