At the advice of a 'professional guide', we used a different descent off of
Spire Four this time. According to this 'guide', one could rap off the
east side in a single 60 meter rappel instead of the multiple rappels
needed to descend the climbing route. As it turns out, 60 meters
doesn't quite get you to the ground. We ended up getting off the end
of the ropes in a chimney and having to downclimb the rest. This
wasn't a huge issue for Angela or I, but getting Gina safely down this
section was stressful for all of us. To top it all off, when we pulled
our rappel ropes, they hung up about 60-80 feet above us and wouldn't come
down. I ended up having to lead up some unknown, rotten chimney with
what rope we had available to us to retrieve the ropes. Luckily, other
than having to test every single hold (they kept coming off in my hands!),
the climbing wasn't too difficult. Once I got to where the ropes were
stuck I managed to find a good natural anchor to rappel off of and only had
to leave a sling behind.
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