Mother's Buttress  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  38,563. Good page?    Administrators:  Jesse Zacher, Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Matthew Seymour on Oct 15, 2009 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 63° | 39° 72° | 48° 77° | 48° 84° | 50° 81° | 50°

BETA PHOTO: Mother's Buttress.

Description 

The Mother's Buttress area was one of the first areas in the canyon to be developed, and with good reason. Excellent stone with continuous cracks, excellent solid face features, and steep unbroken rock make this area a true gem. The Mother's Buttress is broken into three main crags: Lower, Middle, and Upper Mother's Buttresses. A smaller crag, the Cave Buttress, is also accessed from the same approach, simply walk up and right once you reach the cliff.

Lower Mother's contains a great collection of single pitch cracks from 5.7 to 5.10, and is often a popular area for groups to set up top-ropes. The alcove on Middle Mother's contains the best collection of single pitch 5.11s in the canyon, with a few harder, and longer lines thrown in. Upper Mother's is home to a few classics including Questions and Answers, the undisputed classic multi-pitch in the canyon.

The majority of climbing on Mother's Buttress is on property that is currently owned by local climbers, but will soon be held by a climbing non-profit: the Western Colorado Climbers Coalition. Due to the way the property lines were drawn some climbs on the right side of Lower Mother's and all those on Cave Buttress are owned by another, and this parcel is currently for sale. Stay tuned for more developments.

As of July 2012, the WCCC with the help of volunteers, donations, and grants has been completed the Mother's Buttress project. A special thank you to the Petersons, who bought this property to keep it in climbers’ hands and subdivided it so the cliff side would be open to the public for future generations. The Access Fund also played a key role in this project.

Getting There 

Drive 3.1 miles along CO-141 past the turn for divide road to a small pull out on the right side of the road.

There is a new trail that avoids private land that starts just left of the old trail. If you get the right trail you don't need to jump the fence, it is cut down between two of the posts.

Please park a couple feet back away from the edge of the gravel.

The Classics

Featured Route For Mother's Buttress

The Main Vein 5.11  CO : Grand Junction area : ... : Cave Buttress

This climb follows a long, vertical vein of quartz for two long pitches. You end up on top of Rowan's Arete.Pitch 1: (5.11) Leave everything bigger than a #0.75 with your partner, but bring a #4. Start on some blocky terrain and place a few pieces until you reach the first bolt which is about 30 feet up. From here, used mixed gear and bolts to get to the base of the 4' roof. The next 20 feet is the meat of the route, and how you do it will be height dependent. Move over...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO