North Chimney

This is probably the easiest route on Castleton, and is a fantastic climb. To reach, hike up the talus as for the Kor-Ingalls, when you reach the base, walk around to the north end of the tower and traverse out on a ledge to the base of the chimney which is right on the left hand corner of the North Face.

P1- Climb the double hand cracks in the corner. This pitch is intimidating, but there are many rests. The crux of the pitch is at the top where you climb over a short bulge, and then up to a small ledge to the belay.

P2- Climb a short but tricky 5.8 offwidth protected by an old bolt. Place a big cam here instead of clipping the useless bolt. Then climb the chimney above climbing over chockstones and varied cracks to a belay on a small ledge. The belay takes hand size cams.

P3- Climb up the hand crack up to a stemming move at the top of the chimney which gets you to a ledge. Climb up easy ground to a ledge where you join the Kor Ingalls. Gear placement can get a little runout after the first 20ft but its easy climbing. After stemming across the ledge, there is a spot at knee height to place a .1 Camalot.

P4- Climb the last pitch of the Kor Ingalls to the top.

1. Rap 40 ft hard left following the bolt line of the last pitch of Sacred Ground. You may need to walk or pull yourself left across the ledge to get to the chains.
2. Rap 90 ft slightly right to a large ledge with rappel rings on its left and a boulder on its right.
3. Rap to another good ledge with an anchor on its right side (90 ft).
4. Rap 110 ft to a platform. The obvious flaring #3’s corner of N. Face starts from the left side of the platform. Down climb a chimney on the right side of the platform about 20 ft to the ground. 

1. Rap straight down about 130 ft to a large ledge with rappel rings on its left and a boulder on its right. This used all of my 80 m rope.
2. Rap to another good ledge with an anchor on its right side (90 ft).
3. Rap 110 ft to a platform. The obvious flaring #3’s corner of the N. Face starts from the left side of the platform. Down climb a chimney on the right side of the platform about 20 ft to the ground. (Or, try to rap straight to a boulder above the ground depending on your 80 m). 

If you tell yourself "the bolt will catch me", you are putting yourself at great risk of falling to a ledge, hitting your belayer and breaking her arm, falling off her and factor 1.5-ing the anchor and leaving a bloody mess dripping down the first pitch and onto the party following you.

You will then rap off, get your rope stuck, and walk painfully and dejectedly, on the ankle that you realize is broken, to the parking area and then be subjected to the crass old nurse with the thick glasses in the Moab Emergency Room (which is hard to find).

Then you get billed and have to schedule that surgery on your ankle, which won't work.

SO—Take a large cam and use it. Seriously, its not much to carry and it's an almost necessary piece for tower climbing in the desert. No reason for you to not have it here except laziness and poverty, and poverty doesn't really count in this situ. (Try paying off the emergency room visit instead? Me thinks not.)

As an addition, again, there is no plan to replace this bolt and there shouldn't be. The first ascentionist, Dan Burgeutte, did the route without the bolt and has asked that it not be replaced. As there is protection that protects the move (you are even toproping with the piece!) it would be silly and against the generally accepted ethics of climbers to replace the bolt. Carry the #5.

—Sam Lightner, Jr.