This is a pretty good route. Both pitches were physical in nature, but in general, it was characterized by fairly strenous hand jamming and good finger torques.  It is possible that some or all of this was done by another party a while ago as we did encounter (what looked like) a bail bolt and single biner at mid-height on the 1st pitch right next to bomer gear.  The rock was not definitely Indian Creek quality but passable for solid, Monument, tower climbing.  Tape is recomended as the jamming on the first pitch will turn your hands into a bloody mess.

P1: make a difficult move up through the Chinle to a good stance and the real start. Climb the strenous butt flare (5.10+) with decent jams up and into the rest of the climb which varies in and out the sizes from rattley fingers to tight fists.  Climb all the way to the big ledge where a good anchor can be made on finger-sized gear.  5.10+, +/- 130'.

P2: climb the figer crack directly above the belay via fun yet though provoking 5.9 climbing.  Get around the corner and go for 40-50' up the slab to the summit. 5.9, +/- 60-80'.

Descend via a single 70 meter to the notch between upper and middle then another single to the ground.

Phat Gypsy - DJ's Excellent Adventure

Baby Gypsy-North Face

Lower Gypsy-East Chimney

Baby Gypsy - South face

Middle Gypsy-Sandstone Sandwich

Franklin's Tower - Dark Star

Franklin's Tower - The Mine Shaft

Just Southeast of the Gypsies is a lone tower split in two sitting all by itself.  The name, Franklin Tower, comes from an old book with a photo of turn of the century hikers, "hiking below Franklin's Tower", as the piture is captioned.  The Mine Shaft starts on the Northwest face and ascends the gigantic chimney system that splits the entire tower.  Expecting it to be heinous and full of gigantic spiders, we were plesasntly suprised by good quality of rock (for Momument chimney standards) and a challenging adventure winding upwards through a very strange passage.

Mountaineer up through the first rock band with some 5th class moves to access the bench where the chimney starts.

P1: Climb the obvious system encountering some 5.8/5.9 OW towards the end before the chinmey widens and lets you all the way through to the other side of the tower to a belay out side of the chimney .  5.9, 120'+/-.

P2:  Go upward through the shaft with excellent protection for the first 25'. Above the roof, mine out the passage and squeeze your way up to the summit.  I'm 190 lbs. and just barely fit. If you're much bigger than me, you're not going to fit.  There are spots on this pitch where if you fell you might become a perminant fixture, so climb with caution.  This pitch is pretty wild.  5.9, 90' +/-.

Descend via one 70-80' rappel, and hike back to the base.

This route climbs the dihedral on the north face of Baby Gypsy.  (You'll quickly see which one is the Baby Gypsy Tower.)  Start with some junk Chinle, then just layback the meat of the route on good Wingate sandstone.

In Desert Rock III, this is listed as an aid climb, but it easily goes free.

The route starts in between middle and lower Gypsy Towers on the east side.

P1:  Climb the cupped hands/fist crack in the dihedral.  This quickly leads to a squeeze then to some giant chockstones that seem like they are just waiting for you to give them a nudge so they can come crashing down.  Luckily it's possible to chimney/stem past the scariest one.  Tunnel through to the left of the biggest boulder/chockstone and set a belay at the saddle.

P2:  Supposedly this pitch is only 5.5, which makes me feel pretty bad, because I was challenged and terrified on the opening moves!  Start by making a very committing move from the saddle to establish yourself on the tower.  There is absolutely no gear for the crux move of the pitch.  If you blow it...ouch, you'll most likely have some hospital bills to pay.  Once you've made the most committing moves, it's easy ground to a bolt to some more run out climbing to a ledge.  At the ledge, there is an optional belay off of two hangerless bolts (that, of course, are nice and loose), better to keep going.  Aid off the bolts and hand place 4 baby angles in the drilled holes to a ledge with bolted anchors.

P2.5: I was rope solo on this and didn't have to worry about rope drag, but it might be a problem if you continue to the top without stopping at the anchor atop of the aid section.  Either way, the last bit requires about 30' of free climbing up a crack that disappointingly doesn't go all the way to the top, luckily the climbing isn't too difficult to the top.

One double rope rap will get you down.

I would be surprised if this had not been climbed, but knowing how little the obscure things get done out here, you just never know.

Pitch 1: climb the Chinle to the splitter hand and tight hand crack to the summit passing the usual choss as you get to the top.  5.9+, 50-60'.

Descend from a solid, three piece, summit anchor.

The route starts on the SE side in between Middle and Upper Gypsy Towers.  Go up an easy 5th class section to a small ledge below an offwidth/chimney.

P1:  Climb the stout beginning and grunt your way into the chimney.  It won't take long before the rock turns more into clumped together sand in the form of huge boulders stacked on top of each other.  Carefully run it out over this section, taking the right option.  When I was climbing this, I kept thinking about the game Jenga, pull out the wrong piece and it all comes down!  (It's probably not that bad, but it was scary).  Once past the rotten rock, you'll be at the saddle between the towers.  There's a nice crack to build an anchor (#0.75 Camalots).

P2: Climb the obvious crack up the middle tower.  The rock is nicely varnished and solid.  The crack itself is one of those cracks within a crack systems, which just means fun interesting climbing in my opinion.  I ended the pitch below a short OW that leads to a nice ledge (but nothing to set an anchor with).  You'll need big cams to set the anchor.  (#4.5 and #5 Camalots, if I remember correctly).  You could run this pitch to the top, but you might have rope drag which would add to the terror of the top out move.

P2.5: Climb up the short offwidth, look for a small hole to hand place a baby angle.  If you are like me, you'll wish the hole was a little deeper and the piton didn't wiggle around so much.  Test it, top step,  and then make one of those graceful, beached whale, mantel moves while desperately clinging for a hold that's not there.  If the angle pops, or you blow the mantel, you most likely won't be walking back down to the car, it's a pretty scary move.  The anchor is far to the left, best to give the rope a nice flick to pop out the angle allowing the second to safely jug up to the anchor without the danger of a huge swing.

It's a beautiful summit, rarely visited summit up there.

Two independent pitches join "

The Mine Shaft

" for the third and summit pitch.  This is a great steep line up a tower at a surprisingly moderate grade.  A good OW climber will call it 5.9, a poor one not so much.

P1. Climb up to the obvious corner through the chinle start.  OW and chimney up the clean corner above bypassing several fixed pieces that take some of the sting out.  This is a full body workout on great stone, 5.9+, 100' +/-.

P2. Head up left into the large, double roofs with great gear and awesome three dimensional climbing.  Pass the corner, and chimney to a belay up and left on a slabby ledge out side of the chimney, 5.9, 70' +/-.

P3. Mine your way up through the center of the tower. If you're fat like me, you're just barely going to make it through the squeeze. Tie in on the side of you harness for an extra inch, 5.9, 60' +/-.  This pitch is not as stellar as the previous two.

Rap with single 70m off the summit, then two raps (one shorter and one a bit longer) off trees immediately to the skier's right of the tower get you to the base of the route.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Gypsies