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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 15, 2007 - 01:40pm PT
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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!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Aug 15, 2007 - 01:54pm PT
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Good job photo-documenting all those fun routes for the rest of us. Never been to the City, gotta go there some day.
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handsome B
Gym climber
SL,UT
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Aug 15, 2007 - 02:05pm PT
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thanks for the photo TR!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Aug 15, 2007 - 02:14pm PT
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Nice trip, looks like a lot of cool stuff out there.
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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Aug 15, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
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Nice stoke !
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Aug 15, 2007 - 05:56pm PT
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Looks like serious fun.
Been wanting to get there myself for almost a year.
Logistics are conspiring against me right now...
Thanks for TR!
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kuan
Sport climber
CA
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Aug 15, 2007 - 09:04pm PT
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Great pics and TR!
But no pictures of Riley and Nora?
:(
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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Aug 15, 2007 - 09:28pm PT
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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?
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Aug 15, 2007 - 09:37pm PT
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great pics thanks for posting!
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feelio Babar
Trad climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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Aug 15, 2007 - 10:18pm PT
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Gotta love the city! Nice TR!
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F10 Climber F11 Drinker
Trad climber
e350
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Aug 15, 2007 - 11:18pm PT
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My kind of TR
Lots of pic's
Looked like a nice time
Plan to get up there sometime sooon
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 15, 2007 - 11:24pm PT
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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.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Aug 16, 2007 - 02:30am PT
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[says jealous intertardweb climber] Cityorocks is lame. [says jealous intertardweb climber]
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 16, 2007 - 03:47am PT
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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.
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honemasterT
Trad climber
Arizona
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Aug 17, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
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Hey, thanks for posting man.. looks like it was a super gud trip!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Aug 17, 2007 - 11:49pm PT
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nice report for yet another place to go climbing...
...man I've got to figure out how to retire soon
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Aug 18, 2007 - 07:33am PT
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Thanks for the TR. I'll be there next week. Can't wait.
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MisterE
Social climber
Across town from Easy Street
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Aug 18, 2007 - 08:58am PT
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Nice TR. I get all drooley when I see those pictures of Bloody Fingers, what a great route!
See you guys this fall!
Erik
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Pennsylenvy
Social climber
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Aug 18, 2007 - 03:40pm PT
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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.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2007 - 06:28pm PT
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PE - the skyline pics were last year. That's a great route. Certified classic.
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