City of Rocks

There was one more stop on our way south to Utah, and it would be our first repeat destination from the summer trip. City of Rocks, Idaho.

There were still a couple of routes on our tick list that we didn't get to in the summer, and it was a convenient stop. We only stayed for two days, but got on some really nice climbs.

On day one we climbed to the top of The Lost Arrow. It was only two pitches, but it was an awesome looking spire. Here is Kristal on the first pitch, getting ready to commit to some incredibly exposed face climbing.

On the west side it was only a single rappel (barely, with a 70m rope) to get to the ground, so I was able to go down ahead and get this picture of her standing on the top.

On the second day, despite the threat of rain, we climbed some really good single pitch routes on Elephant Rock. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures.

From City of Rocks we headed to Salt Lake City, and our first stop would be the REI. They were having one of their periodic '20% off a single item' sales, so we took the opportunity to replace some aging equipment. Our climbing rope had seen better days and our big tent was on its last legs.

Yup, we finally retired our big tent. Although we will miss the nice screen room, it was finally at the end of it's life. With a few more rips from this trip and the onset of colder weather, we didn't think we would ever set it up again. We picked up a smaller 4 person tent, which was still roomy enough to be comfortable, but would definitely handle the elements better.