TR: Otto's Route
David Fawcett
The recent rash of TR's motivated me to finally finish this one. Hope
that you enjoy it.
David.
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Otto’s Route (II,5.8+)
September, 1996
The tent fly amplified the sound of light rain quietly hitting our
tent. Rebecca and I had left Rifle the day before, and spent the day
getting “arched out” in Utah. Now it was about 2:00 am at our campsite
up on the rim in Colorado National Monument. We planned to get up
early, and climb Otto’s Route on Independence Monument.
Dougald’s R&I article about moderate desert towers piqued my interest,
and Otto’s Route seemed to have the right combination of grade,
location, exposure, and history. John Otto, a route chipper way before
his time, climbed Independence in the early 1900’s by drilling 1” holes
in the soft sandstone and inserting pipes to create ladders through some
of the technical sections. The pipes are gone, but many of the eroded
holes and steps remain.
The picture that hooked me was shot looking down at a climber moving up
the exposed spine of the sandstone fin. DejaNews revealed that Amanda
had been there looking for an aid route. She had gotten on the route
behind another party and bailed after the second pitch. “It was easy,
and I’m not very good.” Yeah right, this from the woman who soloed
Moonlight Buttress.
I was laying awake thinking about the route and the rain. The picture
of last pitch looked fantastic, but I didn’t see any gear on it. When
we got to the park, we drove to the lookout and scouted out the climb.
With the effects of scale and distance blurring the holds, the last
pitch looked quite steep and wild. Dougald told me that it was “exposed
and runout, but it was only 5.5 until the fixed pins.” My mind flashed
back to a slab at Lumpy that was only 5.7. Well into my pre-climb
psychout, I was worried that the rain would soften the sandstone,
forcing us to bail. I also had a fleeting thought wishing for heavier
rain so I could just get some sound sleep.
The morning brought sunshine and dry air. An hour of mellow hiking got
us to the base of the monument, where it didn’t take us long to find the
route. I racked up a big wall rack and tied into the two 9mm’s. The
first pitch followed a 4th class ramp up to a block. Awkward moves
around the big block led to a low angle corner-crack that went at about
5.5 with the addition of Otto’s holes. A few slab moves reach some
fixed pins and then the bolted belay. The second pitch is described as
a 5.8 squeeze slot with some pipe holes. My colorful imagination had
pictured a full-on 5.8 stemming chimney, not 10 feet of wide crack with
perfect 3-finger pockets on each side. I reached the next fixed belay
wondering where the chimney was. The pockets felt huge after Rifle, and
they made great placements for #1.5 and #2 Tricams. I ended up walking
through most of the next 3rd class “pitch” looking for the big chimney.
We unroped and walked through the “Time Tunnel”, a 3rd class slot up to
a large ledge. From the ledge, I got a view of the last two pitches and
started laughing. They looked so short and reasonable! Time to grab a
few Tricams and small aliens, and ditch the rack. After the slot,
Rebecca was more than happy to get rid of the pack. Pitch three was
easy 5.8 face climbing utilizing Otto’s artwork, clipping solid fixed
pins to a fixed belay on another big ledge.
The last true pitch is fantastic. Starting right of the belay on the
ledge, I moved up a short step, and then dropped a #2 Tricam-cam into
one of Otto’s holes. The only piece that I placed until the pins. The
line moves up a steepening slap until it reaches an airy prow. Pipe
holes and carved steps made the climbing quite easy, and would have
allowed another Tricam placement or two. As the angle neared vertical,
I side-pulled a hole, and looked back before I clipped the first of
three very solid looking drilled pins. The formation fell away on both
sides of the fin, and now that the wind had picked up my ropes were
blowing in a big arc out to the side and then back to Rebecca. The
crux moves pull around the overhanging caprock to a belay ledge 8 feet
below the top. I paused between almost every move to drink up the view
and the exposure. You can step on the last existing pipe for aid, or
make the 5.8 moves. We decided to maintain the integrity of our ascent
style and free the moves. I belayed Rebecca up, and then tied in short
and climbed up myself.
The exposure and view from the top of Independence Monument were
fantastic. If you were watching TV back in the early ‘80s, you probably
saw a Jeep sitting on this summit at one time or another. The caprock
of the formation is the same unit that makes up the canyon rim about two
miles away. After starting the day on the rim, driving down to the
valley, hiking to the base and doing the climb, we were now at the same
elevation as the rim. In the distance, we could see the visitor center
where no doubt some guy from Iowa was experiencing our adventure through
the eyepiece of his Sony Hi-8 and people were getting out of their cars
for 30 second photo ops in front of the maw.
As usual, I had wasted good sleep for naught and brought twice the rack
that I had really needed. The formation that looked so formidable from
the rim, had gone in four easy to moderate pitches. It was a fantastic
day on a unique route with a great partner. I had climbed several
number grades higher at Rifle, but Otto showed me a lot more about why I
climb.
David.