| Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6) |
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| | Private Property issues MORE INFO >>>
The West Bank / Wild West / Secret Crag has been problematic for years due to access concerns. There have been negative encounters with gun-toting landowners who have alleged that the entire mountain is on private property. Typical approaches involve brief crossing of railroad property which appears to be prohibited. Exact demarcation of property boundaries are not always clear. When in doubt, be discrete or polite. Do not park your vehicle near the railroad tracks near Plainview. It is a well-known irritant to Plainview residents.
This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.
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Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment
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BETA PHOTO: Secret Crag from the Upper Ramp.
Description About ten routes have been done on Secret Crag, some dating back to the '70s. This seldom visited wall is South-facing, has several quite good routes from 70 to 100 feet in length, and is composed of excellent Eldorado sandstone. Route numbering begins on the left end (West) of the crag with (#1) Mind Control (5.10+) and continues right to Eldorado Gold (#10). The isolation of Secret Crag makes for a superb adventurous day of climbing. While most of the routes are short of 100 feet in length, some are that long and so a 60m rope is recommended. The difficulty never gets above 5.11+, and a fine bolted 5.8 was put up several years ago.
Getting There Starting from the trail before tunnel 3 and leading up into the woods toward Ridge 4, instead of crossing the talus field, continue uphill on the right side of the talus field. Hump up to another talus field that seems to be near the top of the hill, but not quite. The idea is to get to the West end of Secret Crag. From the West end, a third class scramble leads to the right and down on to a steep slab at he base of the routes, essentially the lower tier. This gets more exposed the further down the slab you go, so be careful getting to the routes at the far end of the crag. It can be useful to carry some camming gear for the belays, since you would not want to roll off the slab.
L->R: Lower Tier A. Tier-A's Crack, 5, 1p, gear. B. Short Cut, 9, 1p, TR. C? King of Pain, 10+, 1p, 60', bolts. Middle Tier A. Left Headwall, 12, 1p, bolts. B. Downclimb Gully, 4, 1p, gear. C. Jack The Gripper, 10, 1p, TR. D. Mind Control, 10+, 1p, 100', bolts. E. Bob's Arete, 8+, 2p, gear. F. Peril-less Journey, 8, 2p, bolts & gear. G. Unknown, 11/12, 1p. H. Burning Down the House, 11+, 1p, 90', bolts. I. Opus 73, 10-, 1p, 85', gear. JI. Three Stage Traverse, 6, 2p, gear. K. Secret Agent, 10 R A0, 1-2p, gear. L. Completion Backword Principle, 11-, 1p, bolts. M. Project, ?, 1p, TR. N. Top Down Design, 12-, 1p, bolts. O. Powder Finger, 10, 1p, 70', bolts. P. Roof, ?, 1p, bolts. Q. Count Dracula, 10, 2p, gear. R. Eldorado Gold, 11-, 1p, 80', bolts. S. In Plain View, 10+, 1p, 60', bolts. T. Deep Water, 8, 1p, gear. U. Book Of Dreams, 8, 1p, gear. V. Promontory, 6, 1p, gear. W. Riding With The King, 9, 2p, 130', bolts. X. East Face, 11 R, 1p, bolt & gear. Upper Tier A. Dancing On The Ceiling, 12, 1p, bolts. B. Murmur, 11, 1p, bolts. C. Little Route, 10+, 1p, bolts & gear.
The ClassicsMountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6):
Opus 73 5.10a Trad, 1 pitch, 85 feet
Browse More Classics in Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6)
Featured Route For Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6)
Completion Backword Principle 5.11a/b CO : Boulder : ... : Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6)
This excellent route fires up the middle of the longest section of the yellow, South facing main wall of Ridge 2, just left of a large pine tree. Climbing is on lay-aways, edges, and flakes and seems to get just a bit harder with every move. The technical crux, strictly speaking, comes with a finger traverse to the left, near the middle of the climb, and seemed a bit harder than 5.11a (my own call is more like 5.11b since the edge/seam really peters out at the left end). Another left traverse 20... [more] Browse More Classics in CO
| Comments on Secret Crag (aka Ridge 6) |
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By Tzilla Rapdrilla Nov 9, 2006
| It's Casey Jones, 11b/c. Does that sound about right for the rating? A crimpy crux low and another slightly easier one towards the top. |
By Andy Logan Nov 20, 2008
| A group of friends and I were up at Secret Crag last weekend and we got on two new routes. Help with identifying them is appreciated. We stayed to the right of the boulder field and approached the crag from the lower end. About 10' before climbing onto the ramp and heading to the other routes listed on this site, there were two routes. To access them, you had to scramble up onto a ledge with a large evergreen tree. They went through a slightly overhung area and traversed left after about 15'. One then went up a right-facing dihedral to a small overhang, went left again into another right-facing dihedral and then had wild, difficult stemming to a roof and the anchors. The other went straight up a slabby section to a dihedral that is right of the one mentioned above. Difficult slab moves with pinches and gastons led to a roof and a wild jug move at the anchors. What are these routes called? What are their grades? Thanks for the help! |
By Dylan Waller From: Golden. CO Nov 22, 2008
| We ran into, I think it was Tod Anderson, two years ago putting up a couple of new routes to the right of the others. He said were in the 10ish range. They didn't have names yet and he was still cleaning them so we didn't get to climb them. Surprised to see that he didn't post them though. |
By Tzilla Rapdrilla Nov 24, 2008
| There's kind of a long story involved with these routes, starting with two years ago ripping my leg open on the hike in and having to get 20 stitches, and then this year shattering my heel and then getting a pulmonary embolism. Seems that place has it in for me. Crawling out of there is butt loads of fun though. I thought the left dihedral was 12a? & the right one 12b? The route around to the left on the face was about mid 11 and the other two routes further to the left were 10s, one being 2 pitches. I'm still trying to come up with an appropriate names for the routes, got any suggestions? |
By Andy Logan Dec 2, 2008
| Thanks for the info, Tzilla. Those ratings sound about right. They were both great climbs. I will put some thought to the names. The left one needs to include something about the wild move out to the arete without blowing the feet. The right one is all about the desperate moves left to get into the dihedral or... slapping for what appears to be a nice bucket 3 or 4 moves from the top and finding that terrible sloper! |
By Luke Clarke From: Golden Jan 19, 2013
| What is the route immediately to the right of Peri-Less Journey (and left of Burning Down the House)? It's been there at least 8 years. It has a crimpy crux at the 5th bolt and a higher crux through the roof. I have never done it clean and was with an 11b leader today who hung at both cruxes so I am guessing it's at least hard 11. |
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