King-on-a-Throne, Monument Valley. A perpendicular, forked-summit tower, standing about 400 feet above the desert floor, had long intrigued me. A roadside marker points to it, saying: “King-on-a-Throne.” Springtime winds blasted us off the tower after we had spent two days on technical pitches and had reached the final summit tower, which is capped by the obvious “throne.” Marlene Dalluge, Joe Brown and I climbed an interesting crack system, some of it overhanging, to the notch between the summits; then we followed an open chimney to a belay platform. Don Liska arrived in time to join us on the final tower and to relieve me from some of the bolting. In all, we placed 27 pitons and the same number of bolts. For someone who wants a spectacular climb in this area, I recommend this one. The rock is sound and the climb should now be done in one day.

Fred Beckey