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Photo descriptions: a. I arrived the evening before and checked the message board at Bath Rock just in case Scott had left a note. It was nice weather then! b. The next morning we met at Bath Rock. A snow flurry kept our climbing ambitions to a scramble up the back side of Bath Rock, where we got a good view of the City. c. Tracy General Store in Almo. This is the oldest mercantile store in Idaho still operating. They have it all: gas, post office, small but great selection of snacks and supplies, coffee, deli, wi-fi, friendly owners,... I probably wore out my welcome by staying here all afternoon paying just $1/hour for wi-fi and buying the occasional coffee or ice cream sandwich, but I was hoping that I'd be too busy climbing the next few days to camp out yet another day at the store. d. Not often there are quick draws and belay devices at a general store! e. The City has a colorful history. At Camp Rock, immigrants left records of their passing in axel grease. f. The elevation of the City is in the 6000's. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Scott made fresh coffee every morning. He really was the perfect climbing partner. b. Scott leading our first route at the City: Wheat Thin (5.7). c. A photo of the cool flake feature of Wheat Thin. Really fun climbing. d. View of the City from the top of Elephant Rock. e. A spontaneous knot in the middle of the rope. Sometimes the rope has a mind of its own. f. Heading to The Gallstone to climb Conceptual Reality (5.9) on the left prow. g. Fun crack to face climbing on Conceptual Reality. h. Elephant Rock as seen from The Gallstone. i. Black and white version of the previous photo. j. A climber on the cool flake feature of Rye Crisp (5.8), my favorite route of the day. Despite it's 5.8 rating, it's a challenging climb. k. Hiking between rocks in the City. l. Scott rappelling from The Lost Arrow. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Bloody Fingers, a great 10a crack on Super Hits Wall. b. Cool cubic jointing in some pegmatite formations at the base of Super HIts Wall. c. View of the City from the top of Super Hits Wall. d. Black and white version of the above. e. Many (but not all!) of the City climbs have bolted anchors at the top. f. A climber on Intruding Dike (5.7). This was a fun lead. The crack eats 0.5 and 0.75 cams. g. Campsites in the City are quite nice (these are at the base of Decadent Wall in the Breadloaves area), but you need reservations. h. Decadent Wall in the Breadloaves area. So much great climbing. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Three classic City climbs on Bath Rock are shown here: The crack running down the center of the photo is Private Idaho (5.9 trad), and to the left is Rollercoaster (5.8+ sport) and to the right is Colossus (10c sport). b. Scott leading off Rollercoaster. c. Scott on Rollercoaster and Dave on Private Idaho. d. The gear placements are a bit tricky on the first part of Private Idaho....Dave's first two wires pulled out when the rope tightened as he lowered from the top. e. Scott on the 10c crux roof of Colossus. f. Mick at the 10c crux of Domini's Crack. g. Steph climbing on Siesta (11b) on Morning Glory Spire. h. Mick at the 11b crux of Siesta. i. Hard not to barndoor on the crux! j. Crack of Doom (11c) on Morning Glory Spire, which we did not climb but is one of the most beautiful and challenging cracks in the City. k. Dave leading up The Pygmies Got Stoned (5.10a) on Elephant Rock to cap off the day. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Parking Lot Rock is appropriately named. b. Dave on Just Another Pretty Face (10d). The crux is getting to, over, and along the lip above him in the photo. c. Dave at the 10a crux of Tow Away Zone, a great crack climb on Parking Lot Rock. d. The result of Dave forgetting his belay device and using carabiners and Munter hitches. e. Scott at the first bolt of Deez Guys (10a), a fun sport climb at Slabbage Patch. f. Scott climbing I Can't Believe it (10a), another fun sport climb at Slabbage Patch. g. Scott on the 10a roof of I Can't Believe It. The holds are good at the roof. h. Scott having fun at the start of Mystery Bolter (5.9) at Transformation Corridor. i. Dave leading Bumblie Takes a Tumblie (11a) at Bumblie Rock. An impressive lead in the direct sun and after a full day of climbing. j. On the drive out of the City we stopped and took a look at the 5.13 Le Boogyman on Treasure Rock. I'd love to see someone climb this. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Animal Cracker, one of the coolest flake features in the City. I had wanted to climb this route on my previous trip to the City, but we never got around to it. So, naturally, we climbed it as our first route. b. Midway up Animal Cracker. c. The upper section of Animal Cracker. d. Jeff leading Harvest. This is a quality route featuring mostly 5.9-10 climbing with the 10d crux just before the end. e. Looking up Reaper from the base. This route is short, but powerful (11c/d slanting tips layback). f. The east side of Window Rock as seen from Animal Cracker. g. Thin Slice on Window Rock. h. Looking up the second pitch (10d crux pitch) of Morning Glory. This was our last route of the day, since it began to pour as we rappelled the route. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Upper Breadloves as seen from the water pump parking lot. The diagonal crack on the right is Lost Pioneers, which we climbed second of the day. The obvious crack to the top is Urban Renewal, which we climbed at the end of the day. b. Jeff climbing No Cash Refunds, a pretty sustained and interesting 5.7 crack on the right side of Breadloaves North. c. Looking up the 10a corner of Lost Pioneers. d. Jeff leading Green Crack, a steep and sporty face above and left of the top of Lost Pioneers. This route is not in the guidebook. e. A close-up of Jeff leading Green Crack. f. Jeff climbing up the splitter hand crack on Fred Rasmussen. It widens to fists just before the finish. g. The awesome hand crack on Fred Rasmussen. h. Jeff leading Two Bits, a short sport route above Fred Rasmussen. It began to rain just after he pulled the crux, so he blazed to the top and then rappelled. Later that day we climbed this route again on toprope when rapping off the top of Upper Breadloves. i. Double Cracks on King on the Throne. This might have been my favorite route of the trip, so I climbed it three times. The polished start certainly felt like 10b, which is the mountainproject rating for the route (the guidebook gives it 10a). j. Looking up English Muffin. This is a 0-star route in the guidebook, so hence it is not climbed much. It's not all that bad of a route, but it's quite dirty and vegitated and rather spooky because of the lack of traffic. k. Climbing on English Muffin. l. The vegitated, dirty crack on English Muffin. There are better climbs in The City. m. Looking up Urban Renewal, which we toproped from the top of Upper Breadloves. The 11d crux is the section where the rope goes into in the photo. n. Evening light on the City from the top of Upper Breadloaves. |
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Photo descriptions: a. Looking up Skyline, a popular route on Morning Glory Spire. I had climbed this route last time I was in the City of Rocks and it was worth climbing again as a nice warm-up to the day. b. Jeff leading Fall Line as a warm-up before tackling Crack of Doom. c. The famed Crack of Doom is just right of center in the photo. d. We found a handy stick at the base of Crack of Doom for a stick-clip of the pin. Most climbers end up doing this, to prevent an ankle twisting/breaking fall on the 11d crux start. Apparently the pin was replaced in 2011 after the previous one fell out. e. Looking up Crack of Doom from the base. The first 30 feet is the 11d section. f. Looking down the awesome hand-fist Crack of Doom. g. Jeff enjoying a toprope lap on Crack of Doom after an excellent lead of the route. h. Terry leading Lego on Building Blocks. i. The west side of Building Blocks. Terry is climbing Scraps in the photo. j. Looking up Scraps. k. Fun juggy plates near the top of Scraps. l. Later Day Saints (spelling as in guidebook) climbs the left-leaning system above the tree. Great sport route. m. Cool rock on Building Blocks. n. Taking a dip in Dufree Hotsprings in the nearby town of Almo after a day of climbing. |
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Photo descriptions: a. On the approach to Stienfell's Dome from the Circle Creek Overlook (< 30 minute hike from car to base of route). b. Looking down the 5.6 slab on Theatre of Shadows. This climb is bolted for the 5.6 leader. c. The nice vista of The City while climbing Theatre of Shadows. d. Terry at the top of Jackson's Thumb after climbing Theatre of Shadows. e. Terry on the hanging rappel from the top of Jackson's Thumb (the descent requires two single-rope rappels (a 60m ropeis sufficient) down the NE side of the dome into the gully between Jackson's Thumb and Stienfell's Dome). f. When we got back to our packs after the climb, we encountered a queue of climbers at the base of Theatre of Shadows It was nice to be first in line on this route. g. Looking up Sinocranium on Stienfell's Dome from the base of the route. Since the first bolt is 20 feet above the ground it is easy to walk past the base of the route. h. Looking down Pitch 2 of Sinocranium. The climbing on this route is similar to Theatre of Shadows, but seems a bit harder and the bolts just a tad more spread out (although still comfortingly plentiful). i. Looking up at Pitch 4 on Sinocranium. This is the crux (5.8) of the route. It seems harder than 5.8 until you find the holds. j. Looking up at the party ahead of us on Pitch 4 Sinocranium. k. The steep juggy climbing on Pitch 4 of Sinocranium. l. Looking down while climbing the steep 5.8 crux Pitch 4 of Sinocranium. m. Looking up from the second rap anchor. (To descend from Stienfell's Dome, make two single-rope rappels (a 60m rope is sufficient) down the gully on the NE side of the dome.) n. Climber on Felspfeiler (5.8) on the right side of Stienfell's Dome. o. Flowering cactus. p. Stienfell's Dome. Jackson's Thumb is on the left. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 1 (June 15) 1. Starting off the day on The Eviction. 2. Dow soloing Low Voltage Left. 3-4. Will leading Geowatt Left while Dow enjoys a comfortable belay seat. 5. Steph starting up Geowatt Right. The starting sequence seemed much harder than 10c. Perhaps a flake that used to be a good foot broke off.... 6. Fun patina climbing on Continental Drift. 7. Steph Leading No Name Crack. 8. Dow leading Simba's Pride. 9. Will leading Hakuna Matada (with Lion of Judah finish) 10. Dow leading Lion Cling. 11-13. Will and I finished off the day with a climb of Dike of Gastonia on Stripe Rock. The only protection (besides for 2 bolts early on the first pitch) are slung horns. But the climbing is pretty easy. Such a cool feature! 14. Sublime view of the City in the evening light, from the top of Stripe Rock. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 2 (June 16) 1-2. The crew (Dow, Joanne, Jorge, and Pepper) at Smoky Mountain Campground. Thanks so much J&J for letting me mooch a parking spot at your campsite each night! Awesome as always to hang out with these people. 3. Approaching Bracksiek's Pillar in Castle Rocks State Park. 4. Several signposts lead the way. 5. Fun patina climbing on Eye-Full Tower. 6. Dow stemming the start of Mid-Eye Collision. 7. Offwidth at the top of Penny’s Lane, which we linked into the climb of Rhonda's End. 8. Gaping chimneys on Comp Rock. I couldn't find route descriptions for these chimneys but I'd love to check them out. 9. Party on top of Eye-Full Tower. Note the eye. 10. Adventurous traverse across the top of Sailor Wall via the route Ncely Nicely. 11. A foothold broke off as I was leading Nicely Nicely, but I caught myself with my arm. The more scratches = the better the trip! 12. Slab/face climbing on Handsome Sailor Boy. 13. Bracksiek’s Pillar east side. We climbed two routes on this face to cap off another full day of climbing. 14. Dow at the 10a crux on Pitch 2 of Mano Izquierda. 15. Chocolate Rib. 16. Comp Rock. I'd like to climb some routes on this wall. 17. Sublime view out from Castle Rock State Park. 18. Dow looking like he belongs in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Love the shirt, glasses, and tape gloves combo! |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 3 (June 17) 1-3. Another morning with the crew (Dow, Joanne, Jorge, and Pepper) at Smoky Mountain Campground. Thanks so much J&J for letting me mooch a parking spot at your campsite each night! Awesome as always to hang out with these people. 4-5. Captain Pissgums, quite a sporty 10c with some punchy moves off the ground. 6. Ruby and the Dykes, a short crack climb with great movement. deserves more than one star. 7-8. Exposed face climbing on Face Shot. Photo op! 9. Burly start of Houser Arete. 10. Parking Lot Rock, our afternoon destination. It faces west, but our first few routes were in the shade and then the breeze and scattered clouds helped keep temperatures manageable for the rest of the afternoon. 11-12. No Parking, a 10c well deserving of it's 3-star rating. 13. Some "20% afternoon thundershowers" cloud development on the horizon. No afternoon thundershowers developed, though. 14. Road Rage, a nice moderate trad lead though interesting features. 15. Enjoying the view from the top of Parking Lot Rock. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 4 (June 18) 1. Approaching Hostess Gully. 2. We started the day on Zinger, a popular 3-pitch 5.8 that climbs steep jugs and patina face. 3. Braden having fun at the top of Zinger. 4. Our next route was Twinkie, a 3-star 10c. 5. Braden cruising up Twinkie. 6. Looking down Ryobi. 7. Hostess Gully is a popular place. There were over 20 people and at least 5 dogs, on a weekday. 8. Braden campusing a jug on the start of Tiers of Joy. All that hangboarding is paying off! 9. Braden done with his hangboarding warmup and off to the races on Tiers of Joy. 10. View out from Hostess Gully. 11. Braden staying hydrated in the summer heat. 12. Red Rib is a popular 10a sport climb up the rib in the photo. This photo was taken on the approach in the morning, and we climbed this route a few hours after the photo was taken. 13. Looking up Red Rib. 14. Starting up Red Rib. This route has an awesome position, and fun relatively-moderate climbing, so no surprise it is an area classic. 15. Got to keep hydrating. 16. El Castleton, a really good 10d trad route on Castle. It has an R rating for the initial section of climbing which doesn't have pro for about 20 feet of 5.9ish climbing. 17. I toproped 13b from the rap of El Castleton. Remarkably soft for 13b! 18. Steep block of rock on the top of Castle. 19. When the sun baked us off the SW side of Cattle we hiked around to finish off the day with a couple of routes on the now-shady east face. 20. Starting up Smiley Face, a fun 4 pitch route to the top of Castle Rock's East Face. 21. Braden got a bit gripped on the juggy traverse at the start of Hospitalization, 22. The dihedral on the Pitch 2 of Hospitaliano. We didn't bring a #3 or #4 so Braden had to run it out on 5.10 terrain. Nice way to keep your cool Braden! |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 5 (June 19) 1-2. Starting the day with Catwalk on the Breadloaves. Excellent route and a bit game on for 5.8. 3. Bloody Fingers area. We planned on climbing Bloody Fingers after taking a lap on Intruding Dike, but by the time we got back to the ground another party was starting up Bloody Fingers. Fortunately both Braden and I had climbed Bloody Fingers before but we were disappointed not to climb it on this day. 4. Intruding Dike, a fun laser-cut 5.7 splitter. 5-7. Urban Renewal. Nice lead Braden! 8. Taking a lap on Fred Rasmussen on the rappel back to the ground after climbing Urban Renewal. 9. Interceptor, an overhanging 5.11a handcrack. Wow, what a climb! And awesome lead Braden! 10-11. Steph having fun on Interceptor. Steep handcracks are one of my favorite kind of climbs. (Photos by Braden.) 12. View from top of Window Rock. 13. Buzzard Perch. Looks like some good climbing over there. 14. Potholes on top of Window Rock. 15-16. Window on top of Window Rock. 17. Looking up at Destroy All Planets. How can you help but want to climb this crack splitting the face of Window Rock? I enjoyed this adventurous lead. 18. Drunken Cowboy and Crunk Cowgirl. I lead one and toproped the other in less than 15 minutes, to get in a couple quick and fun romps up the rock. 19-21. Pocket Rocket. The crux of this route is getting through the initial pockets to the first good piece of gear. It took us a bit of time of trying to fiddle in a piece to just give up on the gear and go for it. Fun route if you can get past the initial moves. 22. We finished the awesome day on Expect No Mercy, a 50-foot 5.10b/c climb that starts up steep ledgy features and lends with a splitter fist crack. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 6 (June 20) 1-3. Starting the day on Wheat Thin, an uber classic. This was the first route I ever climbed in the City, on my first trip in 2014. Worth doing again for sure! (Photo by Braden.) 4. On top of Elephant Rock. Another beautiful morning! 5-9. Columbian Crack, another uber-classic moderate at the City. 10-11. Rye Crisp, a third uber-classic in a row. If we are counting stars, we are already at 12 stars for the day before 10am. 12. Shadow climbing and a nice pegmatitic xenolith. I love the sun. But Braden is already getting overheated, so time to go find some shade.... 13. Pretty flowers. 14. Anteater Rock. I took this photo alter in the day when it had sun on it. But it was shady when we climbed on it. The patina face has three fun sport climbs. I climbed them all. 15-16. Braden leading Scream Cheese. 17-18. She-Bob, a nice little crack climb to the left of the patina face on Anteater Rock. Probably ignored for the more popular Scream Cheese and Swiss Cheese, but worth doing. (Photo 17 by Braden.) 19. Redtail Wall on Rabbit Rock. This is where we ended the day, with three hard 5.11 routes. The wind was really raging by now so it was nice to go back into the sun. 20. Braden leading Redtail, a popular 11a sport route. A nice long 40m pitch. Onsight by Braden! (And he had started off the day saying it was going to be a rest day for him....but the awesome granite kind of put the kibosh on that idea.) 21. While Braden rested for another 5.11 lead, toproped Sudden Pleasure, an 11b just left of Redtail. 22. Braden's finger taping job. 23-24. We ended off the day on Seasonal Employment, an 11d. Another onsight lead by Braden. Awesome job Braden! 25. Should have taped the finger tips too! Some sharp edges on Seasonal Employment. Going to have to stick to jug hauls and hand cracks tomorrow....good thing the City has plenty of that. 26. Parking Lot Rock west side. Lots of good climbs over there. 27. Morning Glory Spire. Lots of good climbs over there too. Of course. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 7 (June 21) 1-2. White Flake, which follows a white corner with some cool features. 3. Triple Roofs. 4-6. Dead Bird Crack (AKA Humbles Tumble). The guidebook mentioned that this route was "originally rated 5.9d" and would seem a "hike for Yosemite regulars" so we expected a sandbag 5.9. But indeed it was a hike. Quite a fun hike! 7. Carol's Crack. A classic City 5.8 crack. 8. Another Greg Lowe Route. This is a rather adventurous lead following a cool dike feature. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 8 (June 22) 1. Braden doing some stretching at the trailhead before we launched into the best day of climbing of the trip so far. We were both climbing strong, Braden especially so. That stretching must help! 2. Comp Wall. Perhaps the best rock in the entire City of Rocks area. 3-5. Our first route of the day was Red Corner, which follows the obvious corner feature for two pitches of 10a climbing. The climbing reminded me of climbing on Mithral Dihedral on Mt. Russell in the Sierra. 6-10. After our Red Corner warm-up, we decided to climb the route we had most wanted to climb: Comp Splitter, a 2-pitch 11a steep splitter that is perhaps the best splitter crack climb in the City. 11. Braden racking up at the base of Comp Wall. 12-13. Braden climbing the exposed juggy face of Companeros. Nice lead Braden - this route was as cryptic as it was awesome. 14-15. Shop and Compare, a 3-pitch 10a that climbs the steep patina face for 260 feet. Braden the leading machine linked all three pitches into one massive lead with our 80m rope! 16-20. La Vida, a 3-pitch 5.9 starting with a trad pitch and ending with bolted steep juggy patina. The first pitch of this route (which I led) marked the 100th pitch of the trip for me! 21-23. More views from Comp Wall. The setting is sublime. 24-25. When we rapped down after climbing La Vida, we rapped right over the wild flake feature of Shake 'n Flake. We couldn't help but climb it. It's a bit of a heady and pumpy lead, but Braden cruised up it as usual. 26. A pile of sticky guano on Shake 'n Bake. Fortunately the climbing goes just right of this. 27-28. Comp Wall. This was the site of a climbing competition in 1989. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 9 (June 23) 1. An Idaho traffic jam. 2. Braden enjoying the restful Sunday. We took a rest day. Braden succeeded but I failed when Braden was willing to belay me up 9 pitches that afternoon. But at least they were short roadside pitches and squeezed into just a few hours, so it was sort of a rest day. 3. Z-Cracks, a short but stout 5.9 trad climb. 4. Jug World / Crack World. Just as fun as it sounds. But too short. 5-6. Stan's Roof, a short but powerful 10c. 10c seems more than a notch above 10b at the City. 7. Snakes and Ladders. 8. My awesome belayer Braden. Thanks again Braden for belaying me up all of these pitches. You did it - avoided the temptation to climb and blow the rest day! 9. Groovy Crack. 10. The Awakening. 11-12. Water Groove. This unique route climbs the water grove feature. There is actually pretty good pro in the back of the crack. 13. Double Cracks. I had climbed this on a previous trip to the City, but when I rapped past it I couldn't help but give it another lap. 14. Steph recording the climbs for the day. Thanks Braden for belaying me on your rest day so I could get closer to my goal of 100 routes in one trip. At 94 now, only 6 more to go! |
Photos: 22. > ![]() | Photo descriptions: DAY 10 (June 24) 1-2. We spent the first half of the day at BLM Corridor in the Twin Sisters area. This was a new area to check out. The routes here were short but powerful. 3. Braden shoeing up in the notch below BLM Crack for the first pitch of the day. 4-6. BLM Crack. 7. Do Rangers Dream of Electric Sheep?, a steep climb that connects a network of crack systems diagonaling rightward across the face. Nice lead Braden! 8. Looking up Scene of the Crime, a high-quality 11a sport route. 9-12. After BLM Corridor we climbed one route at nearby Bulldog Rock called Smitty's Direct. This follows a diagonal crack across the face. We continued up to the summit, which was a cool way to finish the pitch. The climb is rated 10a, but because of the gritty rock (from lack of travel) it seems a bit harder. 13. Gotta love the yellow totem. 14. On top of Bulldog Rock. Fun to get a summit! 15. #4 placement. 16. South and North Sister. These rocks are closed to climbing, which is unfortunate since the 400-foot faces look to hold some awesome lines. 17. Closer up view of North Sister. 18. Closer up view of South Sister. 19-20. Next we went to the NE side of Rabbit Rock for a couple of climbs in the shade. This area has a super comfortable belay slot. 21-22. Hesitation Blues, a super fun 5.7 crack lead. Second photo by Braden. 23-24. Topping out on Hesitation Blues. 25-26. Roadkill, a crack system just right of Hesitation Blues that shares the same anchor. 27-36. Our last climb of the day was Terror of Tiny Town, a 4-star 11a crack climb we had been talking about doing all week. It was indeed worthy of all of its stars. Awesome lead by Braden. In the sun too! 37. View of Rabbit Rock and Window Rock from Buzzard Perch. |
Photos: | Photo descriptions: DAY 11 (June 25) 1. Pretty flowers on the approach to The Boxtop. 2-3. In the cool corridor at the base of Corridor Crack. 4-6. Corridor Crack. The first pitch of the Boxtop Traverse. 7-10. Pitch 2 of the Boxtop Traverse traverses about 270° around the base of the summit block. From the anchor at the end of the pitch, you can peer around the corner and see your belayer at the start of the pitch. Not every day where you climb a full pitch and end up 20 feet from your belayer! 11. Pitch 3 is a short pitch up patina jugs to the top. Kind of committing with awesome exposure. 12-16. On top! A summit to cap off an awesome climbing trip! |