Day 3 Elephant Butte (West Fins route - YDS 5.4); Arches National Park, Utah
Elephant Butte is the highest point or peak in Arches National Park.
Climbing this route is an absolute blast if you like exploring. It is something much different from the average “climb up and climb back down” desert rock climb. The route weaves in and out of fins, has several short 5th class pitches, flowing different little slot canyons, much scrambling, a rappel on the ascent route, and an interesting finish.
Day 3 Elephant Butte - West Fins route (YDS 5.4); Arches National Park, Utah
Usually the most technical climbing is not recorded for obvious reasons: other things have higher priority. This was the case in this trip - while I was contemplating which way to take above that exposed slab, Vera went up "just take a look"..in no time she was above me climbing YDS 5.4 grade unprotected rock - without knowing, she just completed the crux of the route in the "regular" MEC hiking shoes! 8)
California Climbers' Salute at the top of Elephant Butte, the highest point in the Arches National Park, Utah.
一路开，开向充满阳光和蓝天的地方。穿过多云的WA，我们渐渐地摆脱了久缠着的阴霾。即便周围还见冰雪，但到处都在春光明媚里，所以它们成了大风景下的美丽的点缀。中途在一个Utah的Rest Area，顺手拿了份杂志，才学习了“The great circle"这个概念，看了中缝的地图，地理很差的我才知道我们要去的方向。好！把一个个有兴趣的地方圈出来，噢，原来第一个经过的是Arches NP！（本来这可不是第一个目标）谢谢这本内容极丰富的杂志，这样，Arches成了我们的第一站。
Day 3 Elephant Butte - West Fins route (YDS 5.4); Arches National Park, Utah
Descent. A rather exotic suggestion to toss the pack with the gear down this class 4 section was rejected and more traditional method was agreed upon, lowering it down that is. 8)
Class 4 rock...better not to be downclimbed like this..unless you have somebody down there with bigger body mass to stop your fall..(if you get stuck not being able to keep climbing down, it would be very hard to climb back up from this position)
Day 3 Elephant Butte - West Fins route (YDS 5.4); Arches National Park, Utah
Butte：a hill that has steep sides and a flat top，中文“‘孤立的丘”。
Elephant Butte： the highest point or peak in Arches National Park. The peak is a flat-topped cap surrounded by many towers and fins forming one big butte.
那些最基本的，如水、食物、衣服、应急包等，大家心知肚明，无需赘言。我们可以说不管从哪个方面，都把最坏的情况做了考虑，所以来到TH时，完全充满了信心。公园7点开门，已是大亮，我们以为人多为患了，结果昨晚攀岩者众多的Hoodoo下冷冷清清（难道他们都喜欢下午的日光浴吗？），停车场只有一辆车，两个年轻的女孩正在背起绳子。你们去哪儿？Elephant Butte！以前去过吗？No. 那你们知道路线吗？No, but we have pictures. 我们也去，我们路上见！
Day 3 Elephant Butte - West Fins route (YDS 5.4); Arches National Park, Utah
Somewhere there is the second rappel station, which is the only practical way to get back. In this maize of hoodoos it is easy to get confused which way to go, but Vera did amazing homework, so we located it precisely!
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狗仔卡
发表于 2017-3-17 09:24:54
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发表于 2017-3-23 17:56:18
