Blue Mesa Inlet

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.

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