Eastern Reef Area.. AKA The Sandstone Alps 

As of 11-25-2006, the dirt road was washed out in several locations. I'm not sure how often or when this road is graded, but I would consider it "impassable" for a car. Even after filling in the ruts with rocks and dirt, we bottomed out in my brother's Subaru. A high clearance 4x4 will speed up your approach to the routes substantially.

Agree it does need some reorganization , but if you do read ALL the info the area's are separated by the three approaches, each climb mentions which road to hike from . Also most of the good routes have photos of the whole crag with the line of the route marked.It is a massive area and even we get confused with where we are and what we have done. Eventually we will have a more comprehensive guide to the area .I must point out that not all the routes that have been done down there are on Mt Project.It is very different compared to most desert climbing which more often than not are towers that are easily recognised.Its a pure adventure area ,and you will usually not find other climbers to consult with as is often the case, for example on sport route crags or the Cottowood canyons.Just keep going you will learn even if like us its often the hard way!!. The main dirt road has now been scraped and is car friendly. Four wheel is still advised to drive the whole distance (about 2 miles) to the mouth of Three Fingers, also the short road (1/4 mile) to the Univa trail head. The first pull off for Spotted Wolf (Death by Chocolate area) is car friendly. Good luck

I can separate the routes out by trailhead - sound good?

That would be great! I have everything pretty organized in a book I have made, and if you need any help or information, let me know.

Hey, Lance and Ben: I think we met you guys out at the swell at the end of October... Ned and I headed back out there last weekend and we were having trouble locating the Road to Mecca. Is there an old pallet at the start of the wash that you approach on? Is the Death by Chocolate route visible south of where you park the car? We headed up the wash, wandered around a few and then cut across to the base of the swell. The canyon we were in appeared to be more than class 4 scrambling. That would be awesome if you could turn us around to the right direction. Thanks, Errin. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes Pallet where you pull off Yes Death by Choc very visible . The Slot canyon approach has a struggle up a V groove etc . There is a different but more complex approach detailed in Road to Mecca that avoids the 4th class approach.Road to Mecca is very easy but fun...

Thanks Paul, good to know we were in the right place then. I just wanted to confirm that. We find it a little difficult to navigate in the Swell. Next time we head out there, we should be able to get in there. The scramble up just looked more tough than class IV so I thought we might have been in the wrong spot. Since there isn't any snow it may be sooner than later. Thanks again.

[revised] I enjoyed the climbing, my climbing partner of 20+ years was freaked out a lot, with cause. I bought a 60m rope just for the trip. It turns out hat my new rope was 15 feet short! Measure your ropes before you go because you need 200 feet ropes! To be fair, the author did suggest a bolt kit "if we got too far off route," but I was on route and still had some 100 foot runouts. (This is sandstone after all.) I'd bring a bolt kit and in retrospect wouldn't have felt bad putting a couple of bolts on every pitch, for those who may follow. [Not everyone who chooses 8's and 9's is a slabmaster.] The problem is you don't know where to put them until you've climbed it.

I would normally never think of adding bolts to a finished climb and wish that if the leaders had been low on bolts that they had suggested placements for those who followed. I did that(suggest bolt placements) on Creature Comforts, in the 'Platte. I was ok with the runouts and single bolt anchors (I hammer my holes), but didn't think others would be. It worked out well enough since I suggested where they ought to go (I didn't want 5 more bolts per pitch or anything). I do believe that there are "statement climbs" on which the runnouts are a big part of the climb, but those are frequently at a high grade where regular people won't get sucked in. I expected 50 foot runouts, but going 200 feet with one piece of gear and not making the anchors isn't "Trad," its soloing. (Care to make a few suggestions before somebody goes up there with a box of bolts and a Bosch and really screws up your beautiful climbs?) I did notice the hard climb in Uneva canyon had lots of bolts.

PS: We rap'd and made every rap anchor with what turned out to be a 185 foot lead rope and a 200 foot 9 mm rope.

See comments on the Mercury route...

Hello Paul,
If I may ask for you to look at the comments on Runout Ridge and get some feedback that would be great. Thanks for your time.

Thanks for the Beta! We'll try for that on Sun/Monday.
Cheers,
Chip

This looks like soooo much fun and beautiful, been wanting to go since last year. I'm planning to check it out this coming March 2010 spring break. Anyone who knows the area, want to climb with me? I'll be out there.

Went there a couple of weekends ago (May 6th-9th) for our second time. The first time was a year ago also in May. We met Lance the first trip and Lance & Paul this second time. They are really great guys putting up some really fun lines. The risk vs reward at The Swell is high. When you get to the top of some of the longer lines you feel a great sense of accomplishment. I also like that the climbs are technical requiring mostly good footwork not just a lot of upper body strength.

This shows the turn from I-70:

Google Maps


The driving directions on this page are accurate - just keep your eyes open since this isn't a marked exit.

The road is normally passable in your car but I haven't been there recently. At worst, it's only about 40 minutes extra to hike from I-70 to Little Spotted Wolf.

Best to have 4 wheel drive to get to Three Fingers Canyon. The first wash can give problems to two wheel . Its about 30 mins walk from the wash to the canyon.Little Spotted wolf parking is easy with two wheel.

Where does Eardley Canyon fit in here? Z? Went there and found a few pre-established lines and put up an easy slab two pitcher with ~1000 foot scramble to the top of the reef.

I know I'm arguing with the expert here, but I think Eardley is about 3 miles south of one finger... Please correct me if I'm wrong. Looking at the pictures, Eardley (according to Nat. Geo.)/Two finger just doesn't match up. Is this right: SWELL MAP PIC

Sorry your right... Your in Straight Wash/Eardley Canyon further up the road... Z Crags... I see what you mean !! Good one