This area has access issues. Please read the note available on the Lumpy Ridge page.
Crescent Wall from near the trail
Description
The Crescent Wall is a classic chunk of Lumpy granite located at the far east end of the ridge. It is easily identified by the Crescent "arch" that forms a big roof splitting the entire upper section of the face. The routes tend to be in the Five hard range with 2 X-rated exceptions. While a few of the routes do breach the huge roof, most of them reach a mid-point anchor and a rappel back to the base. If you are looking for a place, at Lumpy,where you'll see few climbers (if any) this is it.
Getting There
There are 2 trail heads that can be used to access the Crescent Wall. However, due to the parking issues at the Twin Owls I would suggest using the Gem lake trail head located just east of The Macgregor ranch on Devils gulch road. Hike east (and a little south) on the Gem lake trail until the rock is very obvious off to your right. Then contour over to the base.
Pressure Drop is located in the center of the Crescent Wall. The initial 40 feet or so are shared with the route Kool Aid. Start on a block/flake leaning against the wall, then climb the splitter finger crack and pass a crux at 5.10d. When you reach the fixed pin climb the crack/seam the angles up and right. You will pass another crux at 5.10d and at least 1 more maybe in the 5.10a range. Be warned that the gear gets THIN! In a couple of spots it...[more]
Greg Miller and I went to Crescent Arch last Tuesday, the first time for both of us. Once we left the trail, the approach (and return) was pretty unpleasant. If when you leave the trail you find yourself immediately in big boulders, you may have gone too far. You need to leave the trail where it bends to the left and Crescent Wall is just across a ravine. There's an open slope leading down into the ravine that's obvious on the return, but hard to see on the approach. At the bottom of the slope are some big boulders. It may be best to skirt those on the right losing some elevation. On the return we descended a ways from below Crescent Arch, passing below most of the boulders and aimed for the open slope. That worked well until the last 100 feet before the uphill where we encountered some difficult boulders. Until/if the best route is marked with cairns, you're likely to encounter some scrambling to bypass big boulders and some nasty brush. At this time of year, expect ice and snow in the ravine. Consider NOT carrying all the big gear that we carried thinking we might actually do Crescent Arch.
Crescent Wall
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