The BLM office in Monticello has asked the Friends of Indian Creek to remind climbers that there is a 14-day limit on camping on BLM Land. The F.O.I.C. understands that there is a bit of a history of staying in the Creek for far longer, but heavy climber-traffic in the area has made the BLM take notice of this tradition. Be aware that overstaying the 14-day limit makes climbers look as if we feel the rules don't apply to us and thus has an effect on long-term access. Moving your campsite throughout the season, or perhaps finding a site outside the main Indian Creek area, will not only help smooth relations with the BLM, but will also keep you from possibly getting hit with a fine.
Old anchor crappy anchor. (Photo taken by Jesse Br...
Description
This is an odd one. We climbed up the face facing the road, and on the left side. After a bit of scrambling, you come to a very hueco-covered wall;...ascend this up the the shoulder of the formation.....Scramble around a bit, and find steep crack system (short ) to the summit. The climbing is funky and a bit wierd, and the anchor from the shouder is odd too;....a bunch of tied off dirt mushrooms and one pin in a hole. It's a novel experience. I had fun. I did this climb with Tony Sartin in March of 1993. Eric's Guidebook doesn't say too much of the climb; everyone sure has seen the formation, but how many have been to the summit? Take a day off from the punishing splitters and bag a summit....just for kicks.
Location
Intersection of U.S. 191 and State Highway 211.
Protection
A rack of cams should do. I believe you place cams in heucos at one point?
This is a fun climb, but you don't need to take a day off of the splitters to climb this thing. It will only take you an hour or two, car to car.
The beta sounds good. But I found and it might be worth noting, that the rock at the top of the huecos was bad but easy. (or maybe I just thought it was bad because I had no pro in, I did not place pro in the huecos.) There is a pin on top of pitch one. The crack that we decided on for the second pitch, is the first one you come to when you scramble up the shoulder. We aided this crack, with multiple cams in the .4-.75 camalot size. The rock is very bad on this second pitch but short. (think dried out brown sugar)
Be careful rappeling off I remember it being. . . Interesting.
Remember to put the flag up when you get up there.
We went via the very start of the north ridge, that sucked. More of that brown sugar Ben was talking about with no gear. So either way you get no gear on awesome rock. I lead the crack on the second pitch with lot of small cams, none of which would have held. But it is short. If you climb this, bring your own flag cause the pole is still there but no flag.
The rappel is scary yes, over a downward sloping horn, but it held. Atleast if it blows, the rock is soft enough to absorb your landing....
There are three Moki steps on the far right side of a huge hueco to start the route. You can place a large cam in the left side of the hueco and then more steps up to a huge bowl. Go up and a little left to a vertical section of huecos. A 4' sling for two natural threads and a 3.5" cam in another hueco protect this slightly scary section. Like Ben said there's a pin for an anchor and if you have a bunch of webbing you can sling one of those dirt mushrooms for some additional support. Hike up to the upper level and climb a short crack. You'll see a large block with a flake crack above it and some Moki steps going through the block. I used a 3.5" cam to get above the block and then a .75" and a 1.25" cam to get thru a 5.10 section of liebacking on very uninspiring rock. Some more hand to 4" cams lead to the very sketchy slung "block anchor". Scramble up to the summit from there.
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