Blue Mesa Inlet  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  2,145. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  craig on Jan 6, 2007 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 64° | 32° 73° | 36° 73° | 36° 72° | 36° 73° | 37°

BETA PHOTO: Sorry for the mangy photo, if anyone has recent st...

Description 

This is a small crag that has easy access from Gunnison, it's found just before the Lake City bridge when heading west from Gunnison on HWY50. There are at least 3 existing routes on this crag, one easy trad, one 5.9- sport, and one 5.10 TR. There is some potential for future routes and variations.

The rock is granite with some loose crud to be wary of on trad routes.

The sport route (Dirty Whore) in the middle of the wall was put up in 1998 by Craig Stanton and Nick Strong. At that time many people were climbing the trad route on the right and there was no evidence suggesting the wall proper had been climbed. A TR anchor for a 5.10 line can be reached by rappelling from the top of Dirty Whore.

Descent is walking down through the gully to the right of the crag or rappelling to the road (200') from chains found on the southern most ledges. There is a fair amount of loose rock to be encountered on the rappel, please watch out for passing cars.

Getting There 

Drive west from Gunnison on US Hwy 50 until you see the crag on the right side of the road, approximately 7 miles.

If you reach the junction with CO Hwy 149 (The Lake City Bridge), you've just missed it.

Parking is available in the pullout on the south side of the road, just even with the south side of the crag. With eagle/climber vision you can spot the rappel chains hanging above the parking pullout.

The Classics

Featured Route For Blue Mesa Inlet

Dirty Whore 5.9-  CO : Gunnison : Blue Mesa Inlet

Dirty Whore was really dirty when we first climbed it. The crux is probably around the second bolt and is well protected. There is a moderately runout section above the last bolt, just before the anchor, this may be nervy for some climbers but this section is 5.5 to 5.7 and is on clean rock. Descent is rappelling the route, you need a 200' rope. From this climb's anchor, you can also rappel down and to the left to find the anchor for the 5.10 top rope. * The adventurous have made this cli...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO