It was Thanksgiving weekend, and both Nate and I had 4.5 days off (mid-Wed through Sunday). Time for a climbing trip! We desired steep splitter sandstone cracks in the sun, but without crowds. Paradox Valley sounded like a great option. With the 7 hour drive, we would be able to do 3 full days of climbing (Thu-Fri-Sat).
We booked a room at the Rimrock Hotel in the small town of Naturita. This was well worth the $80 a night for a warm place to stay during the long, cold nights of November in the desert. In the evenings, we ate simple dinners in our room, watched Yellowstone, and read books. And of course I spent some time downloading, organizing, and posting the photos from the days adventures, entertaining my incessant need to document the world around me. We enjoyed leisurely mornings sleeping in, drinking a couple of coffees, and doing computer stuff before heading out for a day of desert climbing. While daytime temperatures were probably in the 40s, the air was calm and the sun was out, so it felt quite pleasant on the red sandstone.
The trip ended up being a nice tour of the climbing options in the Paradox Valley area. On Thursday, we completed our drive (we had gotten as far as Grand Junction on Wednesday night) and cragged at Atomic Energy Crag: 9 pitches of 5.7-5.11 climbing, both sport and trad. On Friday, we hauled 6 sets of cams up to Paradise Wall at Carpenter Ridge, and enjoyed a day cragging on a few of the wall's steep and difficult thin splitters. On Saturday, we we tagged the summit of the classic 4-pitch Psycho Tower via a rather wild and exposed 5.9 (with 5.11 bonus pitch) route on the south face.
Below are some photos from our Thanksgiving 2021 climbing trip to Paradox Valley. Enjoy!
