Shepherd Tower of the Metolius

[VanMarmot]

So that was Shepherd Tower on the lidar image. Great!

It doesn't show up well on Google Earth because it sits down the side of a ridge and up against some trees. You have to look for the bare ground first and then go over into the trees. From above, it's not overly tall relative to its surroundings; it looks much more impressive from ground.



It's only about 350 feet in and 200 feet up from the road.

[BendB]

@Kevin Nice man! So glad you guys were able to put this mystery to rest. It looks like you did the main chimney, but then looked like you top roped the face? Were there any old pins up there or did you sling something for an anchor?

[kpiarulli]

We just hiked cross country up the hill. Of course as it always seems to happen, we found a bit of a social trail on the way down, but it was covered by fallen trees so I wouldn't try too hard to find it. It is just a few hundred feet [upstream] before the picnic tables directly up the hill. There was an old anchor consisting of three 1/4" buttonhead bolts we used (backed up with natural gear) to toprope the face (I assume it's been done before) and another older anchor with rusted homemade hangers. I hope to go back up next year and replace the anchor with better hardware. It looked possible to scramble to the top on mossy 3rd/4th class terrain from the east side. On the Northwest corner/downhill side there is a proud buttress, we didn't climb but looked around the corner at it. I saw at least one piton indicating a previous ascent, I'll have to try to find some of those old guidebooks for info/go back and climb the line.