(Cheops Pyramid)
In March Benny Spencer and I went to go climb Buddha Temple in the Grand Canyon. Here is brief report on our ‘failed’ effort.
On March 13th, we rallied at 2am in Flagstaff for some Canyon adventure.
While sipping coffee and waking up, we had our eyes peeled for elk sightings on the early morning drive up to the canyon. We only saw a couple elk along the road, although we were sure there were plenty more we did not see.
We parked at the day use area just east of the road to Yaqui point and started down the south Kaibab trail at about 3:30 am. The air on the rim was cool, but as we started the approach we could feel the warmth radiating from the canyon. We were shedding clothes within 40 minutes of hiking.
Buddha was the objective. A beautiful summit located northwest of Phantom Ranch and often attempted in one push, commonly done from the North Rim. We figured we’d rather start from the south rim and hike more than drive the extra couple hours and access the canyon from the North Rim. The road to the North Rim was still closed in March so that was out of the question anyway.
We had a single 60m rope and a light rack. The packs were small and we guessed they weighed no more than 30 pounds each. We got to the bathrooms at river before dusk. We took our time filling our water, snacking and waiting for enough light to see to better navigate the next section of the approach.
Camp site #1 in the Bright Angel Campground is the ‘trail head’ for the Utah Flats Trail (a new trail for us). It was easy to find and climbed steeply up the west flank of Phantom Ranch where the cottonwoods were just starting to bud for the season.
We motored up through the scree and layers of rock, passing through piano alley and onto Utah Flat where we got our first view of Buddha Temple. The trail gets a little hard to follow for a mile or two through this section as we traversed the east face of Cheops Pyramid towards the upper end of Phantom Creek where we had an unobstructed view of Buddha Temple. It looked very far away still, even after the 4.5/5 hours of hiking we had already put in.
From the upper end of Phantom Creek, the approach drops significantly down to Phantom Creek and then begins the ascent up the south flank of Buddha. We estimated another 3 to 4 hours of approach time. This along with the several technical pitches of climbing on Buddha led us to change plans. We decided to go after Cheops Pyramid which was right next to us.
After an hour approach, we were at the base of the north ridge on Cheops. This climb is rated 4th class and it was at least that hard. I would even call a section or two easy 5th class.
We took the rope and rack with us because we had it and after Benny climbed through one crux section about three quarters of the way up I requested he toss the rope back down to me for a belay. The red limestone felt solid, mostly, and the holds were big but so was the exposure. The route puts you right on the ridge line, snaking back and forth with big air on either side.
(John climbing the ridge on Cheops Pyramid)
The summit was big and flat with great views all around and the summit register was full of climbers that have been on top. Many ‘phantom ranchers’ enjoy this climb, possibly sneaking a big day in after a work shift. Only one person mentioned that they thought it was ‘sketchy’, a thought I shared. We decided to rope up for the down climb and short roped/down led some of the trickier sections.
We refreshed ourselves at the base of the route and decided to descend Phantom Creek for our return trip. Phantom Creek is another described way to approach Buddha and we thought it would be fun to check out, making a lollipop loop out of the day.
Dropping down to Phantom Creek we ran into a group of climbers heading to camp in upper Phantom and then attempt Isis the next day. One of the climbers was Dave Gancy. Dave had done the first ascent of the Southwest face of Zoroaster Temple which was my first route ever in the Canyon. He was stoked to meet someone who had repeated his route and we stopped for while and chatted with the group trying to get beta on what dropping Phantom Creek might be like.
There was a 20 foot rappel required soon after we hit the creek. We then discovered a hand line on the opposite side of the creek that we could have used to bypass the water fall. This could work if an approach was made to Buddha up the creek.
Hiking down the creek was amazing. It was mid afternoon and the sun was shining directly down into the canyon. There were puffy floating seeds everywhere that looked like fairies; really cool.
We mostly walked through shin deep water and navigated some tricky bouldering to get around some deep holes but here was one hole that we could not avoid that got us wet up to our chest. With all the water and bushwhacking it took a long time to get through the creek. Each turn had us looking for the north Kaibab trail and the end of the canyon, but eventually we were out, and a mile later we were back at Phantom Ranch where we regrouped and prepped for the hump out.
(Benny getting wet in Phantom Creek)
Heading up the South Kaibab Trail, we noticed it is in really good shape right now (hats off to the trail crews and NPS for not allowing mules on the trail any more). Many spots are like the urban trail, nice and flat with no deep ruts.
We were out at 8:30 pm, feeling good and worked.
Cheops was a great climb and if you want any more beta give me a shout. I may plan to pull a permit in the future to camp in upper Phantom for a couple nights and attempt Isis and Buddha from there. It looks like a great place to camp and would put you in a great position to pick off a couple of great Canyon summits.
-John Doskicz
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