'Dead Out' Spire.

Well that is what Im going to call it...

I absolutely love climbing on the spires of Sedona. What an amazing feature to climb! Every single time you reach the summit of a spire you are greeted with some of the most spectacular views! I also think that topping out the spires of Sedona is one of the most unique and inspiring things that I can do with my climbing.

With that being said...

The idea of being the first person to reach a summit on a spire is even more inspiring. There is something amazing about the quest to be the first person to the top. It is a unique feeling of motivation. The adventure in finding a spire, the challenge of the unknown terrain, and of coarse the unseen view from the top.

So... I was pretty psyched when recently I received an invitation to join some friends in climbing a unclimbed spire.

John and Chris had recently done all the dirty work of tracking down the approach and climbing potential of this limestone spire in West Fork Canyon. After decided that the climbing was doable they were nice enough to invite me along for a day of new routing.

John wearing his
'new routing shirt'

Woke up early to avoid the unavoidable Summer heat of Arizona and drive out to the spot. After about 45 minutes of driving on a number of unknown dirt roads we made it to the lookout over all of Oak Creek Canyon. The location was rad! The forest was green from our wet winter and the temperatures were still cool from the night before. After a pretty easy (for Sedona) hike we made it to the rim.

Record Alligator Juniper?
280ish inches...

The view was unbelievable. It is crazy to see how big West Fork and Oak Creek really is...

Once we reached the base of the spire I pretty quickly realized that we didn't really avoid any of the Summer heat...it was warm and in the sun. We started climbing any ways. John was fired up to go first so I just sat around and took photos as John headed up the first pitch. Chris and I were hot baking in the sun but I can only imagine how hot it was climbing that first pitch...

The climbing was really fun. The quality of the rock was actually quite exceptional (despite my doubts) and the actual movements were really fun. You got to climb up some really cool featured limestone.

1000 foot trundle.

Little limstone finger
features

Once we all made it to the first ledge we quickly discovered that our unclimbed spire had some hardware evidence that the spire had been climbed...bummer. We were all a little bummed out that we were actually not the first ascentionist and after a moment of self pity we decided to rally to the summit anyways.

Thumb down to

not being the first.

Im glad we did. It was a beautiful and proud summit.

Few summit shots


On the summit we discovered more evidence of a previous party and we decided to get off and out of the beating sun. After some climbing trickery we were back on the ground and ready to head out and back home. I was feeling pretty fatigued. Not so much from the climbing but mostly from the sun. I remember why I left the desert for the high country.

Over all it was a great day. It was a little bit of a bummer that we were not the firsts but really who cares?? I love just getting out with good company and mixing up the daily habit a little bit.

Sometimes it takes a good climb to remember that I don't just climb because the rock is there, but because I feel I need to.

Exploring one of the limestone caves.
Chris found the bones of a mountain lions dinner (???).
A preserved headless snake.
A small piece of pottery.

The spire is in the back ground.