More catch-up blog posting, moving along to the month of May. It was getting warm in Tucson and we were making preparations for our typical "get outta here for a few months" summer travels. In the meantime, plenty of interesting goings-on to keep us entertained.
John joined me for an FKT! Actually, I was the one tagging along. He had been looking at the Front Range Triple, a set of peaks in the Catalinas. He had been up on Kimball and Window before, Cathedral would be new, and if he tried it alone he would have to do it quite quickly. I was curious about the summits and would never have gotten up there on my own. Together perhaps we could make it happen.
My writeup, with additional photos:
Big day in the Front Range of the Catalinas! John and I have been eyeing this route for a while, and we had both seen various parts of it (mostly on solo missions) at various times. Early May might not seem ideal timing in terms of temperature, but we had to wait for the end of Bighorn mating season, and it actually turned out fine because we spent all day up high.
Time starts at the Finger Rock trailhead:
The climb to the top of Mount Kimball went really well, moderating our effort with the upcoming additional climbing in mind. I was careful on all of the downhills, protecting a knee that had recently gotten some overuse.
On top of Kimball (the easy one):
The camera fittingly focused on Cathedral and Window in the background instead of our summit recording:
Down and up to the Window, and we realized this was the first time we were there together. Love that spot!
And over here we can see Kimball where we were not long ago...
A bit more climbing up the trail toward the summit:
John led the way to the little gully and belayed me up to the summit of Window Peak. It was so neat sitting up on the rocks and looking to each side to see where we had just come from and where we were going next.
I don't know if I ever really imagined I'd be up here, and yet here we are:
A tentative summit pose:
I'll just sit down while we take a better picture, including Tucson behind us:
Down and up again, making our way over to the saddle below Cathedral Peak.
As if that wasn't enough climbing, the last mile of off-trail travel has some steep and sometimes sandy sections. John followed cairns plus Michael's track (previous FKT runner) on the phone. We located what we later realized was the "notch" where I got another belay from John as I scrambled up a rock groove without a lot of handholds.
There was also easy walking occasionally:
We had to deal with some pokey vegetation (where I occasionally exclaimed "holly hell!" and should have added "Holly Schmitt!") on the way to the base of the rope-assisted climb. John is a mountain goat and scampered up, while I donned my harness and ascender. The gear was greatly appreciated, and soon we were just below the summit block.
John followed some instructions I had printed out (climbing up from the south side) but discovered that the north side would probably be more to my liking, and I completely agree. One more belay and we were sitting on the top together - mission complete! And what a view. We enjoying the airy vantage point, watching a bunch of ravens playing in the wind currents around us.
FKT time stops here, thank goodness:
Rock towers all around us:
The summit block with a raven soaring across the sky:
I was grateful to have an ATC for a rope rappel:
John followed, and the fact that he's actually using the rope should tell you something about this section:
Wow, were we just up there? Crazy!
I was continually grateful for John's belays as we got ourselves back to the trail. Thank you John, and thank you Cathedral!
It's a long, long way down to Sabino, which actually helped with a setting sun and cooler temperature by the time we got there. All 3 summits in one photo from our finishing trailhead:
What do you think, John, how awesome was that? I'd say we're an effective team.
One Lyft later and we were back to our truck. That was quite a thing!
The FKT webpage:
In other (old) news...
I just happened to be running near the Desert Museum when I noticed the dinosaurs getting loaded up to ship out. Glad we got to see y'all in the "wild" Arizona desert:
Hanging out with Katy and Gavin after an orienteering event in a local park, where Gavin shows once again how he will never pose for a normal picture:
Found during some scouting in Tucson Mountain Park:
Local petroglyphs:
This rock wall has a bunch of them:
Trivia night with Katy and Gavin, and I think Gavin is having an effect on our selfie faces:
John and I trekked up to Thimble Peak, pausing to check out the largest dam we've come across in the Catalinas:
At the base of Thimble where I was happy to hang out for a few minutes - and John says "Hi!"
We might come back sometime with belay gear, but for now John was happy to scout the scramble up the slot:
Nice job, John!
A cairn for Mom, and a really nice view of the inner Catalina canyon:
Rock heART:
We're still having fun around here, seeing new things while adding additional items to the list. More to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment