Goat Rock is a South facing crag West of Empire and sits just off the road. Sixteen pitches have been established to date, comprising thirteen independent lines. Three are set up as two pitch routes. Goat Rock sits at 9000 ft, but has a surprisingly long climbing season in spite of this. We were climbing here in December, for example. Since it is at relatively high elevation, the rock can be variable in quality. Some of it hideously chossy and some is downright bullet proof granite. For convenience in subsequent development, numbering begins on the right and moves leftward along the crag. Additional development on this rock is dubious but possible after extensive cleaning. Some of the adjacent rocks are being developed and will be posted as things evolve. New routes have gone in above the main base crag and these are on high quality granite.
Getting There
Goat Rock is exactly 3.2 miles outside of Empire on route 40 and on the right side of the road. The large pull-out will hold a dozen cars easily. There is a short trail through the talus leading to the base of the rock.
What's the very steep route left of Goats on the Fringe that goes up the overhanging arete and has a red tag on the first hanger? Has it been red pointed? Or is it still a project?
A lot of hard work went into prepping this crag (both in trail building and route equipping). This is unfortunate because the rock is some of the worst I have ever seen. We backed off a couple of routes (the best looking two) because of very dangerous and loose features.
It would be helpful to name the routes in the beta photos. I can't seem to correlate #s in the photos to route descriptions. Thanks for putting up some nice lines.
Hey people. Went to Empire today. Good times were had. I have an idea though...why doesn't anyone refer to the numbers listed in the beta pics? The numbers are there...why can't we use them? It just seems logical to me. This happens quite frequently on this site, and although trying to decipher the spray is fun for some, there are people who like myself would rather spend their time pulling down instead of hiking the crag 3 or 4 times before finding a climb. I would also be happy to share photos of the crag with anyone who would like to use them for beta purposes. Take Care, S.
We got a little confused last night trying to determine which formation was Goat Rock. I guess looking closer at how close the power lines are to the formation in the photo makes it kind of obvious now. Just in case anyone else gets confused like we did, do not park at the 1st big pullout. Travel just a hair up the road to the next smaller pullout on the left. You can park directly under Goat Rock (on the right) if need be. We ended up going all the way up to Ra by mistake. It was raining and our first time out to Empire so I'm glad we got lost. Ra looks amazing. Kudos to all the effort put into this area. Has anyone climbed on the tall formation between Ra and Goat Rock? Looks like there could be some fun trad lines over there.
Goat Rock
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