The Big Gash is a 15 foot wide by 100+ foot deep corridor. There are in upwards of 40 developed pitches there with room for more. Unfortunately the USDA-Forest Service annexed 3600 acres from the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve into the Black Elk Wilderness Area in 2002. There was no restriction on power drilling under the previous designation. Currently all new routes must be hand drilled in all USDA-FS wilderness areas as power tools are not allowed. As a result route development has considerably slowed down.
This area offers great solitude in a pristine corridor that stays shady most of the time. When the temperatures are high the Big Gash stays cool. It is wise to arrive around 1:00PM to avoid the sun's crossing and to optimize the rest of the shade for the day. When it is windy the Big Gash will be a wind tunnel causing your rope to fly near to horizontal when it is tossed for rappeling.
The rock quality is excellent offering vertical to slightly overhanging routes. The granite is smooth and has some splitter cracks in addition to some very interesting wind sculpted holds. There just are not many feldspar and quartz crystal to pinch here.
The bolted routes tend to be oriented towards sport climbing. It is wise to take stick clip as first bolts are in upwards of 15' off the deck on a number of routes. The majority of the routes in the Big Gash are 5.11 with some edging into 5.12. There are no routes under 5.9 with less than 25% of the total routes easier than 5.11a.
The Big Gash is a fragile and delicate environment. Please tread lightly and walk from rock to rock whenever possible. Please exit the Big Gash to urinate or defecate and clean up after your dog likewise. Clean up after youself and treat Mother Nature's Big Gash with respect.
If anyone is curious, the Big Gash is the name Herb & Jan Conn gave this area back in the 1950's. The first ascentionists opted to keep a naming theme consistent with the Conn's name for the area.
In light of the fact that there are two sides to the Big Gash (Right and Left) an ascending numbering scheme will be used to reference routes as you walk into the corridor. Route names with numbers proceded by an "R" are located on the right side. Likewise routes located on the left side will be numbered with an "L".
Getting There
To reach the Big Gash drive south from Keystone on US16A (Iron Mt. Highway) give or take five miles. Find Iron Mt. Picnic Area and park there. Follow the paved trail that leaves the west end of the parking lot for about 200 feet. Make a left onto an old two track road (Trail 89B).
Please sign in at the USDA-FS registration kiosk ($100.00 fine possible for not doing so) then continue hiking for about 10 minutes until you reach a fork in the trail. Take the right fork (still Trail 89B) walking another 1-1/2 to 2 minutes. Watch on your left for the large red bark ponderosa pine tree with a small boulder just beyond the tree in addition to a barb wire fence post on the ground next to the tree. Take a left between the tree and the boulder on a faint climbers trail. Follow this trail for another 10 minutes or so to the top of Turtle Rock. At this point the trail will disappear onto some rock slabs. Walk rightward across the slabs into a forested gully area then pickup the faint trail that bears back left into the Big Gash. Enjoy!!!
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Iron Mountain - The Big Gash
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