Basically, Buffalo Creek is a small burg in between Deckers and Pine on CO 126. The Buffalo Creek area is scattered and a bit confusing with many forest roads and dead ends in the area. It may be best to beg, borrow, or steal a guidebook with a good map of the area. Skinner Mountain, however, is easy to find. Just drive South from Pine (or North from Deckers) on CO 126 until you reach the Kelsey Campground. Park on the road outside the campground unless you want to pay the fee, and then hike West for about 15 minutes on an indistinct trail marked by the occasional cairn. This trail will deposit you about 50 feet above the start of Wally World. Skinner, and the rest of the rocks in the Buffalo Creek area, contains the usual S. Platte mix of quality cracks, less-than quality cracks, and runout slabs.
This route is towards the climbers left of the rock formation and to the right of the climbs "5.10+" and "Let Me Cry". I stumbled on to this climb a couple years ago and still can not get it out of my mind. Look for a never ending line of shiny bolts that lead up to and through a headwall feature about halfway up.The climb consists of three pitches of very well protected slab climbing on beautiful granite. No route finding required.P1: Step up ...[more]
Some helpful mileages: (1) Buffalo Creek is about 9 miles south of US285/CO126 junction, or 1 mile south of Pine on CO126; (2) Skinner Mountain is 5.9 miles south of Buffalo Creek on CO126
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