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.
Portions of Reservoir Wall are on private land and should not be climbed. MORE INFO >>>
Important - Stay off the part of the wall that faces the road. If you are looking down at the water, then you shouldn’t be there. Access is touchy. Yes, there are good climbs there, but no, you don’t want to ruin access for everyone and there are just a few hundred other good climbs in the Creek.
Starts off-fingers, to a short tips section, to good fingers, to a welcome left rest ledge. After that, gun it up ten feet of good offset fingers with no feet (crux). The final 15-20 feet of this route are really cool moves through some breaks and over a little roof, not hard, but very unusual for the Creek.
Location
Right where the wall moves from north-facing to west-facing. It is very hard to miss– look for a fingers, off-fingers offset splitter just to the right of an arete. You can't see the anchors, they are just over the roof.
I must also say that this is another climb in which the almighty authority David Bloom messes up gear beta in his guidebook. In this case, he omits the necessity of a .5 friend (blue TCU, .3 camalot), which is really nice to have about thirty feet up, just above the first horizontal break. Hell, you may even want a purple TCU if you really want to sew it up.
cheers Paul Nelson
By Jeff G. From: Fort Collins Nov 12, 2007 rating: 5.11
This is a really fun pitch with some cool moves off the arete and a nice section of splitter fingers.
Yet another fantastic pitch at the Creek without a name.
I ran into the same issue with inaccurate pro beta from the guidebook.
I do not however hold that against the guidebook author. As far as I'm concerned, the guy did everyone a great favor by taking the time and energy to write the book. Is it perfect? No. But right now it's all we have and that's tons better than what we had before (basically nothing). I do however commend the previous guidebook author (Marco C.) since again, nobody else stepped up to do it.
Indian Creek has become one of the most popular climbing destinations in the country. It needs a guidebook to maintain some degree of order. Maybe some of the folks who've been climbing there since before it became such a destination resent the presence of the masses at IC and hold resentment towards the guidebook and its author because it symbolizes that the it's no longer their personal crag. I'm not sure what everyone's deal is and why the new guide is so maligned on these climbing websites.
I just know the author put a bunch of time and energy into that guide. He is not getting rich from it either. Cut him some slack. If you don't like the book, don't bitch about it on the internet. Write your own.
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