Peak Climbed: UN 6,087

Peak Height: 6,087'

Route: NE Slopes

Difficulty: Class 3

Location: near Fisher Towers, Utah

Trailhead: Onion Creek Road

Mileage & Gain: 2.5 mi & 1,500 ft RT

Date Climbed: April 17, 2019

This unnamed butte situated between Fisher Towers and Castle Valley had been floating around near the bottom of my desert to do list for years. I'd looked at it dozens of times while driving down UT-128. The expansive summit plateau is guarded by a tall and worrisome cliff band, but Lists of John indicated there was a nontechnical route somewhere. We just needed to find it.

After spending a leisurely morning climbing to the highpoint of Klondike Bluffs in Arches National Park, we found ourselves with a few hours to kill. The time for UN 6,087 had finally come. We drove the slow Onion Creek Road, parked at a point northeast of the peak, and hiked steeply up the northeast slopes to near the base of the menacing upper cliff band. We then executed a fairly unpleasant traverse under the cliff band on very loose class 2 scree, dirt and talus looking for and exploring possible weaknesses. It was chossy, and a very different choss than you usually find in the Utah desert. I scrambled up stuff a couple of times I'd rather not have downclimbed.

Finally, at the very southern end of the east face a gully presented itself. Seemingly out of other options, we started up. It stayed second class until the very end, where a short and reasonable 3rd or easy 4th class crux must be negotiated. The rock is relatively solid here.

While the actual hiking on this peak is fairly unpleasant, the views of the Fisher and Mystery Towers from its slopes are awesome!