Castle Rock North via Wind, Sand and Snow (5.8)
Rigg's Hill from S. Broadway
January 14, 2012
Another quick trip to Grand Junction to spend some time with my family. In the morning, Jen and I took a quick trip up Rigg's Hill to stretch our legs out after plenty of time in the car. Later that afternoon we drove my folks out to Rabbit Valley to check out two 5 class summits, Castle Rock North and South. There is not much information on these two formations and I looked forward to checking them out. Anticipating a trip, I had asked Stewart Green about the two rocks and he recommend a route he put up the north rock in 2005 called Wind, Sand and Snow and also gave me some info on the very seldom-climbed south formation. Although snow clung to the shaded aspects, the road out to Castle Rock North was dry and went smoothly. I checked out the two other routes before committing to Stewart's slightly harder, but better protected line. The climb was sandy but very fun and the initial 5.8 wall passed quickly and relented to easy run-out scrambling to a single bolt belay. The second pitch ran past an old ring piton and up some grungy rock to the summit. The views from up top were nice, and the late afternoon light gave the surrounding bluffs a nice glow. I did a short rappel to the bolt below and then a double rope rappel put me on the ground. After we got back to the car it was too late to attempt Castle Rock South, but we drove around the rock to scope out possible routes for a later attempt. Although a very fun trip, I wish we could have stayed longer.
Another quick trip to Grand Junction to spend some time with my family. In the morning, Jen and I took a quick trip up Rigg's Hill to stretch our legs out after plenty of time in the car. Later that afternoon we drove my folks out to Rabbit Valley to check out two 5 class summits, Castle Rock North and South. There is not much information on these two formations and I looked forward to checking them out. Anticipating a trip, I had asked Stewart Green about the two rocks and he recommend a route he put up the north rock in 2005 called Wind, Sand and Snow and also gave me some info on the very seldom-climbed south formation. Although snow clung to the shaded aspects, the road out to Castle Rock North was dry and went smoothly. I checked out the two other routes before committing to Stewart's slightly harder, but better protected line. The climb was sandy but very fun and the initial 5.8 wall passed quickly and relented to easy run-out scrambling to a single bolt belay. The second pitch ran past an old ring piton and up some grungy rock to the summit. The views from up top were nice, and the late afternoon light gave the surrounding bluffs a nice glow. I did a short rappel to the bolt below and then a double rope rappel put me on the ground. After we got back to the car it was too late to attempt Castle Rock South, but we drove around the rock to scope out possible routes for a later attempt. Although a very fun trip, I wish we could have stayed longer.