Fine Jade
Kyle has wanted to climb Fine Jade ever since our first trip to Utah in 2017. Fine Jade is a 5.11, multi-pitch route up the Rectory. The Rectory is a formation close to Castleton and we had got a good look at it when we climbed the North Chimney. For the North Chimney ascent check out this blog Insert Castleton Blog Link. The approach is long to get to the base of the climb. The climb itself is over 500 feet of vertical technical climbing and there isn’t a pitch below 5.11. I’m not a 5.11 climber so when Kyle had the opportunity to take on this objective with Jay and Brian I couldn’t let him pass it up. Jay had climbed Fine Jade multiple times and was more than happy to follow the route behind Kyle and Brian.
Fine Jade Team left early in the morning, hoping to beat the crowds to the popular route. I woke up with Kyle to help him pack and send him off with well wishes. I went back to bed once he left and slept for another hour or two. When I woke up, I was sad to see Kyle left his stash of snacks outside by the van. I knew Jay and Brian would have some snacks to spare. I looked off into the horizon towards Fine Jade and hoped they were having fun.
Terma
My plan was to climb with Andrea and our friend Abraham who had driven up from Texas a day or two previous. I hauled my climbing gear, water and pack up to Andrea’s house. Once there I walked inside in time to have a cup of coffee with Andrea. Our approach and climb was a much smaller objective so we were able to enjoy a leisure morning. Finally Abraham joined us mid-morning and after we had all breakfasted we set off for Terma. Terma is a 5.8 ish, 3 pitch climb covering 330 feet of vertical climbing. Andrea drove us to the pull-off next to the Colorado River and we picked our way up the steep talus to the base of our formation. I had never climbed with just these two before so at the base we covered some rock climbing basics.
Abraham took the first pitch and then he belayed Andrea and myself up. I wasn’t feeling too confident in my climbing for the day so I asked Abraham to take the second pitch as well. He couldn’t have been more excited to get another lead under his belt. Andrea took the third pitch, which was supposedly a little runout for protection placements. She sailed her way up and belayed myself and Abraham up to the top. We were on the top of a huge mesa overlooking the Colorado River winding itself below us. We all unroped, enjoyed a snack and high fives.
Once back at the base of Terma, Abraham got his sights on another climb, Spear of Destiny, 5.9 90 feet. This climb was just a short hike to the left of Terma. He had an absolute blast climbing the Spear of Destiny! While he was at the top of the climb, we watched as three base jumpers jumped from the top of Terma. They were jumping from the top of the mesa we had just climbed up! It was absolutely amazing watching this people jump and float down towards the river.
Back Together
The three of us trudged back down the steep sandstone talus to Andrea’s vehicle. We were extremely pleased and elated with the climbs of the day. Now that our objective was complete, our thoughts switched over to Kyle, Jay and Brian. How did their climb go we couldn’t help but wonder. We drove back to Andrea’s and saw that Kyle Jay and Brian were in the kitchen and all three were grinning ear to ear. They had had an amazing adventure climbing Fine Jade. It was everything Kyle had wanted out of a climb and more. Absolutely stunning movement up a spectacular rock formation. We shared stories of our climbs for the day and sat down to an amazing dinner.
We can’t thank Andrea and Jay enough for taking us out and sharing their favorite climbs with us.