Life in the desert is not at all like what I'm used to. The Bay Area, and the Northwest both seem to be more 'alive' at first glance. But the mountains surrounding Las Vegas and Saint George offer something different. More often than not, they're FULL of rock of all shapes and sizes, styles and types. Whatever you're in to, you can find it here.
The Phalanx of Will
My friend Benjit arrived in Saint George from Seattle on December 15. We were both excited to check out as many limestone sport crags as we could so we wasted no time. It was cold...too cold to climb comfortably at many of the best developed areas so we sought sunshine! Benjit had driven his Subaru Outback down here for the sole purpose of getting us to some of the walls that require a high clearance 4WD vehicle to access. Our first stop: a unique limestone tower in Arizona called 'The Phalanx of Will'. The rock is crazy! The downhill face rises over 160 feet out of the ground and the rock is littered with gritty Chert band intrusions that made for some excellent and unique face climbing on a gently overhung wall. It was a great first day of his journey...sort of...
Departing shot, right before we started driving the 8+ miles of dirt roads
The road to get to this formation is a little rough but not too extreme. We drove about a mile through a sandy wash with a few small rocks in the road. A Subaru with aftermarket lifted suspension like Benjit's should destroy the drive with no problems whatsoever. CLANG! We were smoothly trekking out of there when we hit something on the undercarriage of the car.
Snapped sway bar...how is that even possible?
Benjit going right to work to remove his broken sway bar
After the first pit stop to remove the dangling piece of sway bar we continued down the perfectly smooth and well maintained gravel road. One mile later the smell of burning rubber had us pulled over again. Somehow the rear tire opposite the side with the snapped sway bar was cambered in a good inch and the tire was now rubbing hard on the strut. Out came the tools again, and off came the tire. Thankfully his spare tire is not quite as wide and he was able to drive back to town without the spare getting destroyed too.
Thai food dinner after that 'adventure'
...And bowling too!
The next day we dropped Benjit's car off at a local auto shop for some repairs. He got his car back after a hefty $565 tab to replace several suspension parts and re-align his rear wheels. The moral of that story is, either don't go to The Phalanx of Will, or walk an extra 30 minutes to avoid driving through that wash. The road really is pretty mellow...we were both blown away that any damage was caused from a drive like that one...
The next day the weather was questionable and cold again so we headed to low elevation to check out the infamous Virgin River Gorge. As everyone who has ever climbed there has said, the climbing and rock quality at the VRG is AMAZING and certainly some of the best limestone in the USA...the hang, however, is tainted by the roar of passing semi trucks on the I-15 which was conveniently constructed a short 50 - 100 yards from the walls. As much as the noise detracts from some of the things I love about climbing, I will definitely go back there...probably more than once!! It's seriously THAT good!
The BEAUTIFUL view from the Mentor Cave at the VRG
Warming up on 'The Mentor'
The Blasphemy Wall and the famed 'Necessary Evil'...SOOO GOOD (minus the highway)!!
Tom M. and Benjit hiking out of the Mentor Cave
Tyrolean to access the 'Sun Wall'
There were a couple different days when the weather was too gnarly to climb (that's saying a lot considering we are both from the wet, cold Pacific Northwest). Those days were not wasted though. One day we hiked around the Mormon Mountains in search of some new(ish) crags and for walls to possibly bolt. The canyon we checked out was pretty cool and littered with limestone walls on all sides! It was a cloudy, cold day and we didn't find the wall we were looking for but we did see some cool stuff that Chris Lindner had established and enjoyed the adventure in the hills nonetheless!
'Ballin Alley' in the Mormon Mountains
We also checked out some other areas in the Utah Hills on a snowy, FREEZING windy day. I haven't been as cold as I was on that day for as long as I can remember. It wasn't the 35 degree air temperature that was tough to get through, but the 30 mile an hour wind gusts that made our exploration almost unbearable!
Benjit chipping away the snow and ice to cop a feel inside a perfect pocket at the 'Soul Assylum'
In search of the 'Sunset Alley'...the huge wall in the background is the 'Beaver Dam Wall'
Impressive HUGE cave at 'Sunset Alley'
After one week of looking around, I've concluded that the desert limestone and the adventure in this region is endless! I can see the appeal of living near Las Vegas if you enjoy climbing and or establishing routes!
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