After a day of adventures on Pingora and Wolfs Head in the Cirque of the Towers in mid-July, none of us—Ian Davis, Ryan Petronella, Ethan Sandoval, and myself—was particularly stoked on getting an early start the next morning. In fact, we debated another rest day. I stayed hopeful that we’d motivate for something, though. Around 12:30 p.m., Ryan said, “That pointy thing between Warbonnet and Warrior I looks like it could be a low-angle scramble.”

 “I can be ready in 30!” I replied enthusiastically. Thankfully, everyone else was getting bored too, and was finally ready to do something.

We were roping up at the base of the formation around 2:30 p.m. We climbed in two teams: Ian (my 17-year-old son) and I swung leads as the first team, while the other guys did so behind us. We followed slabs and left-facing fins, with a beautiful crack on the fifth pitch. The hardest pitch was run-out 5.8+.Two and a half hours later, after 1,300’ and six pitches of climbing, we topped out. There were no signs of other climbers on top. We left some tat on the summit to rap off, and descended with double-rope raps off slung blocks. We were back in camp by 7 p.m. 

People have been climbing in the Cirque for forever, and it seems unlikely that no one has climbed this tower before, but I have found no record of any past ascents. I reached out to guidebook author Steve Bechtel, who had no information either. 

We named the formation Erodeica Spire—a portmanteau of “erotic eroding,” which we figure translates to a “love of dirty trad climbing”—and the route Rest Day.  

— Aaron Davis