Northwest Slabs  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Lat, Long:  40.7156, -105.294 Map Page Views:  4,099. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Aaron Martinuzzi on Sep 3, 2009 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

BETA PHOTO: The Northwest Face.

Description 

The Northwest Slab of Greyrock offers climbing similar to that on the South and Southeast faces, but with a much more adventurous feel, since you won't be visible to hikers on the Summit Trail. A bit more of a trek than the aforementioned areas, the Northwest Slab is definitely worth a visit to climbers of any level, whose Greyrock experience won't be complete without a trip up the stellar Sky Crack. This area catches awesome afternoon sunlight, and on a cool spring evening, chasing the sun from the The South Slabs to the Northwest Slabs would make for a full, enjoyable, and scenic day. Watching the sunset from Cow Pie Ledge is an excellent reminder of why one bothers gearing up and making the hike all the way out to Greyrock to bust out some pitches.

Getting There 

Begin approaching the Northwest Face of Greyrock as for the The South Slabs, but continue past, heading for a rocky ridge that defines the skyline north of the South Slabs. Several "passes" will be evident along this ridge - aim for the arch along the ridge, and follow a rocky passage through the middle of the ridge at a cairn. More cairns mark the way north, and a final, larger cairn is in place on a boulder near the base of Sky Crack.

Descent from most routes is via a double-rope rappel from the largest bush/tree on Cow Pie Ledge. If you're looking to top out, the summit of Greyrock can be attained one of two ways - climb the Yellow Dihedral (5.9) off the left side of Cow Pie Ledge, or head right and climb/scramble up easy slabs (<5.5) until the angle eases enough to de-rope.

The Classics

Featured Route For Northwest Slabs

Sky Crack 5.7  CO : Fort Collins : ... : Northwest Slabs

Sky Crack is an amazing finger- and hand-crack that defines, and ascends, the right margin of the NW Slabs. The climb is easily identified as a clean crack splitting the low-angle slab above the base cairn, and begins in a right-facing, right-leaning dihedral below and the to the left of the crack.Begin by liebacking around the right side of a white flake leaning against the wall below the base of the dihedral and continue to lieback up the dihedral above. It's probably worth slinging your pro...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

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The NW Slabs. Just visible behind a branch of the...

BETA PHOTO: A cool arch feature in Greyrock's West Ridge. Aim...