INTRODUCTION. About The Climbing. Hazards

Transcription

1 INTRODUCTION About The Climbing Most of the rock climbing in this book has been developed since the summer of That means mostly new bolts, and modern approaches to climbing development. Whereas the San Juans are an epicenter for ice climbing, the rock climbing has escaped attracting too much attention. Some of the great things about climbing in the San Juans are the lack of crowds, a variety of rock types with short approaches and scenery that can t be beat. On top of all that, you can finish a day with a soak in the local hot springs. Hazards Many of the cliffs are below loose, steep hillsides and natural rockfall is common. This is especially true in the spring during melt/freeze cycles and during periods of intense rain. I ve even had bighorn sheep knock rocks down on me. It s never a bad idea to wear a helmet, especially while belaying. Be careful even driving below cliffs in inclement weather. People have been killed driving on both Camp Bird Road and Highway 550 south of Ouray by rockfall. Flash flooding occurs every summer in Ouray and although it s unlikely you ll be out climbing in that type of weather, it is something you should keep in the back of your mind when you are out adventuring.

2 INTRO Where the hell is the Million Dollar Highway you ask? A greasy festering pile of choss!. Nothing but Wind and Rattlesnakes this way! Skiers in a hurry. College girls! Crowded but sweet alpine climbing People s Republic of Boulder Denver Sky diving INTRODUCTION 4 Stash your weed here for the return trip! Mormons, Californication, and Vegas Baby! Bitchin splitter cracks! Who is giving away the Sprinter vans? Monticello I told you, you should have left your weed in Colorado! Injun Territory and strange desert dwellers Grand Junction Mtn. biking Moab Montrose Big open spaces! Cortez To-hell-you-ride Cliff dwellings Drive-thru weed store! Peaches! yum!!! Big flat mountain. Ouray Silverton Durango Big hole in the ground Right about here you realize you are not in Colorado anymore. Rich bastards! Colder than a Witch s tit! Hippy new age stuff. Our choss is the boss! Mtn. biking College girls! Mtn. biking Hot Springs They Killed Kenny!. 14er s you can climb with your car Bad boys and girls end up here. Trinidad Conservatives Colorado Springs Pueblo Burque Girls, the 505, and my suggested relocation of the border wall Maybe it s time for a change? Turn around! Nothing but flat land for a long long way! INTRODUCTION 5

3 INTRO LOOKIN FOR SOMETHIN? Index Jimmy Cliff 228 Introduction Montrose 26 Dry Creek 30 Spring Creek 52 Ridgway 58 Ridgway State Park 62 Le Petit Verdon 238 Canyon Creek 248 Red Mountain Pass 280 Slab of Despair 283 Engineer Pass Turnoff 285 Secret Stash 294 Trough 296 Shang-Ri-La 294 Techno Crag 306 Waterfall Wall 316 PEMA area 328 Chunder Dome 330 Colby s Corner 70 Silverton 336 INTRODUCTION 6 Logan Tyler and Ben Healey get psyched for the climb ahead. Cimarrons 78 Chimney Peak 82 Courthouse Peak 86 Coxcomb 87 Wetterhorn Peak 91 The Dike Wall 92 Mt. Sneffels 98 Ouray 106 Rotary Park 112 Pool Wall 132 Upper Cascade 164 Sandias 168 Ice Park 204 Overlook 216 Ice Lake Crag 340 The Stripe 348 Cunningham Gulch 360 Eureka 366 Eureka Tower 370 Goldrush Area 372 Sandinista Crag 374 Weminuche 378 Wham Ridge 385 Trinity Peaks 386 Snowdon Peak 390 RV Wall 396 Index of Routes 402 About the Author INTRODUCTION 7

4 RIDGWAY Description Crag Dry Creek is a short but quality crag with expansive western slope scenery. The dakota sandstone is well varnished and the rock is well featured with holds. The big drawbacks are that you wish the cliff was at least twice the height and that the drive time from Montrose was much quicker. These drawbacks keep the crowds down so you do have that going for you. Bouldering RIDGWAY Dry Creek is a great place to get some winter sunshine, set up top rope climbs, or get a whole bunch of pitches in top rope soloing. MONTROSE The original practice of omitting top anchors, due to fears of redneck tinkering and supposedly softer rock, is slowly changing with newer routes often sporting bomber stainless glue-ins. Some older routes are even seeing upgraded anchors. Thank you to the folks doing the work and upgrades! Bouldering has been developed below the crag. Finding and accessing the boulders should be straightforward as they sit right below the main climbing area. Since the cliffs are only about 40 tall, you ll want half a length of rope, some quickdraws, another half length of rope for rigging anchors, and some trad gear also for rigging top anchors. 30 DRY CREEK BOULDERING, SPORT, TRAD ROCK TYPE: DAKOTA FORMATION SANDSTONE DRIVE TIME: 40 MINUTES FROM MONTROSE APPROACH TIME: 1 MINUTE MONTROSE 31

5 RIDGWAY MONTROSE RIDGWAY MONTROSE 37

6 RIDGWAY MONTROSE RIDGWAY 56 MONTROSE 57

7 Jason Nelson at the Dutch Charlie area. RIDGWAY STATE PARK BOULDERING ROCK TYPE: DAKOTA FORMATION SANDSTONE APPROACH TIME: 5-10 MINUTES RIDGWAY 62 Ridgway Resovoir is by no means a bouldering destination, but it s scenic, it s convienient, and you can certainly find yourself entertained for a few hours. Athough the top outs are often not difficult, they are high, so a cool head is helpful. There are nice mountain bike trails across the street and there is a bike path that access Ridgway Resovoir from Ridgway along the river. The fishing here is reportedly good too. I don t do a lot of fishing myself though because it seems too much like belaying and I spend plenty of time doing that already. The season is more or less year round providing temps are in your liking and there are times it could be raining in Ouray and you ll have nice weather here. STATE PARK RIDGWAY 63

8 ROTARY PARK SPORT ROCK TYPE: CUTLER FORMATION SANSTONE/SHALE/CONGLOMERATE DRIVE TIME: 2 MINUTES FROM ELEVATION: 7,700 Once a horse graveyard and dump, and long dismissed by climbers for being cursed with lousy rock, the Rotary Park has been transformed into a family-climbing-oriented city park and one of Ouray s most popular crags. Drive-up climbing, BBQ pits, a bathroom, a kids playground, and picnic tables all attest to the user-friendliness of this place. The Ouray Beautification Comittee took interest in the park over the summer of 2017 and made some fantastic improvements including opening up new climbing terrain, and then enlisted myself and other locals to create some new routes. The idea was an instant success. Like every good idea though, it was met with some resistance and drama. That s a story for another book. You just enjoy the climbing! If this isn t the place for you, you re in luck, there s lots of other crags nearby! There is some occasional natural rockfall from the cliff and ledges above, so take care in the wind and rain. Directions From the heart of Ouray, go north on US Hwy 550 toward Ridgway 1.5 miles. Look for the hockey rink on the right and turn into Rotary Park. Park by the big wall of red sandstone. Stroll 30 feet to the obvious cliff. Approach time: seconds. Look for a handful of short, well-protected sport/mixed lead climbs Min. 113

9 5. Project (5.9, 10m) Logan Tyler 6. Pocketful of Sunshine (5.6, 5.9, 25m) YY Jason Nelson A slab with interesting features leads to an anchor, then an extention continues through a roof to cracks leading to the top of the wall Forever Feels Like Home (5.9, 25m) YYY Jason Nelson Climb a slab that steepens into a right facing corner. Angle left up a crack and through an overhang. 8. In the Air Tonight (5.6, 5.11, 24m) Y Jason Nelson A slab leads to an anchor. The extension leads to the right and finishes with big moves through the upper roof. 9. BillyMac 5.9 (5.10+, 22m) YYY Logan Tyler, Ben Healy Climbs a prominent grey streak. ROTARY PARK Stars That Shine For You (5.5, 4m) Y Jason Nelson A slab

10 Directions Just North of Ouray across from the hot springs pool. Park at the Pool or alongside the road and walk up the left side of the drainage across the street to the left of the condominiums and up the Ouray Perimeter trail unless you are heading to the Alcove or Upper Tier area. Approach times range from 5-15 minutes. A - Alcove: Hike up the Perimeter Trail, then and the sign in kiosk, hike into the drainage and follow the path up the drainage to the climbs. B - Bay of Pigs: The Perimeter Trail takes you beneath the Bay of Pigs, then after a switchback, take the climbers trail back to this section of wall. C - The Wading Pool: Continue past the Bay of Pigs. When you spot a sculpture made of old mining equipment (the Poolman), cut back left (uphill) to the cliff. If you hike past the old wooden remains of the Two Kids Mine, you ve gone too far. D - The Deep End: Continue past the old mining sculpture and then take the next trail uphill to the cliff. This area is easy to spot from town, as it s the wall to the right of the Two Kids Mine, a prominent series of mineshafts and wooden structures. E - The Backyard: Continue past the Two Kids Mine and the Deep End. There will be a recess in the cliff. Just past this, you will encounter the routes of the Backyard. F - The Upper Wall: Continue into the Alcove and up the gully to fixed ropes leading across a ledge. The other option is to do a route on any of the lower walls and top it out. D E F B C A POOL WALL

11 14. Bel-Loch Diner (5.11c, 30m) YY Pete Davis / Troutman Steep jugs off ground lead to pod and body-length crux crimper moves, then it is moderate to top. An optional short 2nd pitch crack tops out the cliff. 9 bolts with brown hangers to lowering anchor at 70. A few tight hands cams should suffice for optional 2nd pitch, 2 bolt anchor on top of cliff. 15. Pub Rats (5.10b, 24m) YYY Pete Davis This route shares the start of Welcome to Ouray but moves left immediately following brown bolts. 6 bolts, Gear: #.3 to #3 16. Welcome to Ouray (5.11c/d, 24m) YY Michael O Donnell Sustained and Challenging. 17. Fine Line (5.12b/c, 24m) YYY Matt Samet Climbs next to the orange coloured steak. 18. Under the Wire (5.11b, 22m) YYY Michael Gilbert Gear: stoppers, small TCU s and cams to a #3 Camalot. This route is located under the wires. Very eh (5.11a, 22m) Gear: lots of small stuff. Just right of Under the Wire. Not sure if the grade is accurate. There s a fixed pin under a roof on this 20. Too Close for Comfort (5.12a/b, 22m) Y Michael Gilbert 21. Finland (5.11c/d, 22mYY Michael Gilbert 22. The Back Nine (5.9, 20m) YY Gear through a #4 Camalot. Follows a right facing corner and Mark Miller Bolted route up the face just right of The Back Nine. 24. Gingaplut (5.10a, 20m) YY 162 Mark Miller Farthest right route. There s a small pine tree growing out of the wall to the left. Mary Harlan on Girl Under You. POOL WALL 23. Drop Zone (5.11a, 20m)YY 163

12 ICE LAKE SPORT, TRAD ROCK TYPE: TELLURIDE CONGLOMERATE DRIVE TIME: 15 MINUTES FROM SILVERTON ELEVATION: 11,400 ASPECT: NORTHEAST FACING CRAG GPS: 37 48, , Mins. SILVERTON 340 Directions From Silverton, head nouth on Highway 550 a couple miles. Turn left at the sign for South Mineral Creek. Drive down the dirt road until you reach a parking area and bathroom. You can park here and follow the ice lake trail. The other parking for 4x4 s is a turn-off on the right just before the parking lot. Drive up to the first switchback and park. Hike down a trail the crosses the top of a waterfall and joins the Ice Lake Trail. Hike up the Ice Lake trail for just over a mile beyond the falls. The trail goes through an open meadow with breathtaking views and then ascends steeply into the forest. At the first switchback, a faint trail continues off of the main trail. Exit onto the faint trail. Cross over the creek, past a nice looking boulder traverse and into a meadow below the wall. Exit the trail at the beginning of the meadow and follow a fainter trail with cairns up to the crag and the base of the lower wall. To access the upper wall, it s possible to hike around to the left and then cross the ledge. There are a couple sketchy sections on this traverse with death fall potential. You can also top out one of the climbs and gain the fixed ropes on the right side of the ledge. There is also an access system on the right side of the lower wall that ascends fixed ropes up to the ledge. A Grigri self belay or equivalent is recommended for this variation. ICE LAKE SILVERTON 341