
The route with Walt
and Kelly is in red;
my later retrace of
1999 route is blue.
|

The first time with my
AZ buds, we climbed
the low cl 5 cliffs, but
followed cairns to skirt
part of arete. Later
I avoided the cl 5, but
went directly up arete.
|

Context.
|

View ~east as we
start the SE ridge.
The area behind Kelly
was desert until ~2007,
when it was graded.
Actual house-building
started about 2016.
|

Walt is almost knocked
over by the wind.
|

View ~SW to Damsel/
Pincushion Peaks
|

View ~NW to the
start of 30-40' cl 5
|

The red is the route
I took. Note catclaw.
|

Now the same cliff,
but looking straight
past catclaw, to
show steepness.
|

I planned to offer
a belay, but my
buds were so fast
the rope was just
a handline. Kelly
in blue-green hat.
|

There is short benign
section, till one starts
the arete.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |

At the summit, the
view W is a whole
different world.
La Madre in back.
Next we will run
L to R on the "Woody"
ridge in foreground.
|

On Woody ridge,
someone has put
in bolts for a rap
over the cliffs. This
is a wilderness area,
and bolting has been
illegal since at least
2005.
|

Walking near the
edge. At R is a
100' cliff.
|
 |
 |

The last dryfall
of the day.
|

So a week later,
I went back solo
to finish the route
Matt and I started
22 years before.
|

An important note:
make sure you turn R
from the main drainage,
else you will end up
below the cl 5 cliff.
|

View down
subsidiary gully.
Cheyenne Mt
in back.
|

View up-drainage
to start of arete
|

View back down to
Cheyenne Mt
|

The 1999 trip
ended ~at the
red dot.
|
 |

Above the red dot
2 pics back, one
can follow cairns
for a more protected
climb, or go up the
very sticky rock on
the mid-arete.
|

Looking up,
the route
|

View back down
mid-arete
|

At L, the cairned
route joins the
arete again.
|

My one photo
from the summit: a
gastropod fossil.
|

I started down the
normal ascent route,
which would go down
the ridge at L... but
chose instead...
|

...to head down a
ridge W of the
normal descent.
From here it looks
totally benign...
|

...except there are
some peaklets
that are about 50'
above the ridge.
|

View N from top
of previous peaklet,
somewhat hairy
edge between.
|

And yet another
peaklet. After climbing
this one, I backed up
and went down at R.
|

Route down.
|
 |

Before the wilderness
closure, one could
drive to these
climbing walls.
|

View back at
lumpy ridge, so
benign on maps.
|