Nonplussed on Dust on Crust

The rock is dusty shale, as soft as it can be and still be climbable with standard aid gear. Key is to climb only on near-vertical surfaces as anything lower-angle is severely rotten. Start on the west side, at the base of a 200-foot pink buttress with a couple bolts at the top.

P1: South-facing seams lead upward to a ledge and a 10-foot jog left. Cracks above here get easier but the rock turns to styrofoam. A 4-bolt ladder leads to a prow at 200' with a couple bolts. Move 15' left here to a nice ledge and belay (the Bunker Belay) with with one bolt and one 1/2-inch hole (215', A3).

P2: Traverse right, past a fixed Stopper and two bolts to the main, white, body of the tower (A3, 60'). Bolted, hanging belay.

P3: Head upward past three bolts, staying mostly left of the mud curtain, to another hanging belay (To avoid the hanging belay and risk of debris falling on the belayer, P2 and P3 can be combined with careful rope work and lots of slings) (A3, 100') note: three bolts, the rightmost belay bolt is 4", the others are 6".

P4: The lower angle terrain just above is crumbly; some shovel-work and step-kicking is required to reach more solid, vertical terrain. Wander upward past a nice knife-blade crack and a few bolts. Just below the top, the rock becomes shattered; Some fussy, clean nutwork seems advisable. A couple steeper moves gain the summit (A3, 100').

The tower sits just outside Kodachrome Basin State Park, a few miles southeast of Bryce Canyon. Access is through the state park, where rock climbing is not allowed, but the tower itself is on BLM land.

Descent: The summit is comprised of large flakes jumbled together. The summit anchor comprises two bolts (one, 4"-long, with hanger, very good, and one, 6"-long, without hanger, not so good), and a pair of decent large fixed stoppers (a large Hexentric on wire would work better). Rappel 100' to the top of Pitch 3. Rappel 100' to the top of Pitch 2. Rappel 200' to the ground.

Many pitons, from Birdbeaks (half-dozen or so) and larger Peckers/Tomahawks (dozen) through BD Specters (2) to a few angles up to 2-inch. Many nuts (often hammered "stopperhead-style) from RPs to large stoppers. Cams from Aliens to fist size cams. Most bolts, particularly the belay bolts are 1/2"x 6" with a few 1/2" x 4" and even a couple 3/8" in the mix. A big Hexcentric would be helpful to back up the summit rappel anchor.