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Located just east of Moab, Castle Valley is one of the best known areas for climbing desert towers. Overall, the rock as as good as desert sandstone (Wingate) gets. Most routes start at honest 5.9. The most well-known towers include Castleton Tower, The Rectory, The Priest, and Sister Superior, with Castleton (elev. 6656 ft) being the most famous desert tower in the entire area. Castleton was the first major tower climbed in the area, via the Kor-Ingalls route (5.9), which is one of the Classic Climbs of North America. However, many climbers agree that the North Chimney route on the other side of the tower—also rated 5.9—is a better and more sustained climb. Since I had never been to the area before, Castleton seemed like a good target. Karl had climbed this tower multiple times by multiple routes, but was happy to spend a morning running up the North Chimney.
Climb 1 - Sept 10 CASTLETON Tower North Chimney Castle Valley Trad, 3-4 pitches, 375', 5.9 • This is a fantastic climb, and one of the easier ways up Castleton. The first pitch may be the best 5.9 in the desert. This route climbs the obvious chimney on the north side of the tower. It is four pitches, although the final pitches can be combined to make it a three-pitch adventure. To descend rappel (double ropes for at least one rap) the North Face or the Kor-Ingalls. The approach took just under an hour, the climb took us just under two hours, the descent was a quick three rappels, and we were back in town with plenty of time for Karl to cook some gourmet fixings for the hungry tourist crowd of Moab (he mentioned something grilled sea bass with crusted with pistachio nuts topped with pineapple salsa and blueberry peach puree with wild rice pancakes and sauteed asparagus...). Thanks Karl for the fun morning!
Photos:
a.  b.  c.  d.  e.  f.  g.  h.  i.  j.  k.  l.  m.  n.  o.  p.  q.  r.  s.  t.  u.  v.  w.  x.  y.  z.  a2.  | Photo descriptions:
a. Castleton Tower from the trailhead. The north side of the tower is the left skyline. The approach from trailhead to base of route took us about 50 minutes.
b. Shadow of Castleton on the hills below. The green Castle Valley area is below on the left.
c. Almost there. The morning clouds swirling around the tower were pretty cool.
d. Karl at the base of the route, getting ready for the climb.
e. Karl leading up the first pitch, twin handcracks, 5.9ish.
f. A photo taken midway through the first pitch. This is reportedly one of the best 5.9 pitches in the area.
g. A potentially loose block near the top of the first pitch. Looked loose but felt solid.
h. Kar leading up the second pitch. He is at the short crux offwidth section, and above this is a chimney. This pitch felt 5.9 to me.
i. A bolt at the offwidth section. The bolt does not generate confidence, but you can protect the move with a #5 cam.
j. An old piton at the belay spot at the top of the second pitch.
k. The view out of the chimney from the top of the second pitch. This shows the chockstone at the top of the chimney. This panorama was created by stitching together six photos.
l. The large chockstone at the top of the chimney. You climb behind this.
m. The final bit of climbing on the route, which is the same as the final portion of the Kor-Ingalls route. Many people belay where I am standing and make this Pitch 4, but Karl combined it with the previous pitch.
n. Calcite on the final pitch.
o. The summit.
p. There are two main ways to descend: rappel the North Face or rappel the Kor-Ingalls. This photo shows the topmost of the North Face rappel anchors.
q-r. Summit view towards The Convent, Sister Superior, The Priest, The Nuns, and The Rectory.
s. Karl found $200 in the summit register. We left it for the next lucky climber.
t. We rappelled the Kor-Ingalls route in three raps. THe first was a double-rope rap while the second and third were single rope raps.
u-v. The beefy rappel anchors.
w. Shadow fun on the rappel.
x. Looking up the 2nd and 3rd pitches of the Kor-Ingalls route during the rappel.
y. A view of the Fisher Towers area. Apparently the sandstone is covered with a thick layer of mud, which makes the climbing dirty, loose, difficult, and sometimes very dangerous. There are a few good routes in the Fishers I'd like to check out some day.
z. A final view of Castleton from the parking lot. I'm hooked on desert towers now.
a2. Karl and his guidebook "High On Moab". I got a chance to skim through the guide during the drive, and was impressed with the quality of the photography and the sheer amount of routes and beta in the book. Guidebook junkie that I am (I like to have a guidebook for every place I've climbed), I might have to get one to oogle at over the long dark winter in the Pacific Northwest....
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