Spire Three
International Chimney is one of those routes that had certainly caught my eye while browsing through the old Paul Piana guidebook to the Black Hills. Though the description is nothing great, there are a couple of photos that really spark the imagination. This route was certainly on the short list of routes in the Spires to be climbed by Team Arp, but were we ready for it?
After having climbed Spire Four three times, we were hungry for some new adventure in the Cathedrals. Spire Three however, would have to wait as we had found a route on Spire Two that was only rated 5.3. It was on top of Spire Two in 2003 that we got our first good look at the International Chimney in person. While it was certainly a beautiful looking line, it was quite intimidating at the same time. After descending from Spire Two, I think we somewhat faked disappointment that someone else was starting International Chimney and that we would have to wait for another day to climb it.
We
didn't return to Spire Three for over two years. In the meantime we
had climbed Spire Two again and battled up the first pitch of
Spire One.
In addition, we had climbed several routes in the
Ten Pins and
Outlets areas and
were starting to feel more confident about our abilities on Black Hills granite.
So in September 2005, Angela and I finally hiked into the Cathedrals with the
sole purpose of climbing Spire Three via the International Chimney. This
time there would be no excuses.
Finding the Cathedrals nearly deserted on this Friday morning, we quickly got
geared up and scrambled up to the base of the chimney. Of course, now that
we were at the bottom of it looking up, it didn't look like it was going to be
all that bad.
And indeed, the first pitch was a pure joy to climb.
Considering that the pitch follows a chimney, there was little of the suffering
usually associated with chimneying. The pitch was long, the moves
interesting, and the gear sufficient. The only thing that really
challenged me on the first pitch was finding a suitable belay anchor at the top.
(I wouldn't notice until later that I had climbed right past a bomber set of
bolts at the top of the chimney without even seeing them.) I really
expected there to be a chockstone or chicken head to tie off but there certainly
wasn't. There didn't seem to be a lot of cracks either--at least ones that
would accept gear from my depleted rack! The first pitch had ended in a
sort
of hallway which was really quite secure, but I certainly thought we should
have some sort of anchor to protect against a fall on the second pitch.
Finally I fiddled some gear into the only crack I could find, equalized it well, and braced myself to belay
Angela up the pitch.
From the information I had been able to gather before doing the climb, it
sounded like it was easy to be led astray on the second pitch into harder and
poorly protected terrain. Needless to say, I took my time deciding just
how to head up to the top. There seemed to be two choices. The first
is the most obvious line which begins just above the end of the first pitch
chimney.
However, it has certainly proved true in the past that the
"obvious" way is not always the best way in the Black Hills. So, I decided
on the second choice--a short squeeze chimney at the far end of the "hallway" I
had belayed from.
Getting into the squeeze chimney required a bit of a leap of faith.
Then, once squeezed in, much grunting and groveling ensued. This short 15
foot chimney certainly made up for the lack of misery on the first pitch.
Angela couldn't really see me climbing, but she could hear my gear grinding
against the rock and my panting for air as I exerted myself. I'm sure she
couldn't wait to see what she was
in for! Finally, as the chimney pinched
down even tighter, the rock presented a "thank god hold" and I hauled myself up
and out of the chimney. From there it was just a mellow scramble to the
summit up typically knobby Black Hills rock.
Once
on top, we hung out for twenty minutes or so taking it all in--each of the
Spires certainly has a unique perspective of the surrounding area. The
weather and views were
outstanding! It was
once again a truly beautiful day to be in the Cathedral Spires!
