After a successful summit of Cheops Pyramid in November 2006, I was stoked to finally be making a few fall returns to Grand Canyon National Park and its obscure, funky, loose, often dangerous and always awe-inspiring temple climbing.
This day found DB and I doing the cold and windy approach to The Battleship via the Bright Angel Trail. With folks already on the trail shortly after daybreak, we made good time down to our point of departure from the trail. Doing so, we enjoyed the views and terrain that eventually led us to the saddle south of The Battleship.
Having a quick snack, we worked around to the feature's east side, looking for a supposed 3rd class way to the top. We didn't find it. Instead, I asked DB to wait while I explored a possibility nearby. Heading up, I found a semi-convoluted, meandering route that involved a tree dihedral problem (complete with an old wire hand-hold tied around it), followed immediately by a funky 5.6/7 crack leading to easier ground. A bit more route-finding put me on the summit.
Soon retreating back to DB, she was disappointed that I discouraged her from coming up, as we'd not brought a rope since we believed the route to only be a scramble. Sorry, DB. We'll go back another time. A fine little peak.
Wandering back up the Bright Angel Trail, I was still chomping at the bit for some more exploration. DB wasn't up for it, so I headed off to a likely looking drop-in point from the rim to approach Sinking Ship. With a bit of bushwhacking, easy scrambling, nice scenery, a cliff dwelling and a metate under an overhang, I soon found myself at the base of a 5.3 chimney on the feature's north face.
A funky scramble up the chimney, an exposed traverse, then some easier scrambling put me on the tiny summit. A cairn, but no register.
Turning around so as not to keep DB waiting too long, I took a slightly different way back, reaching the car in a jog 1.5 hours after starting out. Not bad for a guy with flat feet.
The Battleship & Sinking Ship
