Resolution Arete in a Day (Almost)

Resolution Arete (10.b, V, A0) in a Day (Almost)

March 1999

Story by Ben Craft

I had planned to do the Nose with my partner (Craig Clarence) but rain is in the forecast. I call Craig up, and tell him that it is raining.

Craig: What do we do now?
Ben: How about Resolution Arete?
Craig: I'm really sick. I think I have a bad cold.
Ben: That makes two of us.
Craig: Isn't it hard?
Ben: Naa, we should be fine. I heard it's not that bad. Besides it's Red Rocks. The ratings are always soft.
Craig: Ok
Craig: Think we can do it in a day?
Ben: I sure hope so. I'm not bringing any bivy gear.

So that day we headed to Red Rocks. We arrived at Oak Creek at 11pm and set the alarm for 3AM. The alarm went off way too early. We were walking at 3:15AM.

What - there's someone in front of us! So we follow them like fools. Neither of us has a clue where the start is. They looked like they were having trouble so we decided to take a gully a few hundred feet left. Never-the-less it was still the wrong gully! We lost about an hour on the approach. Swain's topo is absolutely correct on pointing out the start, but we couldn't see it in the dark.

We roped up and started climbing a little before seven. The first pitch is a straightforward 5.9 OW that isn't that bad. I was a little worried because I'd read it was 5.10 and neither of us are 5.10 climbers. No way is it 5.10; 5.9 max.

We ran four long pitches to the top of the tower. You can always hit a ledge. The climbing was fun, but a little too sandy in some places. The next obstacle was the roof. I just took two runners and clipped them together, and stayed in the bottom loop. Three easy A0 moves and you can grab a jug and pull yourself over.

I thought the next pitch was 5.9, so Craig set off. Craig was a little worried because the TR that we read called it 10.C. We both hoped it wasn't 10.C because we can count the number of 10.c cracks that we've led with less then one finger. We actually didn't read the TR closely until we were on the climb. We are both only 5.9 climbers and only prayed that we could pull through it.

Craig was scared to pull it and I was freezing my arse off at the belay.

Craig: I think I'll die if I fall. The pro isn't that good and there is a ledge right there. I wish those F***ing wires wouldn't have broke on the #2. I could really use that piece. Why don't you come up here and pull it!!!!
Ben: I'll probably die too! I think my whole body is freezing and I can't move my fingers. You can do it.
Craig: I don't think so. Wanna bail?
Ben: I'm too frozen to pull it. We only have 1 rope. I'll probably lose my entire rack if we bail.
Craig: I'm only gonna fall once!

Craig did a good job pulling through. There's about 2 hard moves in a row that we think are 10.b. We lost about an hour on this pitch. The next obstacle is the notorious chimney. I was scared to just look at, so we went up the left side of the tower through and then tunneled through a giant cave to a 5.8 OW.

The climb was pretty much over - after the catwalk we simu-climbed to the top. We were doing good on time according to the TR that we read by Paul K., but the days are a lot shorter this time of year. We summited at 7PM in the dark. Sin City is a very cool site from the top of Mt. Wilson.

We packed up and started hiking, thinking we'd be down by midnight. We assumed wrongly that there would be a trail.

Craig: I think we are supposed to turn at the limestone cliffs. What does limestone look like?
Ben: I don't know. Let's just look for some cliffs.
Ben and Craig: Those look like cliffs.. Do you think this is limestone?
Sure.

We get blocked by a giant drop off after going down several hundred feet. We are both very tired and decide to try too find a place to sleep.

Craig: Hey you want the rope or pack to keep you warm.
Ben: Rope. Hey what's this down jacket doing in here?!
Craig: I thought it might come in handy.

I made a bed out of pine needles. Somewhere I'd read that indians kept warm by sleeping on pine needles. NOT tonight!!!!!

We woke up at 11pm because it was just too cold to hang out. We decided we should have gone done a gully earlier and opted to try it.

Well you know the story. We went about 600 feet down the gully again and got stuck again on top of some very steep cliffs. This time we were beat, so we had no option to but to (try) to sleep and wait till the morning. Craig slept fairly good, but I was so cold that my helmet actually felt like insulation.

Well we survived the night and lived for another one.

Ben Craft