
Crossing Pine Creek.

A ramp that's been human-eroded for accessing the sandstone slab start of Nippletop.

Mellow slab at the start of Nippletop that gets steeper.

View back, South Ariel Butte seen center.

Ascending the slab.

There's a fissure within the slab. I recommend keeping to the right of it and then traversing over farther up.

Steepening to Class 2/3 slab. Bear left here to avoid Class 4/5 terrain.

Along the ridgeline. There were some wrap-arounds to avoid little cliffies.

View back down the initial ascent.

Close-up toward the fissure. We stayed to the far left of this photo before crossing over toward the top of the fissure.

Nippletop comes into view.

Close-up of the ridge spine to Nippletop.

Hiking along the Class 2 ridge.

Approaching the base of the steep ascent to gain the rim.

View back along the ridge.

Class 2 at first.

It's a steep ascent on loose terrain.

One Class 2+/3 move.

And then a section of Class 3 with some exposure.

Yoshi coming up the Class 3 section.

View back toward the ridge spine.

On top of the mesa, heading to the summit block.

Cool rock formations along the way.

Final bit of Class 2 steepness.

Class 3 move to gain the summit block.

Nippletop summit, view southwest.

Nippletop summit, view west.

Nippletop summit, view toward The East Temple, Progeny, etc.

Nippletop summit, view toward Crazy Quilt Mesa.

Next up, South Ariel Butte.

Crossing the road and starting up toward South Ariel Butte.

Steep slabs the whole way up South Ariel Butte.

View back toward the trailhead, Nippletop seen top right.

We passed this outcrop on the left and just kept ascending. I found keeping closer to the ridge crest was easiest, but almost any direction will work, with varying levels of steepness.

view back at our progress up the slope, the outcropping we just passed seen center.

The slabs continue to be quite steep Class 2. you can see the summit block poking out in the center.

The ridge ends at the outcrop seen top right. Keep left of this. It gets very loose and much more exposed.

Starting tame, though with a big drop-off on the left, the slabs become more sheer and the terrain more loose.

Very steep. There's one Class 3 move that didn't translate in photos, but it's a steep slab step with exposure.

We rounded the bend and continued ascending to the north ridge. This is a view back.

A view back at the gross, loose stuff before reaching the north summit ridgeline.

Class 2/2+ along the north ridge. One Class 3 move to gain the summit. Nippletop seen ahead.


View at Yoshi about to start the Class 3 move.

South Ariel Butte summit, view toward Nippletop.
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