CITY OF ROCKS

[skyclimb]

Need route info for sport. Top-rope or lead, either. Anyone been, and suggestions as to some kick ass shit.

[Winter]

There's a lot of new stuff ... and some longer multi-pitch sport routes that are supposed to be nice. There is a gear store Burly ... looks more like a jetski, motorcycle kind of place, but the folks that worked there were pretty knowledgeable and helpful. You may want to stop in.

[erik]

free camping

 

drive through the preserve and exit out the backside. you will cross a cattle guard, now you are on deforrest service land. there are a few roads that shoot off of this main road which offer some fine camping.

 

sorry i cant help with routes names as i always forget them.

 

 

[cracked]

Go there, take a rack, and climb easy stuff. Not too many sport routes, and those that are bolted tend to be far more runout than say Smith. Do Wheat Thin (5.7), Rye Crisp (5.8), Bloody Fingers (5.10a but TR-able), there's lots of fun moderate stuff. The camping is nice, and the area is huge, so it's fun to go get lost and climb stuff. Enjoy it.

[Szyjakowski]

cracked said:

Bloody Fingers (5.10a

I second this one....for sure....try to get an ascent in of Jackson's thumb....at nite....and in a lightening storm....just for kicks...oh, and don't forget the beers 'cause its so heavily bolted being drunk makes it waaay better at 5.moderate. (don't remember grade)

[wdietsch]

make sure you have at least one 60m rope, otherwise you will be very limited in what you can do by either tp or on lead

[ScottP]

Bloody Fingers for sure.

Tribal Boundaries and environs is a cool, more remote part of the area.

[Winter]

Come on folks this place is huge. Is Bloody Fingers the only thing in the park to climb? Its good but once you're off the deck I thought it was 5.8.

[minx]

it's been a while but i think there's some mixed routes and a few bolted routes near bumbly tower. too much fun comes to mind for an easier go. bloody fingers and a 60m rope are good advice too

[specialed]

Crack of Doom, Donini's Crack, Funky bolt (its not funky anymore), Skyline, and so many others of which the names I can not remember.

 

It probably won't be warm enough till June though. And there's a killer developed hot springs near Burley I think.

[Szyjakowski]

Winter said:

Come on folks this place is huge. Is Bloody Fingers the only thing in the park to climb? Its good but once you're off the deck I thought it was 5.8.

thats right city is all about those bloody fingers.....

but then i only made it there once on trip home from the wind river range....seems kinda trivial climbing boulders after mts...so, we (valente and I and cassidy)stayed for 24hrs, climbed, poached some campsite, tried to infiltrate some babes site, got dissed, got stoned, got drunk, climbed jackson in the electric storm, got drunk, passed oout and then hightailed it the next morn for the Tieton.

[RuMR]

colossus and the rest of the routes on that formation are really good as well...

 

And don't forget the mega classic she's the bosch, spud-?, cairo, etc.

[Winter]

i only made it there once on trip home from the wind river range....

 

we did the exact same thing. It seems a lot different pulling into a camping spot next to a group of 20 school kids and belaying from your trunk.

[Skisports]

when is the best time to head there. is it to early now because it is at such high elevation. ???

[erik]

Skisports said:

when is the best time to head there. is it to early now because it is at such high elevation. ???

 

as soon as t-meadows is open!!!!

 

[Scott_J]

That statment about it not being warm b/4 june can be wrong depending on the weather pattern. I was there once in April and got fried like a road kill on the 395. Call the ranger headquarters and see about the weather. As for ERIK saying just go camp "where ever" that is just the way to get the locals pissed off at climbers. Stay in the camp gound area its not that expensive or ask the ranger where it would be OK to camp free outside of the park. The Access Fund and the rangers there have been fighting for years to let the locals and the local political types that climbers are good for the ecomony and they are not bad for the area. Make sure you close all gates you pass thru other wise the cattle will wander away. This is one park that I have seen a good working relationship going on between the rangers and the climbers. (ps erik don't bother defending your statement it plain wrong, not all that ground is public land. You need to research it first)

[Skisports]

erik said:

Skisports said:

when is the best time to head there. is it to early now because it is at such high elevation. ???

 

as soon as t-meadows is open!!!!

 

 

 

Can't you be anymore helpful

[erik]

sisu

 

my beta comes from locals and the area i am talking about is not in the preserve. it is on deforrest land.

 

either way it is a great place!!

 

 

 

[specialed]

sisu_suomi said:

That statment about it not being warm b/4 june can be wrong depending on the weather pattern. I was there once in April and got fried like a road kill on the 395. Call the ranger headquarters and see about the weather. As for ERIK saying just go camp "where ever" that is just the way to get the locals pissed off at climbers. Stay in the camp gound area its not that expensive or ask the ranger where it would be OK to camp free outside of the park. The Access Fund and the rangers there have been fighting for years to let the locals and the local political types that climbers are good for the ecomony and they are not bad for the area. Make sure you close all gates you pass thru other wise the cattle will wander away. This is one park that I have seen a good working relationship going on between the rangers and the climbers. (ps erik don't bother defending your statement it plain wrong, not all that ground is public land. You need to research it first)

 

Sisu, CENTRAL FUCKING IDAHO. There's so much fucking open space there you can camp anywhere without pissing anyone off. A lot of that land outside the city is BLM anyway.

 

And as a standard rule I wouldn't go there before June. Of course its possible you might have good weather but doubtfull. Shit you could have good weather at Squamish in December. I still wouldn't tell someone to got here then.

 

 

[cluck]

I dropped by City of Rocks on my way home from the Teton's last summer. Only got in one afternoon of climbing but it was AWESOME.

 

There are some nice routes on the breadloaf (or something like that) that can be toproped from chains with a 60 meter rope.

[klar404]

City of Rock is great! I no give beta though... You should be able to sniff it by going to the ranger station on the east side of the park. THey had a cheap photocopied guide when I was there. I've gotten rained out twice in sept/oct. And, as far as seasons go

taken from this website http://www.nps.gov/ciro/home.htm

 

[pindude]

specialed said:

sisu_suomi said:

That statment about it not being warm b/4 june can be wrong depending on the weather pattern. I was there once in April and got fried like a road kill on the 395. Call the ranger headquarters and see about the weather. As for ERIK saying just go camp "where ever" that is just the way to get the locals pissed off at climbers. Stay in the camp gound area its not that expensive or ask the ranger where it would be OK to camp free outside of the park. The Access Fund and the rangers there have been fighting for years to let the locals and the local political types that climbers are good for the ecomony and they are not bad for the area. Make sure you close all gates you pass thru other wise the cattle will wander away. This is one park that I have seen a good working relationship going on between the rangers and the climbers. (ps erik don't bother defending your statement it plain wrong, not all that ground is public land. You need to research it first)

 

Sisu, CENTRAL FUCKING IDAHO. There's so much fucking open space there you can camp anywhere without pissing anyone off. A lot of that land outside the city is BLM anyway.

 

And as a standard rule I wouldn't go there before June. Of course its possible you might have good weather but doubtfull. Shit you could have good weather at Squamish in December. I still wouldn't tell someone to got here then.

 

 

Wrong specialed; sisu is right. You CAN'T "camp anywhere you want" around the City of Rocks. Best to be careful. The City is in southern Idaho, and a lot of that open space is private land--locals are way conservative, especially when compared to western WA and OR rural property owners (I wouldn't want to wake up in the early morning on the wrong end of a barrel held by a pissed-off owner because I was trying to duck the camping fee and I chose the wrong place to camp).

 

Most importantly, access has been threatened over the years at the City precisely because of the actions of *some* rogue climbers camping and going wherever they've wanted. Locals stepped in and became very involved dating back to the 80s, and provided much input to help establish the City as a bona fide park. Issues have continued to be resolved through the years, including with help from the Access Fund who recently helped purchase some of the private land that is now part of the park. Those of us who climb there regularly don't want access further threatened.

 

The City is considered a destination climbing spot. It's high-elevation desert, and I've been snowed on in late June but there can be good climbing weather from spring to fall. You'll find climbers from throughout the world staying for a week or more, and you can get on a full range of routes from trad to bolted, from easy to way hard. Lots to choose from, best to use a guide. Good ones are Bingham's City of Rocks: A Climber's Guide, c. 2000; and the out-of-print (?) City of Rocks Select by Forkash, c. 1996. Like others said, bring a 60-m rope or you could get in trouble like others have--I like to bring a second 60-m rap line for quicker descents off the 60-m routes. Campground is generally not open until April 1; prior to that you might have to park at one of the gates and walk in to the disignated camp sites. Say hi to climbing ranger Brad Shilling.

 

[Norsky]

I would think that the local population (Mormons) would not look kindly to viewing some haggard climber wiping his ass with sage brush. However, the paid camping can get filled up on weekends.

 

For routes, I really liked the sport route "Redtail" 10d. It's one of the longest sport routes around and eases up after the start. All of the guide books suck that I've seen. I think it was the Falcon guide that got recalled because of so many errors like reversed images.

[johnny_destiny]

Norrrrrrrrrrski you are right on that. The Falcon had 78 errors at last count by Brad S. The Bingham one is better and the one from Falcon has better pictures to line things up. I'd love to see some of these free campers out there when a rancher shows up with a couple of his or her working dogs...heelers especially. hahahahaha Fuckers are a tough breed and they do like to let you know if you are where you are not to be.

[freeclimb9]

The bulk of the collected fees are spent on the reserve. Though campsites are taken quickly on some weekends, often there's open sites in the far campground that's out past the Breadloaves. Once upon a time, when Pat was running the NAF store, I'd say you'd have a good chance of getting a free place to crash out there (about 15 miles from the reserve toward the south end of the Raft River mountains. But they sold the place a couple years back. It was again for sale last summer and closed, too (and no cold Coors as a result).