STEEPLE PEAK AND EAST TEMPLE PEAK

We climbed both of these peaks - Steeple has a moderate route up the left margin so this was a rest day for us. Our last climb of the trip took the left edge of East Temple, shadowed in this photo. The endless hand crack (next photo) is located on the headwall where the shadow is a bit narrower. One more pitch took us to the top just as a big storm arrived, and we did the decent raps in a downpour. On one of the lower raps the rope stuck and we had to cut it, but we had enough rope left to finish the descent. Whew! Luckily it was not far to our camp. It continued to rain all night and through the next day, so we holed up in our tents until it stopped and then hiked out. It was not fun to be stuck in a tent for that long, but we still got in four great days of climbing.