The top of the North Guardian Angel in the Kolob section of Zion National Park. This is a 5th class scramble and rope and climbing skills are required.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Monday, April 18, 2005
Kolob: North Guardian Angel
This was a great climb. The weather was warm, but we were concerned there would be snow on the face of the entry. We hiked up to the North Guardian Angel and sure enough there was. We decided to go for it anyway and chose a route to the left of the usual crack. It was not bad at all, but we did have to still cross a couple of snow sections.
Bo Beck, my hiking partner led the way. He tied in and took the rope up the side of the mountain. I was terrified of him doing this but he said its a breeze. He took off up the side of the moutain (a fall here would be deadly) with his HUGE backpack on. I shook my head and decided that since he does teach climbing and he is a Zion search and rescue veteran I need to just trust he won't get hurt. So I pulled out my camera and starting shooting. He threw the rope down and I climbed up, but he had the rope secured and I was totally safe. At the same time three other guys were climbing up the mountain side. I found this unusual that we had chose the same day to climb since when we got to the top and looked at the log it is obvious that few have ever climbed the North Guardian Angel. The peak is on some list hoewver as one of the top 100 peaks one needs to climb, so its getting more attention lately.
Bo had done the peak once before, almost one year ago. Our friend Ram had done it 13 times! I like a little more variety in life, but that is quite the accomplishment. We climbed the rest of the mountain in the same manner. We all got to the top and signed in on the book. (the book is modly and needs someone to bring up a new jar to put it in!)
On the way down we all went together. We had a hand line and climbed down to the ridge. The snow had melted quite a bit but we were stilll unable to go down the crack. The descent was actually easier than the ascent.
This was another great trip with my best friend Bo. I hope to do many more!
Bo Beck, my hiking partner led the way. He tied in and took the rope up the side of the mountain. I was terrified of him doing this but he said its a breeze. He took off up the side of the moutain (a fall here would be deadly) with his HUGE backpack on. I shook my head and decided that since he does teach climbing and he is a Zion search and rescue veteran I need to just trust he won't get hurt. So I pulled out my camera and starting shooting. He threw the rope down and I climbed up, but he had the rope secured and I was totally safe. At the same time three other guys were climbing up the mountain side. I found this unusual that we had chose the same day to climb since when we got to the top and looked at the log it is obvious that few have ever climbed the North Guardian Angel. The peak is on some list hoewver as one of the top 100 peaks one needs to climb, so its getting more attention lately.
Bo had done the peak once before, almost one year ago. Our friend Ram had done it 13 times! I like a little more variety in life, but that is quite the accomplishment. We climbed the rest of the mountain in the same manner. We all got to the top and signed in on the book. (the book is modly and needs someone to bring up a new jar to put it in!)
On the way down we all went together. We had a hand line and climbed down to the ridge. The snow had melted quite a bit but we were stilll unable to go down the crack. The descent was actually easier than the ascent.
This was another great trip with my best friend Bo. I hope to do many more!
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