TR: City of Rocks (watch out dial-up doods! lotsa pics!)

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steelmnkey

climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 15, 2007 - 01:40pm PT
The annual City of Rocks road trip is behind us. Another year of cool routes and beautiful granite. Other than getting up at 0-dark-thirty, the airplane part of things went pretty reasonably and arrived in Idaho in the early afternoon with a bit of time to tick off a few routes.


We got the rental car. Thank God the little handle dangling from the trunk gave us specific instructions on escaping from a kidnapping attempt. Run Forest Run!!!

Zip, zap, zing, we're in our harnesses and headed up something. This is Russ working on the awkward corner moves of Lost Pioneers (10a R) on the Upper Breadloaves.

One of the area three-stars was supposed to be Fred Rasmussen (5.8), so we ticked that baby off. The crack is good, but it was way short. This is Felicia on the route.

From the top of the Upper Breadloaf, we had a birdseye view of Russ cruising up another three-star route, Bloody Fingers (10a). It was more like hands, but it was really good.

Here's Felicia taking a spin on Bloody Fingers (10a), Super Hits Wall

Those Idahoans have some strict rules!
Sign posted on a water bar near the base of one of the crags.

Parking Lot Rock is loaded on both sides with some high quality stuff. This is Russ on Suburban Sprawl (10a R) on the west side.

Another area classic is Delay of Game (5.8) on the west side of Parking Lot Rock. 160 feet of bolted face climbing if you start from way low near a tree. Felicia got dibs on the first lap.

On the back side of Parking Lot Rock are some nice routes too, aided by the fact that they were in the shade in the afternoon. Plenty of flies, though. Here's Russ throwing down on Funky Bolt (5.9), a nice crack route with a surprising little roofy deal in the middle. Sooze says she never saw a roof.

Shot of me looking all heinous-style on some 5.6 crack on the back of Window Rock.

A shot of the layout to the east from the top of Window Rock. Rock...lots of Rock!!

Another of the cool routes on the back of Parking Lot Rock with Sooze on Beauty and the Beast (10a). Grunt of a flare to finger flake (Russ paused to beat some hornets dead there), then face, then easy crack. Traverse way right to anchor on Pretty Face.

We got a local recommendation for Z-Cracks (5.9) on the King on a Throne formation, along with the phrase "that one's a PUKER!". Naturally we had to go check it out for ourselves. Kinda burly, short, but pretty dang okay route. We all thought it was good, but saw no vomit in the vicinity!

To the right of the Puker was this nice line that Sooze fired off no problem. Snakes And Ladders (5.9-).

We'd been cruising past Bath Rock for the last few years thinking "man, that's a big piece of rock...anything good on that?" without stopping or checking the guide. This time we hit it and found some really good climbing on the west side. This is Russ starting up the three-star Colossus (10c).

Sooze up higher on Colossus crux just ahead.

The latest in "keep the gravel off my shoes" technology.

Sooze sending Private Idaho (5.9). This was a really nice "climb it like a face route" sorta deal with a nice little squiggly-slot at the top.

Felicia leading the pumpy nice Coffee and Cornflakes (5.10a) route. Some 5.6 scrambling required to get to the first of three bolts, with nice climbing that follows.

I guess this line was recently bolted after having been a toprope for years. Sooze on Rollercoaster. The book says 5.9, but it felt more like 5.8 or so. Beautiful patina edges.

The view when hiking down into the center of the City. We're headed for Flaming Rock, the sorta pope's hat shaped dealie in the middle.

Billed as "the BEST 5.10a in the City", Tribal Boundaries sports a 10b rating in the guidebook. Great holds to start with a J-Tree sloper finish. This is Russ taking a lap.

It was about a bazillion degrees at the time and the route was dead-on in the sun, so the rest of us opted out. But Sooze got the tick.

Great trip, awesome climbing. We'll be back!
Chiloe

Trad climber
Lee, NH
Aug 15, 2007 - 01:54pm PT
Good job photo-documenting all those fun routes for the rest of us. Never been to the City, gotta go there some day.
handsome B

Gym climber
SL,UT
Aug 15, 2007 - 02:05pm PT
thanks for the photo TR!
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
Aug 15, 2007 - 02:14pm PT
Nice trip, looks like a lot of cool stuff out there.
rhyang

Ice climber
SJC
Aug 15, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
Nice stoke !
TradIsGood

Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
Aug 15, 2007 - 05:56pm PT
Looks like serious fun.

Been wanting to get there myself for almost a year.

Logistics are conspiring against me right now...

Thanks for TR!
kuan

Sport climber
CA
Aug 15, 2007 - 09:04pm PT
Great pics and TR!

But no pictures of Riley and Nora?

:(
Fluoride

Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
Aug 15, 2007 - 09:28pm PT
Annual? Man, I'd like to get there just once let alone every year.

Out of curiousity, did you fly into Boise or SLC? What's the camping like there?
Raydog

Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
Aug 15, 2007 - 09:37pm PT
great pics thanks for posting!
feelio Babar

Trad climber
Sneaking up behind you...
Aug 15, 2007 - 10:18pm PT
Gotta love the city! Nice TR!
F10 Climber F11 Drinker

Trad climber
e350
Aug 15, 2007 - 11:18pm PT

My kind of TR

Lots of pic's

Looked like a nice time

Plan to get up there sometime sooon
steelmnkey

climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 15, 2007 - 11:24pm PT
Great place. Out in the middle of BFE, but that's nice in itself. The climbers overloaded the Outpost (about the only place to eat out) on Saturday night. They were doing bang up business!

We flew into SLC and drove up. Easy three hours to the City.

Lots of camping in the reserve, tons of sites. Friday when we got there, not many of them were taken. By Saturday, it had filled up some, not sure about percentage or anything, you could just tell there were lots of climbers around. This seems to be the tail of the "too warm" season for the City, but there's lots of stuff in the shade to climb, so you can just swap sides (west in the morning, east in the afternoon) when it gets warm.

Lots of long routes here. Unlike J-Tree where lots of stuff seems to go with a single rope up and down, there are quite a few formations and routes over 100'. Second rope good idea, or you can bring that 84m rig that R&S were travelin' with.

kuan edit: Riley and Nora were safe at home, playing with friends.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Aug 16, 2007 - 02:30am PT
[says jealous intertardweb climber] Cityorocks is lame. [says jealous intertardweb climber]
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Aug 16, 2007 - 03:47am PT
City of Bolts!

I had a nice trip there about 17 years ago with my wife and Phyllis. I think the coolest route and name we got onto was "Bovine Guidance"!

Thanks for sharing.
honemasterT

Trad climber
Arizona
Aug 17, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
Hey, thanks for posting man.. looks like it was a super gud trip!
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Aug 17, 2007 - 11:49pm PT
nice report for yet another place to go climbing...
...man I've got to figure out how to retire soon
divad

Trad climber
wmass
Aug 18, 2007 - 07:33am PT
Thanks for the TR. I'll be there next week. Can't wait.
MisterE

Social climber
Across town from Easy Street
Aug 18, 2007 - 08:58am PT
Nice TR. I get all drooley when I see those pictures of Bloody Fingers, what a great route!

See you guys this fall!

Erik
Pennsylenvy

Social climber
Aug 18, 2007 - 03:40pm PT
Had the luck of getting to the city a few times year from Jackson. Very compact and user friendly. Cruise from your camp, nice hiking to tons of crag options. Steelmonkey , where's the Skyline pics(5.8)? Have been wanting to get back... If you go worth checking out is the hotspring west of the city.
steelmnkey

climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2007 - 06:28pm PT
PE - the skyline pics were last year. That's a great route. Certified classic.



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