The Behemoth

BEHOLD...

I give you CASTLETON!!

I have had a desire to climb this beast for quite some time. Castleton is a beautiful 400 foot tall sandstone tower in the heart of Castle Valley near Moab. Christian and I had been talking about going for awhile but circumstances just never quite worked out... until this last weekend.

The hike to the base is pretty steep but the view was amazing.

Here are some photos of the climb...

Here is the second pitch. Christian is climbing while our crazy friend Chester looks on.

A comfy ledge somewhere in the middle...

The last pitch...

The two of us at the top...

Me looking for the geocache to sign in for the Crapo Cache-a-teers...

Rappelling down...

The following day we decided to climb The Priest. This climb was definitely more challenging. The first two pitches were one long squeeze chimney. This kind of climbing was new to me. It involves a lot of pain and leaves you feeling torn up and completely destroyed. In essence... AMAZING:)

The Priest is the tower all the way on the left side.

The squeeze chimney involves a very slow process where you inch your way up much like a worm. You do this by pushing with your feet and then pressing your arm as a wedge into the chimney all the while pressing your knees against the walls to hold your body inside the chimney crack without slipping. Eventually the crack widens and you start pressing your back against the wall and walking up with you legs almost completely extended on the other side. I have the biggest bruises all over!

Traversing into the belly of the Priest...

Scary!

View of Castleton from a ledge in the middle of the Priest...

We made it to the top...

4 pitch rappel...

Afterwards we stopped at this delicious Mexican Restaurant and ate till we were ready to explode. Yummy!

Christian had the Carne Asada Burrito...

I had the Chicken Mole...

Chester had some deliciousness as well!

I love weekends in the Desert:)