The Watchman 2-12-15

ram

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The Watchman is an iconic mountain in Zion National Park. People line up most evenings at the bridge, in the park to take the picture of it, as the sun sets upon it. It is the mountain displayed on the Backpackers pantry freeze dried dinners and can be found all over the place.

Having just gotten out of Cove Canyon after 4 days, the day before and due the day after in Death Valley, I was in the market for a sporting scramble. Jenny was interested. There were others to ask, but it was such short notice, really no notice at all.

So after struggling to pull the gear together, off we went. The climb is rated class 4 and probably slips into low 5th class in a few spots. While not a classic line, the route intrigues due to its confusing amount of latitude, especially in its 2nd half.

From the river, you make your way up through the low cliff band at a weakness, then up complex and somewhat exposed country to the pass between the north and middle peak of Johnson Mountain. After many hours of work, you can finally see the Watchman, across a pass. The routes most exposed section is getting up the next few 100 feet, all of it on pretty brittle and sandy rock. Then gully's and ribs present themselves everywhere, 2, 3, 4 options at a time. Half of them are dead ends, or so I speculate.

The day is warm and we move deliberately, until finally there is only one point higher than us to the north. We make our way to the top at 3 PM. Fifteen minutes of view, food and water and we must start our descent. We make the valley and the campground, with 20 minutes of daylight to spare.

As Jenny and I make our way through the campground, a mother of a 10 year old, shouts us out. She congratulates us for....what? Being old and getting out and hiking? She is half our age. We thank her, as I note the mountain standing tall, over 3,000 feet higher, above and beyond the top of their camper, she has no idea were we have come from. It has taken us a bit under 9 hours. A fine way to spend my 60th birthday

gaining height above the surprisingly noisy Springdale
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Up on Johnson Mt. West Temple looms beyond
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The massively complex slopes of the Watchman, from Johnson
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One of the steep spots
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Jenny
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getting closer
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A final delicate traverse
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Old Ram, take a look at your life
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A fine view
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hand lines and raps for the steep part of the descent
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North Johnson Peak. Our route went thru the gap down right of the summit. The Watchman not even in view
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The watchman, front and center. Johnson on the right
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Nice write-up and a really cool looking mountain. Also love Neil Young, nice reference.
 
Great TR @ram! Thanks. You are a still an active lad at the young age of 60. (course it looks like you are climbing in velcro shoes :) )

Trying to get a sense of reference. Can you compare this to the technical difficulty of some other Zion Summits that I have visited? Mtn of the Sun? Kinesava? Lady Mountain?

- Art, an active lad and fellow climber, 56..

oh.. and HaPpY bIrThDaY !
 
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Art

Watchman is harder than Kinesava. Watchman has some steeper rock of poor quality (Gritty, loose, sandy), but the 2 are comparable. Lady has a higher tech rating, but again Watchman is probably a little more dangerous, but again comparable. Patience on the route finding is the key,. Except for getting up into the main gully on lower Watchman, after coming off Johnson, any hard 4th or easy 5th class climbing encountered means there is an easier route/line nearby. If you have done the others, you will enjoy this one

Ram
 
I did the others so I will add this one to the list. On Kinesava, I was referring to the south ridge which has some serious 4th class and a pitch of maybe 5.7. So it is a little harder than Watchman I take it. We came off Kinesava to the the east on a "walk-off" which was casual which is probably the route you were comparing to. Thanks for the beta. Zion mountaineering summits are special as are the backcountry walks.
 
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