October 6, 2014 | Seven Summits

Tiara Rado 2

by Brandon Chalk | Oct 6, 2014 | Rock Climbing

Jesse and I returned to our new favorite desert crack climbing crag in Colorado National Monument outside of Grand Junction this past Saturday. Its a very nice day trip for me from Edwards while a much longer drive for Jesse from Denver, but its all worth it.

I led the familiar Short Cupped Hands (5.9+) and then Jesse jammed it very well

Jesse higher on Short Cupped Hands

Temperatures were in the mid 70s and the weather was just about perfect. We saw two other fellas heading for Oompah Tower, whom we later saw on the Tower’s summit, but that was it the entire day. This place is a real gem. We went onto attempt the classic line called 100′ Hands, which goes at around a 5.10a/b. It was a very enduring pitch for me to lead, as it was just so long with not many rests at all, but I led it clean and was happy with myself. It definitely ate up the gear – a lot of gear goes into a 100′ hand crack.

Me beginning the lead of 100′ Hands (5.10a/b)

Getting my first piece of pro

Getting out of the corner and onto the face about 20′ up

Karate chop jams

So good and fun

Close-up of me plugging away

A long route

Jesse on 100′ Hands

Jesse in the corner of 100′ Hands

Jesse hand & foot jamming

Doctor Hill

Jesse nearing the final portion of 100′ hands

I then top-roped 100′ Hands and had a good time swinging around on the way down

We checked out the route called Singles (5.10a) next door to 100′ Hands, but we did not have any #5 cams, so next time. We scoped out a few more future climbs and then concluded with the familiar Dirty Martini (5.10).

Me leading Dirty Martini (5.10)

After climbing Dirty Martini, Jesse had to stem up and summit this tower

On top

Then, I had to do it, of course

Success

On the hike out, the two locals we met on the hike in had topped out on the Oompah Tower. The scenery is spectacular and we really felt like we were understanding our surroundings better on this second trip to the area.