The Bluff Member--East Chimney aka Slotted Deep

A free-standing, rather shapely tower that is only detached from the adjacent cliffs by 10' or so and blends against them from several vantages. It is perched at the mouth of the canyon, and is clearly visible from much of the stretch of 191 as it passes through Bluff. This is one of the only local towers with a viable weakness; the other prominent towers obvious from town would be predominantly bolt ladder affairs and have been left alone due to their visibility to the non-climbing public. Although this route fell at a moderate grade, it involves a somewhat convoluted approach requiring some logistical savvy, and some climbing over very soft rock and hollow features. It is best suited for true desert rats.

Follow the approach directions to a comfortable staging area (marked with modern "petroglyphs") below the north side of the tower. Some 4th class scrambling up a blocky cleft leads to the notch between the tower and the adjacent cliff and a two bolt belay anchor. From the notch, the belayer will lower the leader down the blocky chute to the south (facing town) for about 25' or so. The leader can then access the very sandy, narrow ledge that leads into the chimney system which splits the tower and begin climbing. Once the leader reaches the summit, do not pull up any rope right away. The belayer must rig a short rappel down to a stance below the chimney, where the leader can then pull up the rope and belay them up. We opted for this rather logistically complex approach, as the approach to the base of the south side of this notch requires much sketchy hiking and accessing the chimney from this side would require some very loose, sketchy climbing up the horrible Wanakah band of rock.

The entrance into the chimney is very sandy and has some blocky garbage to skirt around. Once in the security of the chimney, one can commence wriggling up the featured cleft. The first bolt is placed quite high to facilitate a decent rope-line since the leader will be belayed from the notch. However, the lower portion of the chimney is pretty mellow, albeit silty. After the bolt, there are several cracks throughout, which afford decent protection options. The chimney gets progressively less featured and more difficult, until you pop out at the notch between the lower (south) and higher (north) summits. The rock turns very soft at this notch, with some sizeable hollow loafs to treat gingerly or avoid. Clip two bolts and commit delicately to some large hollow features on the north summit. After a couple of tricky moves, the climbing rolls over onto the final slab and gets easier to the cool, flat summit. There is a register.

The tower sits at the very mouth of the canyon, on the east side. Hike past it for a 100' or so on the good path in the canyon bottom, before heading up the short, steep, loose hillside to the base of the north side of the tower. Gear up here at a comfortable staging area against the cliff; you will rap right back to this zone from the summit. Start out of the notch between the tower and the adjacent cliff, accessed from the north side.

Rap off with a FULL 70m rope and knot the ends. This is a rope stretching rappel.

3 bolts, stoppers, (1X) .3-#1 Camalots, replacement webbing for the summit anchor.