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Gimp Warfare on The Titan

Gimp Warfare (5.9 A3, 8 pitches, ca. 900′) is a new route on the east face of The Titan, Fisher Towers, Utah. After nine days of work over six months, Paul Gagner and Jeremy Aslaksen completed the route on August 29. Climber Steve “Crusher” Bartlett said “there is a select breed of climbers who revel in the sheer ‘curmudgeonliness’ of the climbing [on The Titan].” [Photo] Jeremy Aslaksen

Climbing on the Cutler sandstone of The Titan is notoriously difficult to protect. Here, Aslaksen shows his excitement about finding a perfect cam placement after hacking away at some surface mud. [Photo] Paul Gagner

The culmination of nine days of climbing over six months resulted in a new aid route on the east face of The Titan in the Fisher Towers, Utah, for climbers Paul Gagner and Jeremy Aslaksen. Calling it Gimp Warfare (5.9 A3), Gagner and Aslaksen finally completed the eight-pitch route at 2 p.m. on August 29 after a four-day effort on the 1,000′ pile of mud.

Gimp Warfare starts 100′ to the right of World’s End (VI 5.9 A4+), the only other route on the east face of The Titan. The pair drilled 32 lead bolts, half of which were on just two pitches due to rock features that were more closed off than the climbers hoped, Gagner said. The route eventually joined up with the final belay on Finger of Fate (IV 5.8 A2+), Aslaksen said in his report on Supertopo.com.

The Titan, the highest of the Fisher Towers, was featured as the Mountain Profile in Alpinist 8. The tower, listed among Steve Roper’s Fifty Classic Climbs, presents many challenges to climbers. The rock is composed of Cutler sandstone, which according to Mountain Profile author Steve Bartlett is “a famously fickle variety of stone that does not play well with climbers.” Gagner and Aslaksen, who battled numerous injuries during the past six months, including multiple broken bones, also mentioned that the 100-degree heat during their final push presented a new and substantial challenge.

Bartlett said that what attracts climbers to The Titan is “the sheer awfulness of the climbing: the experience is so far beyond normal expectations, it comes out the other side as a wild adventure.”

Sources: Paul Gagner, Jeremy Aslaksen, Steve “Crusher” Bartlett, supertopo.com