TR - Tooth Rock - The Biggest Sandstone Spire in the Country?

Hi everyone, I just posted a new TR about Tooth Rock if anyone's interested. We climbed More Sand than Stone which is one of the best desert routes I have ever done. Really good, adventurous climbing. piquaclimber.net Cheers, Brad

nice work brad!

Brad,

Excellent TR and stunning photography!

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

John

Great report. The plank pitch looked scarrrrryyyyy! What was the other tower at the end of report?

I just read that entire thing, wow! Very well done, both the TR and the climb.

Wow, great TR. Love getting to the pics and seeing what you were describing so well in the text.

Hey thanks that was awesome. Hope to hear the Sedona story too.

That was an awesome TR. Thanks for sharing.

Hell yeah! Awesome TR.

Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Rob,

I don't know the name of the tower in the last picture. Any Sedona climbers here that could tell us? It was out of the parking lot that is next to the bridge on your way out of Sedona heading towards Flag. Hike up the main drainage for a while and it's up a steep hillside on the left.

Cheers,
Brad

This route has seen publicity...

dirtbagdiaries.com/the_brot…

alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/news…

climbing.com/news/hotflashe…

-Jesse

"Destined to be popular"

Hurts my ears to hear that.
Hope you enjoyed your 15 mins of fame. Be sure to tell all your friends about your climb so they to can go start fires and trash the area as well. And don't forget to post it on Facebook so all your friends can "like it". Sad how people will dis the serenity and the overall future of an area like the VC just to get attention on the internet.

Nice work on climbing the Tooth, it is a climb and area of Arizona that will stick in your mind for the remainder of your days--my hands still sweat thinking about that place!

The VC (Tooth region) is a special and mysterious area and will not respond well to the crowds, trash, erosion, etc. that often follows in the paths of even the most sensitive/earth friendly climbers. The Tooth was climbed decades earlier yet has remained in obscurity for years. The unfortunate possible outcomes of publicly posting a vivid trip report on popular climbing sites are numerous--what happened to the days of simply sharing your adventures with your family and close friends with good old fashioned pictures and verbal communication...

Internet and online fame lasts a few days on these sites, the negative consequences of encouraging and informing the masses to visit these unique areas can last a lifetime.

Sean

Thank you for sharing this - loved the text and pics. It is a great area I've enjoyed for years, but never climbed in there. Will be driving by there in a couple of weeks and will be sure to look for "the tooth."

Brad and his friends were not the ones who drilled dozens of bolts, trundled thousands of pounds of rock, and installed pipes, ladders, and fixed ropes on the approach, in the obsessive pursuit of a spectacular free route. Not that I have a problem with any of that-far from it-but "if you bolt it they will come" and all that. Or at least a few will come and they might post pictures on the internet.

Charles Vernon wrote:Brad and his friends were not the ones who drilled dozens of bolts, trundled thousands of pounds of rock, and installed pipes, ladders, and fixed ropes on the approach, in the obsessive pursuit of a spectacular free route. Not that I have a problem with any of that-far from it-but "if you bolt it they will come" and all that. Or at least a few will come and they might post pictures on the internet.

Please dont remove this trip report. I doubt I or any "hordes" of climbers will ever climb there but I enjoyed reading this, maybe the best TR I have ever read. 15 minutes of fame???? This is Mountain Project not 60 Minutes. If some of you want to keep criticizing it and bumping it to the top of the MP thread list... go right ahead. I'm sure you're not looking for attention.

Great TR Brad! Keep it.

Who Cares? If you are upset get off the internet and go climb. There is thousands of miles of rock to not report.

I find it absurd that people could hold something against Brad for "taking the adventure out of this climb" simply by showing pictures of it. You know how Brad found it? He read the reports [written by some of you that are telling him to remove it] and drove there, followed the human signs, looked for the fixed anchors used by the first and following ascentionists, and then had his adventure.
I get the sense that this is more about who gets to be "in the know" and who doesn't... a common thread in this-here desert.
Please. Its still an adventure, and if its not then there is one 6 miles east, or 27 miles north, or somewhere else in that region. Try the Orange Cliffs... or virtually any cliff south of Hanksville and west of the Colorado.
By the way, Alpinist and Climbing be damned. I remember reading of the Tooth and thinking "man, thats big", back in 1988 when I got Bjornstads book. Its pages 369-371. Eric describes pretty clearly how one can get there. And even with all that info its still an adventure.