Left Book

BETA PHOTO: Left Book from the Bookend

Description 

This is a section of The Book which is distinct from other areas of the Book (like Right Book, Pages, Isis Buttress, Left Buttress, and Book of the Dead) in terms of approach, character, steepness, and difficulty of routes. Since The Book section has 70+ routes, this organizational division hopefully will help the climber who is not terribly familiar with Lumpy Ridge.

This crag is fairly low-angle and is thus friendly to those seeking lesser difficulty climbs. At the same time, some of its features are quite indistinct, thus, you can get lost on this small slab. Nonetheless, its appearance is striking from the vantage points like the Bookend and the upper reaches of the Bookmark. It does have a major ledge system (used for descents) called Paperback Ledge which splits the face. There are climbs above this walkoff ledge which receive distinctly less attention than the lower routes.

Note, this area can be particularly popular on weekends.

Getting There 

Hike the Black Canyon Trail from the Twin Owls parking lot just past the livestock gate. Take the trail toward the Book Massif. Take the 1st left split towards Bookmark, Left Book, and Bookend. At the 2nd split, take the right split and head around the Bookmark. Continue past to the Left Book.

Featured Route For Left Book

White Whale 5.7  CO : Lumpy Ridge : Left Book

To approach the Left Book, you take the Book trail, but actually then leave it to the left on the trail to the Bookmark. Hike around west of the Bookmark, and then, follow the "trail" (i.e. bushwhack) up past the chimneyish recess separating the Bookmark from the Book, to the base of the slabby cliff, which will be on the right. Unfortunately it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between routes here. P1. The first pitch of White Whale is a crac...[more]