Alpinfox Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Climb: City of Rocks Idaho ~50 pitches in 9 days Date of Climb: 6/19/2006 Trip Report: Short version: My girlfriend and I spent 9 days climbing ~50 routes at City of Rocks. It was fun. That’s it. Long version: City of Rocks (COR) is a collection of granite domes, spires, and other craglettes hidden away in the cattle and potato-farming country of south central Idaho. It is "one of the premier granite sport climbing destination in North America", but also has some fantastic cracks. The rock is unusually featured for granite with lots of patina flakes, horns, and chickenheads which make for some fantastic face climbing and surprisingly easy climbing on steep faces. There are also huecos, arches, and other rock architectural forms not usually associated with granite. Supposedly this is because COR is some of the older exposed granite on the planet and has therefore had lots of time to erode into these fantastic shapes. Huecos and Arches: Lost Arrow Spire: Overall, COR reminds me of Joshua Tree in it’s general layout (lots of small, scattered domes), desert setting, coloring, etc. Classic City of Rocks Overview: The two differ in that COR is more featured and the rock is not as abrasive. Another thing that differentiates the two places is that I think COR has more high quality routes in the easy range (5.8 and less) than JT, making it a more fun destination for beginner climbers. My girlfriend had a two week break from school, so we decided to go on a road trip. She has wanted to go to City of Rocks for years, so that was definitely on the list. I had been there twice previously, but always in route to somewhere else (Tetons, Indian Creek), so I was looking forward to spending some more time there. I also really wanted to check out the Sawtooths (specifically the Finger of Fate), and we also considered visiting the Tetons and Devil’s Tower, but COR was so much fun that after a few days there, and learning that the FOF access road is a bit rough for a Subaru, we decided to stay put. We had a fantastic time. The climbing is low-key, fun, varied, scenic… it’s just a great place for cragging. The highlight of the trip for me was watching my girlfriend lead a few trad routes. She took a ground fall a few years ago, badly injuring her back, so needless to say, she has some hesitations about being on the sharp end. After following me up dozens of trad, sport, and alpine routes in the last few years, she has gained a lot of self-confidence and skill, and felt ready to try out leading again. Her first couple leads of the trip were on bolted climbs, but she eventually donned the gear and sent a few 5.6/5.7 trad routes in good style. My favorite climbs: “Skyline” – This awesome 5.8 crack goes right to the very top of Morning Glory Spire. Since most COR climbs top out on rounded domes from which it is hard to see your second, and the climbing generally eases at the top, this climb is exceptional in that it goes to a pointy summit. Another great thing about climbing Skyline is that from the top of the spire, you can top rope my favorite route of the trip: “Crack of Doom” – This crack is incredible. It was first ascended in the 1960s by Jeff Lowe. I assume he was wearing EBs? 11c in EBs? Wow. This climb has a difficult face climbing start (I couldn’t get it in three tries) that leads to a thin tips crack with some face edges for feet out to the right. A few tenuous moves leads to great finger locks, then glorious-glorious hands, then a bit of fists, then back to OMG AWESOME hands. If this climb just started off the deck with the tips crack, it would be 10+ and would have people lined up on it all day. The difficult start keeps the riff-raff off. “Intruding Dike” – This is a superfun 5.7 splitter crack with lots of edges and horns and stuff for face holds. Usually routes of this difficulty aren’t very aesthetic, but ID is a classic. Highly recommended. This was my GF’s proudest lead of the trip. Below is a list of all the climbs we did: 6-19-06 Carol’s Crack, 5.9, finger crack Flesh for Fantasy, 5.11a (VERY SOFT!), TR, face Unnamed 10a face climb right of Carol’s Crack. 6-20-06 Wheat Thin, 5.7, flake Come All Ye Bumblies, 5.7, TR Rye Crisp, 5.8 flake requiring #4 camalots for pro Columbian Crack, 5.7, “one of the all-time classics”. It was pretty cool. Chimney start, finger crack, hands, OW. 55m. First Lead, 5.6 crack. Hoping the GF would lead this one after TRing it. Kinda funky to protect, so she declined. A couple other TRs on Practice Rock. Right across from our campsite, so why not? 6-21-06 Too Much Fun, 5.8, face. Very steep climbing on big flakes. Difficult start. Tumblie Takes a Tumblie, 11a, face. Didn’t quite get the onsight due to a long reach I didn’t see at first. New York is Not The City, 10a, face. I liked this one. Raindance, 5.7, face/slab. My GF’s first lead of the trip! Tribal Boundaries, 10a, face, TR. This one felt harder than I remember it from my last trip to the City. Reservations, 10a, face, TR. Just right of TB. Felt harder than TB. 10a?? Really? 6-22-06 We went to “Castle Rock Valley” this day. CRV is a separate collection of crags about 3 miles NW of the town of Almo (which in turn is about 6 miles ENE of COR). This area used to be privately owned, but was recently rescued from development by the Access Fund. It is a fantastic collection of high quality crags with the longest climbs (4 pitches) in the greater COR/CRV area. There is a $4 parking fee for this area. Two 5.8ish cracks in the “Crackhouse” area of Castle Rock. Cool area with lots of densely packed parallel cracks. Jug-A-Lug, 10b, face. Pretty cool steep climbing on big jugs. To Have and to Hold, 5.9, face. My GF’s hardest lead of the trip. Hard layback start. To Have and To Hold: Groom with a View, face. Originally graded 11a, now supposedly downgraded to 10c. I’d agree. Opuntia, 10a face climbing on arête. GF backed off at 6th bolt due to big traverse right required. A little spicey which is totally out of character with the rest of the route. She called this route “lame”. Opuntia: 6-23-06 Batwing, 5.8 crack with a bit of unprotectable slab. Sweet route. 50m Skyline, 5.8 crack+naturally protected face. Cool route that goes to the top of Morning Glory Tower. One of our favorite routes of the trip. **** Crack of Doom, 11c, face/crack, TR. I was more interested in this route than any other at COR. It is fabulous. Very difficult/awkward face climbing for about 10 feet (I didn’t get it clean) to a tips crack with face edges for feet. Once you can sink your fingers (~15ft) its cruiser fingers to OMFG glorious hands, to OW, to glorious hands. Awesome. Crack of DOOOOOOM!: Book of Dissent, 10a (yeah right), stemming corner, TR. Strenuous. Glad I was on TR. Fall Line, 10c, face. Cool route. My GF really liked this one. Took me a while to figure out the crux. Fall Line: Easy Corner, 5.5, crack. GF’s first trad lead of the trip! "Easy Corner": Triple Roofs, 5.7, TR. Not many 5.7s overcome a 4ft roof. Tenish Anyone, 10a?, TR, not that interesting. Extremely high 1st bolt. There is a MisterE route at Smith Rocks of the same name. 6-24-06 This was supposed to be our rest day. “I just wanna do this one climb…” Adolescent Homosapien, 5.7, crack. GF’s trad lead! w00t Aspen Leaf, 5.9, gear. ~20-degree overhanging 5.9 corner? Fuck yeah. Overlooked classic. Streachmarks (sic), 5.9 finger crack, TR. Sweet but short. Tel Aviv, 12b, TR. It didn’t look hard. Total flail. Humiliating. Hough’s crack, 5.7. GF’s lead! A quality alternative to standing in line for Intruding Dike. Intruding Dike, 5.7, crack. High quality route. Estrogen Imbalance, 10d crack. I took one hang on this one. Cool, infrequently done route. I recommend it. Good pro. Life without Sex, 11a/b, face, TR. Two cruxes. 1st is height dependent, but easier than 2nd crux. 6-25-06 Needed a rest from our “rest day”. Hiked the North Fork of Circle Creek trail and checked out a bunch of crags. Got freakin’ roasted by the sun. 6-26-06 Life without Sex, 11a/b. On lead this time. Felt easy. Unnamed “5.8” intruding dike crack climb just left of LWOS. Some thoughtful pro placements in some places. I did this as a “true” onsight just for fun. No beta, just looked at it and said, “let’s do that”. I like doing that every once in a while. Felt harder than 5.8 to me, but I guess that’s just the way true onsights go. Donini’s Crack, 10c. Crux is thin hands through a roof. Does Donini have small hands? This thing felt harder than 10c to me, even on TR. I hung once on lead. Damnit. Lochness Monster, 11b, TR. Holy shit was that hard. Kicked my ass. Way harder than “Life Without Sex”. Thin Slice, 10a, finger crack. Good route. The corner to the right would make a nice climb. Can’t believe no one has cleaned it up. Looks sweet! Tow-Away Zone, 10a, face/crack. Very hard, slippery (unusual for COR) start. Just Another Pretty Face, 10c, TR. Slabby, traversey. Glad I didn’t lead it. 6-27-06 Intruding Dike, 5.7. GF led it this time. Sweet! Intruding Dike: Bloody Fingers, 10a, thin crack. One of the classics that is getting slippery and gunked due to too much traffic. New Toy, 10?, TR. Face to the right of BF. Prickly Pear Flower: Butterfly: Random Beta: Water – There is water available within COR at Bath Rock and at the Breadloaves. There were some rumors of E. Coli contamination of the Breadloaves water. I don’t know the true story. In any case, the water at Bath Rock is nasty, so try to avoid having to drink it. You can fill up jugs/bottles etc at Tracy’s General Store in Almo for free. Recommended. Camping – $7.40/night for up to two cars and eight people. You can call ahead ($6 fee) and get a reserved site for up to two weeks. Since ~70% of the sites are reservable, (only ~30% are first come, first served!!) this might be advisable. There will not be any sites available on weekends unless you reserve them. There are some extremely nice campsites in the COR and there are some shitty ones. Look around. The campground management is as mellow as I have seen anywhere (no grey-haired Nazis in golf carts coming around at 5AM). Driving – On our way to and from COR, we stopped at Dierke’s Lake (right next to Shoeshone Falls) just outside of Twin Falls, ID. For a $3 fee, we were able to go swimming in a columnar basalt rimmed lake that was very refreshing in the 90-100 degree temperatures. You could even jump off the cliffs into the lake. Dierke's Lake: There was some chossy looking climbing (some with bolts) on the far side of the lake, but we didn’t try anything. Fiery Orb In The Sky - COR gets hot. I’m guessing it was at least in the mid 90s every day we were there. Fortunately the layout of the place (lots of small crags) allows for pretty easy shade chasing. Climb west-facing stuff in the AM and east-facing stuff in the PM. If you have one, bringing some kind of tarp or sunshade thing would be a good idea if you could keep the wind from destroying it. The sun can drive you crazy and you might end up doing stuff like this: Gear Notes: COR cracks take nuts well. Lots of horns to sling for protecting non-bolted or runout faces. Newer routes are "modern bolted" (aka overbolted) while some of the older routes can be run out. Some routes require building gear anchors and walking off, some have convenient rap anchors with chains. There is a little bit of everything at COR. Approach Notes: ~740 miles from Seattle 12 hours of driving that goes like this: cow... cow... cow... potatoes... cow... cow... cow... potatoes... cow... horse... GRANITE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 OMG AWESOME! LET ME KNOW IF YOU GUYS NEED A THIRD NEXT TIME YOU GO! OMG YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS HOTT ALPINFOX! LOL. way to get'r done. thanks for the nekkid pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fern Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 excellent! I think we left the day before you arrived. Such awesome cragging at the City. for anyone who wants free camping, drive out of the park towards Almo but turn right instead of left when you hit the main road. Cross 2 cattleguards and take an immediate right up a dirt road to BLM land. You can get water at the Visitor Center in Almo too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Ha! that picture is too funny!! Classic!! Sounds like a super fun, productive trip. Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCash Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra_Commander Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 next time you are up by thin slice be sure to do cairo right next door. It's the kind of fun bolted route that pisses josephH off. I assume the anchor bolts on fall line have been tightened? They were frighteningly loose upon arrival last time (last fall) nice pics! that first one of you in the arch sums up the city experience, hunting shade. just got back from there myself. lots and lots of thunderstorms in between scorching heat. It was difficult to get on multipitch stuff because it would be super hot at first, then running for your life as the lightning rolls in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 next time you are up by thin slice be sure to do cairo right next door. Yeah, I was gonna do that one, but it was in the sun. I assume the anchor bolts on fall line have been tightened? They were frighteningly loose upon arrival last time (last fall) I didn't notice. That's worrisome. just got back from there myself. lots and lots of thunderstorms in between scorching heat. It was difficult to get on multipitch stuff because it would be super hot at first, then running for your life as the lightning rolls in. Sounds fun. So I was looking over YOUR BIOGRAPHY and wondering where the interest in rock climbing came from? Was that something you got into before or after 'Nam, being buried alive, and brainwashing the population of Millville? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Looks like fun. Thank goodness you brought those little monkeys with you to protect the naughty bits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Now hot damn, thats what a Trip report should look like! Thanks Fox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatboy Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 cow... cow... cow... potatoes... cow... cow... cow... potatoes... cow... horse... GRANITE! NAKED CHICK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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