Bouldering, toproping and a few bolted routes. Stay off the main face towards town, you will be fined! Great fun if you are a local, not too bad if you're stuck in town visiting family. If you need to drive very far you might be better to drive someplace else, unless you are looking for 5.12 sport routes.
Getting There
When in LaCrosse look for the big Flag on top of one of the bluffs. That's where you need to go.
Excellent route, with fun flowing moves. The is a crux low just past the first bolt, and one high just after the last bolt. Clipping the anchors can be a tad pumpy as well....[more]
there is much more that grandads bluff has to offer than 5.12 routes... id put the avg grade at 5.10...many thanks to DG, skemp, and randall for putting up routes on walls other than meader...also dont forget to "get your duff up the bluff, and have a brew with a view" at the alpine inn...great apres climb burgers and beer
lacrosse climbing has a long tradition that predates many of the old guys by at least a decade...and should continue as long as climbers care for the area. how many other towns in wisconsin can claim decent climbing with downhill aproaches?
New routes are going up almost daily. Other new additions include Two Girls and a Cup - 5.9 Man in the black pajamas - 5.13a Big man on campus - 5.12a (not yet named) -5.10+
With many more in the works. This spring there should be a heap of new routes in the area.
I've learned that a lot of the ratings are approaching meaningless...("how hard is it?" uhhh...5.fun?) the climbable lines are pretty stable, but once in a while something comes off, and the route CAN change a little. there is a sh*tload of halfway decent rock in and around La Crosse, but developing it for climbing is a different challenge entirely. We're worth the trip, I think, for the usual DL or Redwing crowd to get out of their respective environments.
and from a definitively intermediates climber - some of this stuff here is HARD.
Grandad's Bluff
Printer Friendly View
RSS Feed
