March, '11     Tooth Rock Written By: Ian Allison

    It all began after reading a few articles about a huge desert tower in Arizona. The article claimed that it was the “largest desert tower” and that it had a completely free climbing line to its summit.  It was this tower, dubbed the “largest tower” that brought together a group of five friends to take on the challenge of completing “More Sand than Stone” on Tooth Rock. 

    Planning for “More Sand than Stone” proved to be more difficult than anticipated.  The articles provided minimal beta and nothing could be found on any of the climbing forums.  So we did the next logical thing, we contacted the first ascentionist, only to receive a cryptic response from him.  Nonetheless, we surged forward with only a few "facts" about our objective:

• Grade V  5.11 or 5.10+ A1, ca. 1300'.

• The route starts in a 700-foot dihedral, on the South face and ascends eight pitches before joining a ledge system that accesses the top six pitches of the original “Lost Love Route” put up in 1977.

• There are three pitches that get the grade of 5.11:

1. 1st pitch: overhanging mixed to technical
2. 2nd pitch: insecure 5.11 past pins and nested TCUs to tricky jams of varying sizes.
3. 7th pitch: Traversing pitch on sandy rail with maximum exposure.

    Armed with, well practically nothing, three young men (Me (Ian), Ben, and Matt) and one dirty old desert rat (Jeff) piled into a Subaru Outback and drove the 6 hours from Durango to Flagstaff.  In Flagstaff we added our fifth and final member, Brad.  It had been months since we had seen Brad, sporting his California tan, he squeezed into the car and we head back into Flagstaff for dinner.  Brad had worked his magic and convinced James Q Martin one of the first ascentionist of “More Sand than Stone” to meet us in Flagstaff and provide some much needed approach beta.

     Feeling a little better about our elusive objective we piled back in the car and drove north out of Flagstaff towards Page, AZ and the Vermilion Cliffs. We arrived at the Tooth Rock trail head around midnight and bivied next to the car. We had barely closed ours eyes, when our sleep was ended abruptly by the sound of the alarm. No one seemed to be moving. I rolled over only to barely make out Ben, who was already packing up and prepping for the climb.  Matt and I followed suit and began to pack, but Brad and Jeff stay snug in their sleeping bags hoping to get a little more sleep. Ben, like a kid on Christmas morning trying to wake the household, grabs the bottom of Brad’s sleeping bag and evicts Brad onto the desert ground.  Brad mumbles some obscenities and searches for his headlamp.

     The early morning light exposes the cliff band that marked our approach, per James’s beta the night before. The approach consisted of negotiating this cliff band and following a crude access trail through what can only be explained as the old board game of Shoots and Ladders. The trail through the cliff consisted of short steep sections that are by-passed using ladders, fixed ropes, and a big black pipe dubbed the “Black Mamba”.  Following this approach would bring us to the base of Tooth Rock. Safely negotiating the shoots and ladders, we reach the last section of fixed rope and gain the plateau.  One by one we get our first view of Tooth Rock, she is bigger than any of us have imagined.  She is in fact the largest desert tower.

     With what seemed to be a pretty straight forward approach completed, we began to fill up our containers in Leary Spring and continue to hump the heavy loads up the last and steepest section of trail to the base of Tooth Rock.  Matt, Ben, and myself arrive at the base while Jeff and Brad are still negotiating the one step forward two steps back section of the approach.  With a long day ahead of us we make sure to have the first bolt clipped and are ready to climb by the time they arrive.

     We split into two groups, Ben, Brad, and Myself on one and Matt, Jeff, and Jeff’s headless Barbie on the other. Ben starts up the first pitch which is a spectacular face climb up a corner followed by a few moves onto an arête. The moves out to the arête seem almost impossible until you realize there are huge ledges that seem to appear just when you need them. The first pitch was so good that Brad decided put away his aiders and free climb it.

     The next pitch was mine, a technical crux with a smattering of bolts and small gear.  I arrive at a ledge that I assume is the end of the pitch, but there are no fixed anchors like our topo shows. Instead of following my gut and building an anchor, I listen to the heckling going on below me, and continue to climb.  As I climb I realize that this pitch is getting too long and I don't have enough gear to finish it, damn hecklers!  I get lowered back to the belay and source of smart ass comments and give Ben the sharp end.  Ben finishes the top part of the pitch, which is a beautiful .75 lay back so sharp and fresh you can feel the edge breaking off as you climb. Come to find out I had tried to link pitches 2 & 3.
Ben links pitches 4 & 5 which is an immaculate hands to wide hands crack in a corner that ends with a slightly over hanging .75 section.  This spectacular 140’ hands pitch, would be a crowded classic at Indian Creek, but up here on Tooth Rock, we were part of only a handful of climbers to have experienced it. 

     Inspired by the 140’ hands pitch, Jeff and his headless lady friend take the sharp end and start up pitches 4&5.  Ben, Brad, and I watch as Jeff leads the pitch without hesitation.  Jeff approaches the last 0.75 section, and doubt begins to take over, but with a little encouragement he completes the pitch clean.  Wanting to end on a good note, Brad and Jeff decide to stay and sing show tunes at the top of Pitch 5 and catch us on the way down.

     Ben takes off on pitch 6, making the off-width look easy, but the rest of us are skeptical.  As I begin up pitch 6, I realize that inside the off-width there is a rail, this rail combined with a few small feet on the wall actually made the off-width pitch less daunting. Pitch 6 ended at the rightly named “Eagles Nest”, which is a cave with huge abandoned birds’ nests in it.  It is also the belay just before the infamous “Walking the Plank” pitch.   This traverse pitch consisted of a very small sandy rail on a seemingly blank face, a combination for bone chilling exposure.  We decide to end the day here.  We fix our ropes, grab Brad and Jeff and rap back down to the base to eat, drink, tell jokes, and re-live the day as we prep for the summit push the next day.

     The next morning we wake to the sound of the alarm, you can feel the buzz of excitement in the air as we prepare for the day.  We break up into two teams, one including myself, Matt, and Brad and the second Jeff and Ben.  Like an army of ants we begin to jug the 600’ of fixed rope.  As I jug, my mind wanders to the “Plank” that has been the prominent thought since I first laid eyes on it yesterday. Would I be able to lead it? Would it live up to its label the mental crux (per James)? The unknown was exciting. Before I knew it I was at the top and tying in, preparing to literally walk the plank.  To add to the irony of the situation, Ben, Matt, Brad, and Jeff decide my performance on leading this pitch would determine my nickname.  No pressure….

     I step down from the belay to the crack that leads to the “Plank”.  I become calm and all the noise and heckling vanishes. I climb to just below the rail with ease. As I commit to making the move onto the rail I realize this is really really sandy and insecure.  “I have to pull this off”, I think to myself, as I proceed to put my foot near my head and mantel up on to the so called “plank”.  I precariously hang between balance and out of balance.  My foot slips off its sandy hold and I come to a soft rest on the rope. “I had that” I think to myself as I climb back up to my high point trying the same move a second time. I do this as the Albert Einstein quote flashes through my thoughts; “Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.  Obviously Einstein wasn’t a climber; the 2nd time my foot stuck and I stood up on the rail.  The hard part is over, I thought….I couldn’t have been more wrong. The moves across the rail involved hand and foot shuffling and a series of pinches and gastons.  The rock on the pitch looked like an abstract chalk drawing by the time I reached the “Space Station Belay”.

     Bragging, Brad states he is going to climb the “plank” clean (on top rope of course) so that he can make fun of Matt and Ben when they fall. Ben and Matt are openly skeptical and get out their cameras to capture Brad's impending fall as the trash talk escelates.  Brad’s confidence waivers as he approaches the plank but miraculously he sends the pitch clean (did I mention he was on top rope?) Excited and proud, Brad anxiously watches Matt and Ben, while openly praying for bragging rights on his flawless performance, on top rope.

     Next up was Matt, the pressure is on, he can’t let Brad make him look bad.  Matt approaches the “plank” and struggles yelling, "Holy shit, I must be doing something wrong. This feels really insecure. How the F$@# did Brad do this?”.  Fighting for bragging rights he, stepped on the “plank”, balanced for a moment then fell.  Securing Brads bragging rights…until Ben lead the pitch clean... and Jeff followed with no falls.

     Matt leads the next pitch, an arête on marginal rock with sparse bolting and an incredible amount of air beneath your feet to the talus cone below. This pitch brings you to the “Football Field” and the end of the climbing difficulties. Here the rock changes from solid Wingate to crumbly Navajo and it is also where “More Sand than Stone” joins the original route “Lost Love”. Matt leads off the “Football Field” and combines pitches 9 and 10 making it a wild unprotected traverse on loose ledges.

    At this point Brad has gotten his desert legs back and the rock has turned into the consistency of corn flakes, he takes the sharp end and links pitches 11 & 12.  Making a monstrous 170’ pitch of sandy death blocks that was loose and terrifying, even on top-rope.   I resisted the urge to yell JENGA, as I pulled on blocks that looked as though if knocked loose could send the whole tower crashing down. I arrive at the belay, Brad has a huge smile on his face and is not even fazed by the lack of quality of the previous pitch. 

    The last pitch was a chimney, so we sent the master of wide stuff up.  Matt took the sharp-end, while Brad and I watched. To our surprise we never found the “chimney” but found the “Creaky Old Man Pillar” instead.  One by one we made it to top of the last true pitch, Ben, the last one to top out kicked the pillar saying that “this thing is going to kill someone” sending a piece of it to the base where we started two days ago.  We drop unnecessary gear and scramble the last 200’ of third class to the true summit. The summit offers a view of the Colorado River cutting the Grand Canyon, the rise of the Vermilion cliffs, a bird’s eye view of Page, AZ, and the Navajo coal fire power plant.  Showing where nature meets human development. After some much earned summit photos we collected our things and rappelled off the “largest desert tower”.

     Our trip to do Tooth Rock went smoother than originally expected and we still have a full day before Brad has to be back at the airport for his return trip home to California. Since there is extra time it was decided that we would try to tag a couple more summits. We pile into the car hot, sweaty and dirty; and drive over to Lee’s Ferry put in for a quick dip in the freezing cold Colorado River. Feeling refreshed, we drive 3 hours south to Sedona in search of towers.  

But that's a different story...

A small, pre-climb snack for Ben.	Jeff (the most morning-oriented person I know) using a trekking pole to apply his jelly.	It's good to be back in the desert!
The first look at our objective.
	The story of the first ascent of Tooth Rock by Spencer McIntyre and George Bain in 1977 is the stuff of desert lore. Broken hearts, shattered friendships, incredible drive in the face of ridicules odds, and a bandito... There is a wonderful write up on this 4 day winter climb in Climbing #243 by Fitz Cahall.
Ben, Ian and Matt (bottom left) offer some scale to the Vermilian Cliffs.
Getting closer.
Apparently we weren't the only ones who thought this place was worth a visit.
Interesting dried dirt.	Ian with a heavy bag and a big smile.	The Lads and Tooth Rock.
OK... we have everything we need, let's do this.	Matt filling water bottles from a spring at the base.	It feels good to be standing below another red tower.
Jeff with Vermilion Cliffs stretching out behind him.
In a surprising development, Ian, Ben and Matt are already at the base of the route with the first bolt clipped.
Ian, Matt, and Ben below the first pitch.	The whole desert climbing community owes a big THANK YOU to Albert Newman and James Q Martin for finding and developing this awesome line. It took an enormous effort and produced one of the best desert routes in the country. Nice work guys!
Looking up and wondering what it's going to be like to "walk the plank" out on that face.	More Sand than Stone roughly follows the sun/shade line.	Jeff and me on a heads-up section of the approach.
J-Dub.	Ben below the first pitch.	Ian operated the chemistry set and treated all of our water. Thanks Ian!
A series of Ben on pitch one.
	I was inspired to free climb.	Listening to Jeff trash talk at the belay.
		A series of Ian leading the crux, second pitch.
A series of Matt leading the first pitch.
Ian continuing way up what turned out to be pitch three.	Swapping leaders.	Ben leading. I  suppose we're going to have to take him  more seriously the next time he says "layback that shit!"
A series of Jeff on pitch one.
	A series of Matt at the crux of pitch two.
Ian at the top of the second pitch.	Ben on a beautiful wide hands pitch.	Ian at one of the many comfortable belays.
A series of Matt near the top of pitch three.
Setting off on the hands pitch.	Jeff on pitch three.	Jeff and Matt.
J-dub catching up on important happenings.
		I recommend climbing this pitch wearing belay gloves.
		Ben linking pitches 5 and 6.
Jeff leading the wide hands pitch.	Ben and me.	Ian.
Ben feasting on a quintuple stuffed Oreo.
On the ground with daylight to spare. Let's drink!	The only thing classier than peer pressure is Bush Mills in a flimsy, plastic water bottle.
Planning tomorrow's strategy.	Good times!	Don't ask.
Ian getting ready to "walk the plank".
	"I think this foot will hold..."
Matt jugging as Ian leads. The rope is tied off because we had a core shot from the rock that my shirt is now padding.
Ian leading what I thought was the most interesting pitch of the climb.
Matt watching a talking trash.
Ian was undaunted by all the shit we were giving him.	That ledge isn't sandy at all...	Ian nearing the end of the difficulties.
After watching Ian take a fall leading the plank pitch, I have just informed Ben, Matt and Jeff that I will be climbing this pitch clean so that when they fall off I can give them shit for the rest of the weekend. Ben was incredulous.	This is Ben and Matt verbally abusing me in an attempt to get me to fall while scrambling to get their cameras on me so they can document my failure.	This is me at the crux.
This is me still  ahem ... sending.
The pressure is on now...	Life is good. I get to sit back and shamelessly talk trash at Matt and Ben. It really is shameless since I jugged a couple pitches down lower that I couldn't be bothered  to free climb.   Not to mention they've led the crux pitches on most of the routes we've climbed together. But whatever!
I think I'll narrate... "Holy shit I must be doing something wrong. This feels really insecure. How the F$@# did Brad do this?	"Ahhh there it  is..."	I wonder what happened shortly after I took this picture.  I'll give  you a hint, it went something like this... Wfoooof.......     Shit!..... (laughter for 50 feet away)
A vertical pano of this brilliant pitch.
Ian at the Space Station Belay.	Saaaaandy feet.	Approaching the belay...
	Ian leaving the 'Space Station".    I wanted to go last so I could try to talk Ben into pitching off the plank.
Even though Matt just sailed off the last  pitch, (which I sent), we still sent him off on the next hard lead with nothing but a solid belay and a smart ass comment. Cause we love him. :)
What the hell are you standing on Ian?
Back to the narrative... "Seriously Jeff, this is hard...    WTF!   We can't let Brad be the only one to free this. We'll never hear the end of it."
		Ian on the arete, me at the Space Station, and Ben on the plank.
One last chance to blow it...	The foot that held.	Ben trying to ignore me and concentrate on the final few moves.
Looking down at Ian on the upper arete.	Matt leading the pitch off of the huge ledge.	This pitch was more fun than I expected.
A wider view of the last couple pitches.	Ben on the giant ledge with the Colorado River drainage in the distance.	A closer look at the river.
	I don't know what was going on down at the belay while I was leading but this picture makes me nervous!
Now that were were back in my element of soft, crumbly rock, I decided to do some leading.
Me and Ian.
Definition of desert rat? - Someone who can't stop grinning in the middle of 4th class choss.
		Ben on pitch nine.
Ben on one of the upper choss pitches.	We're getting close now.	Jeff and Ian.
An awesome belay ledge high on Tooth Rock.	Though this ledge was especially nice, every pitch on this route had a good ledge at the top.	Matt leading the last pitch.
Ian belaying with a deep canyon behind him.	We were expecting a scary chimney up here somewhere but we never found it.	Jeff nearing the awesome belay ledge.
	A crow soaring high above the Colorado River near the summit of Tooth Rock.
Ian on the last pitch.
As I panned my lens around I found another bird not far away.		Reaching the summit as a team.
The final scramble.	Five married guys on a climbing road  trip.... what do you expect?	Really?
	Interesting juxtaposition of wilderness and civilization.
Early summit history of Tooth Rock.
Success!
A series of shots from the summit.
Summit view.
I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you.	The mighty Colorado.	The first rappel station is an airy place.
You really have to give it up to Jeff for the quality repair job he managed on those pants.	Ian and the Colorado.	Back at the giant ledge.
	Another core shot.
A high-res picture of the route.	Jeff hiking out.	Ian at the car. He's stoked because he won the "race" back.
If that's not the makings of a fun time I don't know what is.	After two days of hiking and climbing, this is required before 5 guys pile in a Subaru for three hours.	Let me assure you that the water they let out of Lake Powell in early March is VERY cold.  And yes, I'm that ripped.
Driving to Sedona in search of more towers.	The elder statesmen of the group (Jeff and me) decided that a hotel room was in order.	At the trail head in the morning we prepared for yet another tower day.
But that story will have to wait...

Back to Top