Castleton Tower - South Face

The most famous of all of the desert towers (and possibly the one with the least atrocious rock), Castleton was also one of the first to be climbed, all the way back in 1962. The Kor-Ingalls (line 2) is one of Steck and Roper's 50 classics, for very good reason: a natural, not too difficult, not too terrifying way to a spectacular summit. It's not just the Kor-Ingalls, though: thanks to the likes of Jay Smith and Ed Webster, the south face sports a number of somewhat harder lines.

Castleton also happens to be the only desert tower on top of which a car commercial was filmed...

If you want the wet version of this, have a look at the Old Man of Hoy. There is also a poster of the North Face.

Download: Medium resolution, personal use only

Route List

1: Black Sun, 5.10b, E. Webster, L. Coyne, M. Hopkins, 11/1977
2: Kor-Ingalls, 5.9, L. Kor, H. Ingalls, 09/1961/H. Carter, C. McCarty, 05/1962
3: Discrete Start to Black Sun, 5.9+ R, K. Trout, W. Payne, 04/2009
4: Burning Inside, 5.11b, J. Smith, B. Novellino, P. Teare, 05/1994
5: Arrowhead Left, 5.10+ A1, E. Webster, C. Dreiman, 10/1982
6: Underworld, 5.11, J. Smith
7: Stardust Cowboy, 5.11a A1, E. Webster, C. Dreiman, 1982
8: Hollow Point, 5.11+, J. Smith, B. Novellino, P. Teare, 05/1994

Sources

• “Moab Climbs: High on Moab,” Karl Kelley, Sharp End Publishing, 2017

• “Desert Rock III: Moab to Colorado National Monument,” Eric Bjørnstad, Chockstone, 1999

• “Desert Towers: Fat Cat Summits and Kitty Litter Rock,” Steve Crusher Bartlett, Sharp End Publishing, 2010

• “Selected Climbs in the Desert Southwest, Colorado and Utah,” Cameron M. Burns, The Mountaineers, 1999

• Mountain Project

• Steph Abegg

• Ken Trout

Updates

Jun 29, 2024: Initial version.

Mar 9, 2026: Minor graphic update

Apr 26, 2026: Caption update