Chimney Rock

"Chimney Rock"

Description 

Chimney Rock is a unique granite tower that sits atop of the Selkirk range in north Idaho's panhandle. It has been called the "lightning rod" of North Idaho.

The West Face was climb in 1934 by John Carey, Mart Chamberlain, Fred Theime, and Byron Ward. It was soloed in 1935 by John Boothe. At 5.3 this is with out a doubt the most repeated route on Chimney.

Ed Cooper and Don Bergman in 1959 did the Northeast Face (5.8, A2) It was freed in 1980 by D.Burns & M. Colby.(5.10d) The east face was then climbed in 1961 by Ed Cooper and Dave Hiser and freed by John Roskelley and Chris Kopczynski in 1967.(Cooper-Hiser 5.9) Fred Beckey and Jerry Fuller in 1968 found the summit by way of the South Nose route 5.7 A2/5.9. The list of strong climbers go's on and on.

Getting There 

"Climber's Guide to North Idaho & the Cabinet Wilderness" by Thaddeus Laird 2007. This is a the only todate guide and seems to be lacking the long and rich climbing history that North Idaho enjoys. The drive is 10 miles of dirt road and can take up to 50 mimutes. At Hunt Creek road turn right, at 4.0 mile mark take the left fork. The last 1/3 mile before the Horton Ridge trailhead can be very rough.

The Classics

Featured Route For Chimney Rock

UNI 5.12a PG13  ID : Chimney Rock : East Face/Chimney Rock

This is a thin lay back crack/flake with a small dihedral above it. Easily top roped if you climb Magnum Force to hang a TR. Originally rated 5.11+ as a on sight trad lead in the late '80s. ...[more]   Browse More Classics in ID

Photos of Chimney Rock Slideshow

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Sticky Fingers 5.10d on the West Face of Chiney Ro...	Fun Roof, West Face. Gwian Oka climbing. 1st asc...	Graymatter, 5.11c, the first 5.11 done at Chimney ...
The roof pitch of Illusions/Free Friends, 5.11a, E...	Jill Mattern following UNI, 5.12a. The first 5.12...	Jay Koopsen and Dane Burns on the 2nd pitch of Tsu...
The thin crack of ILLUSIONS, East Face of Chiney R...	Max Dufford on ther crux pitch of Yahoody, 5.11b. ...	Max Dufford on YAHOODY, East Face.
How do we get off this thing?	Chimney Rock shadow	Rainbow, clearing storm