Castleton Tower, North Chimney. Castleton Tower, 20 miles east of Moab in Castle Valley, was first climbed by Layton Kor in 1962 up its southeast side. On the north side the natural break that splits the rock starts out as two narrow cracks in the corner of a dihedral. 150 feet above the base, the break becomes a chimney that widens as it goes higher. Allen Erickson and I climbed this new route on April 2 in five hours. A shoulder-stand gets the climber started. Ten feet higher, he passes an overhang on the left, using cracks in the slightly overhanging wall. Above a small ledge 50 feet up this pitch, the climbing becomes more difficult and is very sustained. The wall is vertical to overhanging and is climbed with jams and laybacks. The crux of this pitch is the bulge 130 feet up. Two pitons will be found ten feet above the bulge for belay anchors. These mark the beginning of the chimney. The first 30 feet consist of a difficult smooth-walled dihedral that has bulges on the left wall. In the corner is a constricting crack that narrows from a foot to two inches, the only weakness, which must be climbed using jams, with little protection except in the corner crack. Above this smooth, bulgy section the climbing eases somewhat as it ascends a moderate chimney with a few difficult chock- stones. This pitch ends 135 feet above the belayer at a flake at the back of the chimney. Here light shines through the crack from the south side of the rock. The third pitch reaches the top of the chimney and continues up into the notch between the main and secondary towers, which are divided by the crack. The fourth pitch leads out of the notch and traverses the face to reach Kor’s route 30 feet below the summit platform. On this interesting 450-foot high-angle sandstone tower, the first 200 feet are very sustained with few places to rest. There is a dislodgement rockfall danger for climbers below the leader especially on the second and third pitches. Very large nuts or angles are useful since many of the cracks are one to four inches wide. We climbed it all free, using 21 nuts and eight pitons. NCCS F8.

DANIEL BURGETTE, Purdue Outing Club