Desert SpiresSpider Rock, Cleopatra’s Needle, Totem PoleClimbing Pictures with Original Articles

and Selected Reading

Jerry GallwasMark PowellDon Wilson

with Bill Feuerer on the Totem Pole

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Table of Contents

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Subject Page

Introduction 3Acknowledgements 4Background 6Players 7Equipment 8Spider Rock 13Cleopatra’s Needle 29Chimney Rock 36Totem Pole 37Appendix 52

The Desert SpiresSpider Rock, Cleopatra’s Needle, & the Totem Pole

Introduction and Personal Recollectionswith Original Articles, Pictures, and Selected Reading Materials

Jerry Gallwas

The desert spires of the southwestern US were little known to the climbing community priorto the ascents of Ship Rock in 1939 and Agathlan in 1949. It wasn’t until the mid-­1950s with thefirst ascents of Spider Rock, Cleopatra’s Needle, and the Totem Pole that more widespreadinterest developed. This period has been well documented by Eric Bjørnstad in his classicclimber’s guide to the southwest canyon country, Desert Rock, published in 1988 by ChockstonePress.

In recent years, I have been asked for my recollections of the early desert spire climbsmade over 50 years ago. I find that my memories have faded and the Kodachrome transparenceshave degraded. In January 2007, I had a call from Steve (Crusher) Bartlett about photos taken onthe first ascents. I took most if not all of the Spider Rock and Cleopatra’s Needle pictures and Bill(Dolt) Feuerer took all of the Totem Pole photos. Steve spent two days capturing high resolutiondigital scans of my collection, some number of which are included in this document. The TotemPole Dolt photos, besides the ones given to me by Dolt after the climb, are in the possession ofDon Lauria. Don graciously spent a day with me at his home in Bishop, California going throughthe entire collection and a number of those photos are included herein.

The purpose of this document is to bring together the original publications, many of whichare obscure, with the photos of these first ascents for use by family and friends. I have added mycomments to elaborate and in some cases have tried to correct misimpressions. There is nocommercial intent. Beyond that, copies will be sent to the American Alpine Club library along withthe digitized images to provide the most complete record possible in one document.

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Acknowledgements

PublicationsThe original publications recording the first ascents are generally obscure and limited in theiravailability. To give the reader easy access, I have copied the articles into this document as wellas selected summary documents to give perspective to those not familiar with the subject of thesedesert spires or the Southwest.

1. Mugelnoos (MN), a monthly news bulletin published by and for the Ski Mountaineers and RockClimbing Sections of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.

2. Sierra Club Bulletin (SCB), a publication of the Sierra Club, San Francisco, California.3. Ascent, the Sierra Club Mountaineering Journal, Sierra Club, San Francisco, California.4. Summit Magazine, Co-­Publishers & Editors: Jene M. Crenshaw and H. V. J. Kilness, Big Bear

Lake, California. (Summit Magazine rights now owned by Jim Ellis of Eagle, Idaho.)5. Arizona Highways, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix, Arizona.6. The Utoco Torch, published by the Utah Oil Refining Company, Salt Lake City, Utah.7. Desert Rock, A Climber’s Guide to the Canyon Country of the American Southwest Desert, Eric

Bjørnstad, Chockstone Press, Denver, Colorado.8. The National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Society, Washington D. C.9. The Saturday Evening Post, Independence Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Acknowledgements

PeopleMany people are to be thanked for assistance in the assembly of this document and include:

Mark Powell and Don Wilson for their friendship, participation in these ascents, andpublications recording our desert spire adventures. To Mark, also, for his review of thisdocument.Bill (Dolt) Feuerer for his wonderful pictures of the Totem Pole.Don Lauria for his assistance and access to the Dolt photo archives.John Ripley for his assistance and access to the Mugelnoos archives.Steve (Crusher) Bartlett for the inspiration to put this document together, the superbdigital images of my Kodachrome transparencies from the desert spires, and hismeticulous proofreading.Eric Bjørnstad for our brief telephone conversation that led me to read Desert Rock andlearn more about the desert southwest than I had previously known as well as hispublication of the Eiger Sanction Totem Pole article in Summit Magazine. Then of course,there is the retrieval and return of the Totem Pole summit register which now resides in thecollection of the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden,Colorado.Sandy Krishnamurthy, my wife, for putting up with all this nonsense and proofreadingwith good humor.

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Background

Royal Robbins, Don Wilson, and I began our climbing adventures in the early 1950’s. Thebenefit of nylon rope was well established but climbing gear in general was still rather primitive.Pitons were of soft steel and bent easily, climbing shoes were simply tennis shoes, and thetechniques of free and aid climbing were still under development. Royal and Don started atStoney Point in Chatsworth north of Los Angeles and I in Mission Gorge north of San Diego. Thethree of us met and climbed actively together at Tahquitz Rock near Idyllwild, California beginningin 1952. We went on to Yosemite Valley in 1953 where Royal and I did the second ascent ofYosemite Point Buttress and the three of us the second ascent of the North Face of Sentinel Rock.Those experiences led to discussions of what we might consider as the next step in our climbingaspirations and two ideas surfaced. The Northwest Face of Half Dome was obvious while thesandstone spires of the Four Corners area were intriguing. Don and I went onto explore both HalfDome in the summer of 1954 and the desert spires during Easter week of 1955.

We were both students at the time while Royal was employed at Union Bank in LosAngeles. The three of us teamed with Warren Harding in the summer of 1955 to attempt what isnow referred to as the Regular Route on Half Dome. However, for some reason Royal’s interestwas not drawn to the desert spires. Don and I had come to know Mark Powell. I met him duringEaster week of 1954 when the two of us climbed the Lower Cathedral Spire in Yosemite. Hevisited Tahquitz where the three of us discussed the desert spires and over the Easter week of1956 climbed Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly. That began the sequence of climbs recordedherein.

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Mark Powell in YosemiteDolt photo Don Wilson at Tahquitz Rock

Gallwas photo

The Players

Mark, Jerry, Don, & DoltTotem Pole summitGallwas collection

Jerry Gallwas inthe SierraGallwas collection

The EquipmentPublications, that include an article about the first ascent of the Northwest Face of Half

Dome or the desert spires, often comment about the pitons used. As an example, in the Bjørnstadpublication Desert Rock, there is a comment about the “special aluminum channel pitons thatworked in the often flaring wide cracks, made for Jerry Gallwas at the suggestion of JohnSalathé.” Layton Kor in Beyond the Vertical, credits the angle pitons used on the Totem Pole toBill Feuerer. “The first ascent of the Totem Pole was by the Californians Mark Powell, Don Wilson,Bill Feuerer, and Jerry Gallwas. The climbing was almost exclusively artificial and wide aluminumchannel pitons (the forerunner of the Bong-­Bong), made by Feuerer, were used extensively.”More recently, Huber and Zak comment in Yosemite, Half a Century of Dynamic Rock Climbing“They forged their own Lost Arrows as well as early Knife Blades”.

To clarify the hardware issue, when I began climbing in 1951, the only sources of pitonswere those from Europe and Holubar Mountaineering Equipment in Colorado. The pitons werenicely designed, relatively expensive, and made of soft steel hence were short lived as they benteasily. The benefits of hardened steel were clear from the Anton Nelson article, Five Days andNights on the Lost Arrow that appeared in the March1948 issue of the SCB. A picture of theSalathé designed pitons was included in the article, see page 10.

A fortuitous event in the Spring of 1952 provided a solution to the soft steel piton problem.While on a backpacking trip to Carizzo Gorge (east of San Diego) with Omar Conger (a climbingfriend) we found a blacksmith’s anvil in a deserted mine. We discussed the possibility of forgingour own alloy pitons in the style of Salathé and decided to carry the anvil five miles back to thecar. The anvil was heavy but there were two of us. A friend of Omar’s, Bud Bernhard, had amachine shop in Coronado (across the bay from San Diego) so we found ourselves on non-­climbing weekends learning to make horizontal and wafer pitons. We developed a Salathé-­likedesign copied from the pictures in Nelson’s SCB article. They were made using aircraft steel,4130 chromium molybdenum, which I bought from a local metal supplier. Another climbing friend,Henry Mandolf, arranged to have the finished pitons heat treated to the hardness of Salathe’s.

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The angle pitons, in contrast, were made from soft steel, as were Salathé’s. They were intwo configurations. One was a standard triangular cross section angle piton with a rather sharptaper for flaring cracks of the variety found at Joshua Tree National Monument. The second wasfrom channel stock with a slightly rounded but nearly flat back and a more slight, nearly paralleltaper for cracks found at Tahquitz Rock and Yosemite. They ran up to 2.5 inches in width andcould be placed back to back to span wider cracks.

To deal with very thin cracks in granite rock, we used knifeblade pitons fashioned after thedesign of Chuck Wilts, made at the direction of Henry Mandolf by one of his machinists. Thesewere of 4130 chromium molybdenum steel and hardened as well.

When expansion bolts were required, we used the standard “Dryvin” with a lead expansionshield and nail available at most hardware stores, 3/8” x 1.5” for granite and 3/8” x 2.0” forsandstone. Bolt hangers with holes for the bolt and carabiner were made from standard 1/8”aircraft aluminum sheet stock. For climbing on the volcanic plugs along the Colorado River northof Yuma, Omar Conger created some four-­ and five-­inch bolts. One style was made from a 3/8”piece of standard screw stock with the end ground to a taper which was driven into a leadexpansion shield. The second was from 3/8” steel rod with a welded eye and four teeth on theend created by cutting parallel to the axis of the rod with a hacksaw, then grinding the teeth tosharp points.

For the desert spires, angle pitons were the most useful as few cracks were narrowenough to take even a wide horizontal with the longer and wider angles serving more effectively.Aluminum bongs only appeared later and were independently developed by Tom Frost and DickLong for use in much wider cracks such as those found on El Capitan.

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Salathé certainly influenced my design but unfortunately, I never met him or had directcontact. Lost Arrow pitons appeared in the 1960s and the name is a trademark of Chouinard andlater, Black Diamond. However, characterizing the pitons I made in the 1950’s as “Lost Arrows”communicates the design much more effectively today than the much more obscure Salathéreference.

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Salathé horizontal and anglepitons, SCB, Vol. 33, No. 3,pp.102-­103, March 1948,Anton Nelson

Gallwas horizontal andangle pitons used on HalfDome & the desert spires

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Hardware Comparisons

Salathé horizontals Gallwas horizontalsMandolf copy ofWilts’ knifeblade

“Dryvin”expansion bolts3/8 X1.5 in forgranite3/8 X 2 in forsandstone

Salathé anglesNotice the flatbacks

Gallwas angles

Wilts &Sherrickknifeblades

Bolts designed forvolcanic plug useby Omar Conger

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Climbing on volcanic rock required 4” or 5”expansion bolts created by Omar CongerGallwas photos

Picacho del Colorado

Exploring the Desert SpiresWhen Don and I toured the Four Corners area over the Easter Holiday in 1955, our first

stop was Canyon de Chelly. We arrived just at dusk and stopped by a low rock wall at SpiderRock Overlook to view the canyon. We stepped up on the wall and just three feet away, thecanyon dropped off over a thousand feet to reveal the stark beauty of Spider Rock. We wouldreturn!Spider Rock, March 30, 1956: MN, No. 280, p. 2, April 12, 1956, Don Wilson and SCB Vol. 42,No. 6, pp. 45 to 49, June 1957, Don Wilson.

Easter week, 1956, Mark, Don, and I drove Mark’s chartreuse Ford convertible through thenight to arrive in Chinle the following afternoon. After checking in with Superintendent, JohnAubuchon, we went to the canyon rim to give Mark his first glimpse of the spire. Don and I heldback letting Mark view Spider Rock as we had done the year before in the drama of the lateafternoon shadow. Yes, he too was impressed! I had written the Superintendent requestingpermission to climb and he in turn presented our request to the Navajo Tribal Council.Accompanying the request was a copy of the Saturday Evening Post article (February 25, 1956,by Hal Burton, They Risk Their Lives for Fun) about the Robbins, Harding, Wilson, Gallwas HalfDome attempt the year before as one of our qualifications to climb. Much to our relief andappreciation, the Council approved our request.

It was a cold week in the canyon with freezing temperatures and high winds. We campedby the river, our only source of water, which was heavy with red silt and required boiling to bothsterilize the water and precipitate the silt. There were many memorable moments but after a longcold week and an exhilarating view from the summit, we returned to the car late in the evening tofind all that was left was a can of peaches and half a jar of pickles. Chinle was without a hotel orrestaurant in those years so we downed the peaches and pickles and crawled into our sleepingbags. The drive home was filled with talk of what we might climb next. Mark had seen a picture ofCleopatra’s Needle in a travel advertisement. That became our next target.

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Spider Rock from Spider RockOverlook taken in 1955 duringthe reconnaissance trip.

Superintendent John Aubuchonwas our gracious host duringthe week in the Canyon andfacilitated our negotiation withthe Tribal Council. We were verygrateful for the opportunity to climbon this sacred ground. Mostappreciated was his driving usdown the canyon and back to thecar after our decent from the summit.

Gallwas photos

Canyon de Chelly

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Spider RockAs seen when driving The climbing route begins with a

up the Canyon chimney separating the two summitsGallwas photos

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Don led up the chimneyGallwas photo

Mark followed Don thenstarted up the main spireGallwas Photo

First pitchThe perfect chimney between two summits

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MN, No. 280, p. 2,April 12, 1956, Don Wilson(above)

SCB, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 45-­49,June, 1957, Don Wilson (right)

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Mark below the Black HoleGallwas photo

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Jerry & Mark above the Black Holeclimbing to the bivouac ledge

Gallwas collection

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Mark with Don in thebackground after a coldbivouac on the morningof the last dayGallwas photo

View of the canyon fromthe bivouac ledgeGallwas photo

Postcard sent to Jerry’s parents

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Mark above the bivouac ledgeGallwas photos

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Don and Mark on the summitGallwas photo

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Don and Mark on the summitwith Spider Rock shadowGallwas photo

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Views from the SummitMark & Don with the cairn Don

Gallwas photos

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Spider Rock Summitsfrom Spider Rock Overlook.Note Don in the white T-­shirt,see p. 23, and Mark on theright side of the summitnext to the cairn.

Aubuchon photo Gallwas photo

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Mark rappelling from the summitGallwas photos

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Dolt PhotosMark, Don,& Jerry fromAscent, 1970page 31

The NPS press release found its way into many newspapers

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MN No. 286, p. 3, October11, 1956, Don Wilson

On Labor Day weekend, thethree of us and Don’s wife,Nancy, bundled into Don’s VWBeetle with our climbing gearand drove to the Valley ofThundering Water. See page13 for background.

This travel advertisementattracted Mark’s attentionSource unknown

Cleopatra’s Needle

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Cleopatra’s Needle was Elusive!

Mark had first seen the picture in a traveladvertisement but finding Cleopatra’s Needletook some searching. Notice Don’s commenton the postcard below. Google Earth was notyet available!

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The spire as we arrived in Don’sVW Beetle seen at the baseGallwas photo

Viewed from the opposite sideGallwas photo

Cleopatra’s Needle

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Don scrambling at the basejust after we arrivedGallwas photos

Viewed form theopposite side

Cleopatra’s Needle

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Jerry replacing the piton ladder that Don had placed the afternoon beforeGallwas collection

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Mark and Don on the summitMark placing a bolt at the overhangGallwas photos

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Mark and Don on the summitJerry rappelled from the top totake this pictureGallwas photo

SCB Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 63-­4June, 1957, Don Wilson

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Chimney Rock, Bill Williams Mountain

On the return trip from the Labor Day weekend 1956 ascent of Cleopatra’s Needle,we stopped at Bill Williams Mountain and climbed Chimney Rock. Right, Mark andDon on the summit, Jerry is at the base of the pitch. No sign of an earlier ascent wasfound. It was a short 6th class climb. The first free ascent was by Mark Powell andBob Kamps (5.9 or 5.10) July 28, 1967.Gallwas collection

Totem PoleSummit Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 4, April 1958. pp. 8-­11, Mark Powell and SCB Vol. 43,

No. 9, p. 72, November 1958, Don Wilson.The first ascent of the Totem Pole was the culmination of the Easter Holiday scouting trip

that Don and I made in 1955. In June,1957, Don, Mark, and I returned to the desert with BillFeuerer to climb in even higher winds but fortunately higher temperatures than we hadexperienced on Spider Rock.

I was a student at San Diego State College and had final exams the first week of June.Don and Mark’s schedules allowed their arrival in Monument Valley early that week. I finished mylast exam at noon and left for Monument Valley in my recently rebuilt 1942 Ford Jeep. I had madea test drive to Idyllwild three weeks earlier and had driven it back and forth to school so I feltconfident in its reliability. It had no top so it was quite wet during the thunderstorm driving north ofPrescott but I arrived in Flagstaff that evening only to have the Jeep starter solenoid fail. I spentthe night in a hotel and had the solenoid replaced the following morning, then drove the final milesto the Goulding’s Trading Post. During the family style meal that evening in the trading post diningroom, Don, Nancy, Mark, and Bill brought me up to date on the progress that had been made.Don and Mark had graciously saved the summit pitch lead for me the next day.

Meeting Bill was a surprise. I had only expected Don, Nancy, and Mark for the climb. Billturned out to be a very likeable guy and a great photographer. That was fortunate because hecaptured a wonderful photo record of the climb. The following morning, we piled into the Jeep anddrove to the base of the Totem Pole followed by a caravan of sightseers and the Goulding’s green,four wheel drive tour bus. The wind was fierce. The story of the ascent is well told in articles byMark in Summit Magazine and Don in the SCB. So ended a great climbing partnership betweenDon, Mark, and me. A few weeks later I climbed the Northwest Face of Half Dome in Yosemitewith Royal Robbins and Mike Sherrick, Mark teamed with Warren Harding and Bill Feuerer tobegin the ascent of the Nose of El Capitan, and Don went onto become an assistant professor ofbiology at Stanford University.

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Jerry prusiking on the way to the summitpitch, Summit Magazine, April, 1958Dolt photo

Jerry with his 1942 Ford JeepGallwas collection

Mark, Don, and Nancy waiting outthe rain in Monument ValleyDolt photo

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Summit MagazineVol. IV, No. 4, pp. 8-­11, April 1958, Mark Powell

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Totem Pole viewed from the northSwift photo

SCB Vol. 43, No. 9, p. 72,November 1958, DonWilson. (Right)

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Don leading up to thebase of the spire on theafternoon of the first dayDolt photo

Mark climbing abovethe bolt ladderDolt photo

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Mark leading with DonbelayingDolt photo

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Mark leading up to the base of the summit blockDolt photo

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Mark approaching the baseof the seamless summitDolt collection

Mark leading to the baseof the summit blockDolt photo.

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Summit blockJerry and Mark profiledagainst the skyDolt photo

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Jerry at the summitDon prusikingDolt photo

Don and Bill prusikingto the summitDolt collection

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Mark, Jerry, Don, & BillThat’s urine in the foregroundNo place to pee and lots of tourists watchingGallwas collection

Totem Pole Summit Photo

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Goulding’s four wheeldrive tour bus (above)Dolt photo

Film box register & cairnMark, Don, and Jerry (above)Dolt photo

The film box registerRecovered during filming of the Eiger Sanction.Now in the collection of the Bradford WashburnAmerican Mountaineering Museum, Boulder,Colorado. Directly behind the cairn is a greenspeck which is the Goulding’s tour bus.

Mark, Don, &Bill (below)Dolt collection

Summit registerBartlett collection

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Totem PoleNavajo viewing the cairn Jerry arriving

at the summitGallwas collection

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Mark, Jerry, Don, BillDolt collection

Last Photo from the Totem Pole Adventure

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Article Page

The Utoco Torch, No. 189, pp. 5-­8, July 1957, Monument Valley, Tom Broadbent 53

Ascent, Sierra Club Mountaineering Journal, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 30, May 1970, FourCorners, Steve Roper

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Mugelnoos, No. 313, p. 1, January 8, 1959, Totem Pole – Second Ascent, DaveRearick

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Desert Rock, Desert Climbing History, pp. 16-­19, Navajolands, pp. 373-­377,Cleopatra’s Needle, pp. 377-­380, Spider Rock, pp. 383-­386, & the Totem Pole,pp. 414-­417, Eric Bjørnstad

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The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. CXIV, No. 6, p. 830/831, December1958, Better Days for the Navajos, Jack Breed

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Summit Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 24-­29, June, 1976, The Totem Pole and theEiger Sanction, Eric Bjørnstad

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Arizona Highways, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 29-­35, February 1985, Clinging to a Crackon the Competitive Edge, John Annerino

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Bartlett E-­mail, Totem Pole Climbing History 79

The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 228, No. 35, pp. 34, 35, 99, 101, 102, February25, 1956, They Risk Their Lives for Fun, Hal Burton

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Superintendent Aubuchon Correspondence, Spider Rock 91

Postscript: Cleo Perspective and a Fun E-­mail from Steve Roper 92

Appendix

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First PublicationRecounting the 1st Ascentof the Totem Pole

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Climbing the Totem Pole has becomeproblematic! The Bartlett E-­mail, pages79-­83, records the history of early ascents.Gallwas photo

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Ascent, Sierra Club Mountaineering Journal, Vol. 1,No. 4, p. 30, May 1970, Four Corners, Steve Roper

Dolt photos

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Totem Pole -­ Second AscentMN, No. 313, p. 1, Jan. 8, 1959

Dave Rearick

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Desert RockEric Bjørnstad

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The National Geographic MagazineVol. CXIV, No. 6, pp. 830-­831, December 1958,

Better Days for the Navajos, Jack Breed & Charles W. Herbert

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Two articles of interest that referencethe first ascent of the Totem Pole follow.The first, by Eric Bjørnstad, appeared inthe June,1978 issue of Summit Magazine.Eric was contracted by Clint Eastwoodand Universal Studios to put up ropeson the Totem Pole for filming of the movie,Eiger Sanction. As part of the contractbetween the Navajo Tribal Council andthe Studio, all foreign objects were to beremoved including the expansion boltsand film can register that we left on thesummit. The story is told in the Summitarticle. The summit register now is at theBradford Washburn American Mountain-­eering Museum in Golden, Coloradothanks to Eric and Steve Bartlett.

The second article appeared in theFebruary 1985 issue of Arizona Highways.By John Annerino, it recounts the use ofthe Totem Pole as the site of an IBMadvertisement photo shoot. The firstascent is mentioned in reference to use ofan expansion bolt on the summit.

Summit Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 24-­29, June 1976,The Totem Pole and the Eiger Sanction, Eric Bjørnstad

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Arizona Highways, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 29-­35, February 1985,Clinging to a Crack on the Competitive Edge, John Annerino

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IBM “secretarial services”atop the Totem Pole

If you think the spire is impressive,just look at the shadow

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Totem Pole Climbing HistorySteve Bartlett E-­mail

RE: Totem PoleFrom: stephenbartlett@yahoo.comSent: Wed 6/17/09 9:45 AMTo: Gerald and Sandy Gallwas (gegallwas@msn.com)

Hi Jerry,

The other route on the Totem Pole, Never Never Land, was done, according to Bjørnstad’s Desert Rockguidebook of 1988, by "the Banditos" in 1979. It is widely known as the "Bandito" Route.

.The Banditos were a loose knit group of climbers from Arizona. The core of the group were Glenn Rink,

Stan Mish, Jeff Bowman. They did a lot of climbing on the towers of the Navajo Nation. I believe they preferred togo by the Bandito moniker, rather than real names, partly because of the dubious legality of what they were doing.

Second ascent of this route was Bill Forrest and Jim Waugh, in 1984. Bill Forrest confirmed the secondascent of the route, though not the year, to me last year.

This route is the only one anyone climbs anymore. I don't believe anyone has repeated your climb sincethe Eiger Sanction filming. Partly because the fixed anchors (bolts etc) were all removed, but also because yourroute is easily seen from the road. The newer route is hidden round the back, thus giving a better chance ofconcealment. Modern ascents usually involve being dropped off by a getaway driver. Many climbers climb aroundNew Years, so as to minimize the numbers of people who may be around.

Fran and I hiked around the tower spring 2009, and our Navajo guide was surprised to see that someonewas building a hogan right under the north side of the tower. If this becomes occupied, future ascents may bemuch harder to get away with.

It seems that most of the locals (who all seem to be part of just one or two large extended families) wholive there don't really mind about climbers climbing on Totem Pole, but the Traditional Navajos (the elders, whodon't live locally, but have much influence) do, and they set policy for all who live on the Reservation.

Here is an incomplete, rough list of the ascents:

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Totem Pole Ascents:

1. Mark Powell, Jerry Gallwas, Don Wilson, Bill Feuerer, June 13th 1957

Register comments:Sierra ClubJune 13, 1957"A very windy day. Previous days have been fair and included 13 climbing hours, not including prusiking time. During

this time Powell and Wilson shared leads and reached a high point at the base of the bolt (summit) pitch. Gallwas

finished the pitch and at present Wilson and Feuerer are prusiking up."

Mark Powell FresnoDon Wilson LABill Feuerer LAJerry Gallwas SD

2. TM Herbert, Tom Condon, Dave Rearick, December 15th, 1958.

Register Comments:T.M. Herbert LATom Condon LADave Rearick LASierra Club R.C.S."It took us 3 1/2 days due partly to short daylight. We placed a couple more bolts.* There was evidence of a recent

attempt which reached the first cave—we salvaged their pitons.** Today is a beautiful calm day. We are veryimpressed by the climb and by the fine job done by the first party."

* According to Kor, one of the new bolts was placed, by Dave Rearick, at the top crux of the fourth lead, just wherePowell traversed right to the tiny belay ledge, using tension from a hand-­placed piton behind a small block. Rearickdoes not remember.

** This attempt was probably by Harvey Carter, who tried the tower twice but never reached the summit.

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3. Layton Kor, John Auld, Rick Horn, November 22nd, 1961.

Register Comments:Layton Kor ColoradoJohn Auld Colorado(Nov 22, 61)"1 1/2 days, no new bolts, tremendous job on First Ascent. My congrats to Kor.* Beautiful day—a little chilly, no sign of

injuns so far"

*the whole climb was led by Kor. Yet he declined to write in the register;; Auld wrote the first entry, Horn wrote on aseparate page:

3rd ascent M.E. Horn, Jr. Jackson Wyoming."I’m stickin’ to granite!"

4. Roger Dalke, Tom Ruwitch (date/year unknown)

Register Comments:4th ascentRoger Dalke, Tom Ruwitch"Nine hours time. Beautiful day. Our respects to the 1st ascent party. Very spectacular climb."

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5. Ken Wyrick, Eric Bjørnstad 1975

Register Comments:5th ascentKen Wyrick, Eric Bjørnstadwith the filming of the “Eiger Sanction” Eastwood movie

Bjørnstad and Wyrick were obligated to clean all the fixed gear from the route. Even the summit anchors, summitregister and cairn. The fifth ascent was the last ascent of the original route. After this, the register was in thepossession of Eric Bjørnstad, in Moab, for a number of years. In 1979, the tower was climbed on the east side, upcracks on the opposite side of the tower to the first ascent line. Subsequent ascents have all been on the east sideroute.

Information on later ascents is incomplete, in part because all these ascents have been covert.

6. Bandito RouteGlen Rink, Stan Mish, Jeff Bowman1979

7. Bill Forrest, Jim Waugh

8. Gordon Banks et. al.

9. Tim Toula, Tim CoatsSpring 1985

10. Rob Slater, Jim BodenhamerMay 1985

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11. Kyle Copeland, Alison Sheets, Charlie FowlerDec 28th, 1985

12. Tom CosgriffJan 2nd, 1986

13. Bill Roberts, Paul HauserDec 31st, 1986

14. Chip Wilson, Jerry RockJan 1st, 1987

15. Jim Olson, Brad White, Jackson WYSept 29, 1987

16. Galen Howell, Sonia PaspalBoth climbers were National Park climbing rangers. They were hired by Navajo Nation to clean bolts and other

paraphernalia from the Never Never Land climb. They climbed on the tower twice, in 1993 and 1994. In 1993, theydid not summit, out of respect for the Navajo nation ban. In 1994, they did summit.

Two other ascents I have heard of, but with no dates:

17. Jim Bridwell, John Middendorf

18. Todd Gordon and Dave Evans.

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The article, They Risk Their Lives for Fun byHal Burton, appeared in the February 25, 1956issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It wasinspired by and included a description of theattempt on the Northwest Face of Half Dome in1955 in which Don and Jerry were participants.Don included a copy with his letter of requestto climb Spider Rock as an indication of ourqualifications. Superintendent John Aubuchonpresented the letter and article to the NavajoTribal Council and to our delight, our requestwas approved.

Spider Rock Introduction & Reference

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Superintendent Aubuchon CorrespondenceSpider Rock

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Jerry Gallwas2524 Tarrytown DriveFullerton, CA 92833

E-­mail: gegallwas@msn.comH: 714-­449-­9724C: 714-­343-­5504

September 6, 2010

Hi, Gerry. Of course. Please send. Fascinating stuff, I'm sure. In June 1958 I went up 60 feet (!) on Spider, with my dad nervouslybelaying. A girlfriend and I made the second ascent of Cleo. So I'm quite familiar with 1/2 Dome and the desert. For your amusement,here's something I wrote a decade ago for a John Cleare book in England.Steve

My most petrifying climbing experience in the Southwest took place in 1962, when I was barely old enough to vote, let alone possessjudgment. I badly wanted to climb a spire called Cleopatra's Needle, an awesome formation 225 feet high, thin as a knifeblade. Thisfreakish pinnacle had been ascended only once, six years earlier. A few sentences in the first-­ascent account had both scared andintrigued me: "The second man had no problems taking pitons out. Few of the thirty even needed pounding with a hammer." Surely thiswasn't true! I was traveling with a non-­climbing girlfriend that autumn, and we zigzagged through the region, hiking and doing things younglovers do. I had brought climbing equipment, thinking I could teach Sharon if necessary. She was a brave lass and on Cleo I easilydragged her up to a belay ledge 100 feet above the ground. She stared up at the next section, a dead-­vertical wall 125 feet high, soft ascheddar, and split by a single thin crack, through which we could see daylight-­-­the other side of the spire. She rebelled. I too wanted nopart of it. But I was brimming with a dangerous drug, testosterone, and so, after teaching Sharon the rudiments of belaying and promisingglibly that I wouldn't fall and that she needn't go to the summit, I set off, pounding pitons into the buttery sandstone with blows Thor wouldhave been proud of. This was classic artificial climbing: a piton every five feet. On granite, it would have been a dream, but here the pitonskept shifting under my weight, and a few lower ones rattled out as I progressed. After two hours of this I was sacred witless and covered inred dust and sweat, wondering why Sharon and I weren't instead cavorting naked in a motel room. If a piton popped while I was perchedon it, I wouldn't have to worry about my questionable belayer holding me: I would zipper every piton, smash down onto Sharon's ledge,and end up the size of Tiny Tim. As happens near the top of all artificial pitches, or so it seems, I began to run out of the correct size ofpitons, hammering big ones part way into narrow cracks and tapping little pitons until they almost disappeared into wider cracks. Just as Iwas about ready to self-­destruct from panic, I pulled up onto the minuscule summit to see the rotting rappel slings left by the first-­ascentparty. Somehow I got down alive (cleaning many of the pitons with, yes, my hands) and found poor Sharon weeping from fear, rage, andrelief. I promised her we wouldn't do any more climbing, and we didn't for a full week.

To: gegallwas@msn.comSubject: Re: Half Dome and Desert SpiresDate: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 14:43:35 -­0400From: steveroper@aol.com

Postscript: Cleo Perspective and a Fun E-­mail