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

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.

WBraun

climber

Aug 18, 2007 - 06:31pm PT

Awesome steel

Great stuff, and the roots look real good.

climbrunride

Trad climber

Durango, CO

Aug 18, 2007 - 07:58pm PT

Great pics Steelmnky! Looks like a lot of fun.

All the previous pics I've seen of the place make it look different somehow. Maybe they were all focused on the 5.16+ stuff. After seeing these pics, I now think it would be worth a trip up there. Thanks.

susan peplow

climber

www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com

Aug 19, 2007 - 01:15am PT

"they were all focused on the 5.16+ stuff"

Marty.........you calling us SOFT? Nobody can climb 5.8 hands like our dream team!!

~Susan

p.s. got the shirts - yours are on the way.

labrat

Trad climber

Nevada

Aug 19, 2007 - 02:21am PT

I have a trip planned for the 9th through the 15th of September. It's going to be fun. Castle Rock State Park will be part of the trip.

steelmnkey

climber

Vision man...ya gotta have vision...

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 19, 2007 - 11:59am PT

Thanks for the shirt Marty!!
Pony Express brought it in last night! :-)

p.s. Sooze...I'm definitely soft.

p.p.s. labrat - we usually plan for and hit Castle Rocks SP one day during the trip, but this year we were having so much fun ticking 'em off in the City, we never made it.

susan peplow

climber

www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com

Aug 21, 2007 - 01:57am PT

A few more........

Felicia laughing as I have her pose for the "money shot" on Delay of Game. Sure does look low angle but who cares, it was fun :)

Felicia coming into the roof on Batwings:

Russ with a new pair boots - please note they are not hi-top Altias!

Animal Crackers Beta Shot

Mr & Mrs. SteelMonkey race for the summit

Our friend Sandy...she was there too. She turning 60 in a few months!

Steelmonkey - photographer, belayer.......

Cracker and Nora very happy to have us home.

Another fantastic trip with great friends. Can't wait 'til next year!!

~Susan