Gem Lake Wall  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Elevation:  8,800' Page Views:  652. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Leo Paik on Aug 17, 2012 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 79° | 46° 77° | 45° 77° | 45° 75° | 41° 75° | 45°

Season raptor closures MORE INFO >>> The following areas are closed from March 1-July 31 or until further notice: Twin Owls, Rock One, Batman Rock, Batman Pinnacle, Sheep Mountain, Thunder Buttress, The Parish, Lightning Rock and Checkerboard Rock are currently closed. The closures include the named rock formations and the areas extending 100 yards surrounding the base of the formation. This includes all climbing routes, outcroppings, cliffs, faces, ascent and descent routes and climber's access trails to the formation. Alligator Rock is also closed. www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/area_closures.htm This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

The taller bit of Gem Lake Wall.

Description 

This is an obvious, short, wide swath of granite that lies above and east of Gem Lake. It may have other names. The rock is shorter on its northern end and rises to near 300 feet on its southern end. Climbers have infrequently ventured onto these faces. There is room for exploration.

The taller face can be divided by 3 main chimneys into 4 main faces.

There are scramble offs of the northern middle and northern face going to the north and hooking up with the trail. There is a scramble off for the southern-most face going to the south and into a brushy gully between this rock and the shorter rock just to the south.

I just heard from Greg Sievers that he put in a 5.9+ route there back a while. Also, I heard that Scott Kimball spent a bit of time there.

L->R:

A. Squeezeasy, 9- PG-13, 3p, 330', gear.
B. Left of Cleft, 9+, 1p, 100', gear.
C. The Cleft, 9-, 2p, 170', gear.
D. Exemplary Behavior, 9, 2p, 240', gear.

Getting There 

From the Lumpy Ridge trailhead, hike out the eastern trail towards Gem Lake. At ~0.5 miles, you T with the Black Canyon trail. Head east (right) and follow the trail another 1.3 miles to this crag with a net gain of ~1100'. You will see this rock from the trailhead / parking lot. You will get better views from Paul Bunyon's Boot. You can also see this rock from Pulpit Rock and McGraw Ranch. Also, you can see the parking lot from the summit.

The Classics

Featured Route For Gem Lake Wall

Left of Cleft 5.9+  CO : Lumpy Ridge : Gem Lake Wall

Climb along right-leaning, small, fragile flake and place a cam. Move up, then traverse right to a short, right-leaning crack. Climb the crack to its end, near the Cleft. Move left and up, into the longer, right-leaning crack (on which I am visible in the photo). This crack is thin at first, then steepens awkwardly right (crux, wide hands) before it nears the Cleft. I continued up into the Cleft, to the same belay position that I had used in the cleft (by f...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

Photos of Gem Lake Wall Slideshow

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This is the shorter side above Gem Lake itself.	On the hike back, Twin Owls gets some nice lightin...	Unknown crag just to the south. The rock is remin...
This is a crag just to the west that looked better...	On Sept 2, 2010, Ross Swanson and I climbed the bi...