Perhaps the best sport climbing area in Wisconsin now that Gibraltar is closed, Necedah has been drawing Wisconsin's finest for decades. Comprised of solid, colorful sandstone, these walls offer interesting climbing on clean, steep rock. Upon arriving at the cliff, THE wall invariably grabs the climber's attention. Fifty feet tall and steadily overhanging, this wall holds some of the best climbing in the Midwest.
Y-Crack (also called Wide Crack) splits the wall, with technical and pumpy jamming on its left variation (5.10d/11a) and technical crimping with thin gear on its right (5.11c). Many difficult sport climbs broach the wall's flanks and feature technical climbing with no rests. Wisconsin's premier sport route, "Whiskey a Go Go" (5.13a) can be found here.
Spires are situated around the wall like moons around a planet, and a mega classic 5.9/10a climbs up the center of the largest spire. On a clear day Roch a Cri, Wisconsin's largest cliff (now closed), can be spotted from the top of the spire. Further down Necedah's backbone of rock, the adventurous climber can find many exciting trad routes and some hidden sport gems.
If you visit Necedah, please keep a low profile. Climbers have been here for many years and Necedah has remained a peaceful place to escape the Devil's Lake throngs. PLEASE KEEP IT THAT WAY.
Dont even THINK about camping there; we don't need to get this place closed.
Getting There
From the town of Necedah, drive east about three miles on Highway 21. You will see the sandstone towers right in front of you. Take a right onto the road that parallels the cliff and park in a pull-out on your left. A short hike through the woods will take you to Y-Crack, the southern most formation.
One of the area's classics in my opinion, Air should not be missed. The crux is around the first bolt, and from there to the top you get to enjoy fantastic exposure and massive holds.Start in the dark dihedral on the southeast corner of the Air Spire with the first bolt about 15 or 20 feet up. Some stemming and jamming gets you past the first two bolts, then it's a low-angle jug haul to the chains, which are about 15 feet below the summit on a ...[more]
Necedah is an out of the way, second rate crag. It's not a destination by any means. If you're in the area, and the Lake is crowded than this may be worth driving to. There just isn't much there. You could exhaust the majority of the routes in a day. The few routes that are there are generally of good quality though.
this is a great crag for those who have done most dl climbs or not.there is a great dining /drinking facility at the base(is it still open?)an important feature.the rock is generally goodand has more friction than dl(anything has more friction than dl except maybe polished limestone in blighty (u.k.) the gear is okay especially since they added bolts to alot of the trad climbs we did years ago.Old AND IN THE WAY 5.10d aka y-crack is not to be missed as it offers some kick ass crack climbing.STRAIGHT NO CHASER,WHISKEY A-GO-GO will also kick ass of a different sort. to the right of y-crak wall is a small tower with a steep wall which we did on trad gear(5.10+?),this tower has some other easier climbs as well.on the opposite end the last tower to the north had a left? curving crack,short but hard,cant remember what we named it.there seemed to be some short hard thin cracks to the left of y-crack wall as well.all in all necedah is a quiet place to pull down please help keep it that way.peace and fuk-nes.
does anyone have info about the two bolted routes at the north end of the bluff (near the highway)? it appears that the route on the arete is long and continuous. ms-
The route on the right is 5.12ish if you stay directly on the bolt line at the start (first three bolts I think) and then follow the arete above along the bolts (natural line). You can make the line easier though if you climb the lower part of the route staying to the right of the bolt line along the natural weaknesses (clipping the bolts on you left by reaching over) and then getting a rest on the lower angled part of the lower arete before launching up onto to the upper arete. The route is maybe 5.10c this way (maybe slightly harder).
The route on the right is a nice 5.11a (maybe harder?? 5.11 b or c). Take a few smaller flexcams or Tricams with so you can protect the crux of the climb in the obvious horizontal. This is a mixed pro route although you only get natural gear in the one horizontal.
I don't know the names of either of these routes but for Wisconny climbing - they are pretty good.
Go underneath and past the Y Crack/Whiskey A GoGo climbs and walk the upward angling trail towards the notch in the rock buttress that makes up the same area you just passed. Go pass this notch and keep walking the trail (same side of the bluff still) up to the next major notch between rock buttresses. Pass through this notch to the other side of the bluff and walk maybe 20 yards down slopeto your left staying near the bottom of the rock wall and you will see the innitial corner of the lower parts of the climb "Air".You should be able to see a bolt on the right hand side of a steep but easy corner system that is about 30-40 ft. before the route ventures right and up out of the top of the corner. There is a large tree at the climb base as well and the bottom of the lower corner system of the route makes kind of a protected legde area. Super fun route that has mixed pro.
For anyone who has some Necedah history to offer--
There is a route that goes up the back side (by back side I mean closer to the water) of the formation that I believe is called Coyote Tower (the small spire not far from Y crack wall) It's not bolted but nicely protectable and there is a set of chains at the top. Just curious if anyone knows if there is a consensus on the name or grade of the route.
On the three new routes near the north end by Jeremy, the hanger is loose on the first bolt of the left-most climb. It looks like the nut just needs tightening, but that's just my guess. I don't know nearly enough about placing bolts to say exactly what's wrong...
The other two routes were really fun, thanks for putting them up.
Hey ya'll- As long as Necedah is posted I am just plugging in stuff. If you have more accurate info as far as names/FAs go well let me know and I can update the routes for history sakes. As far as the grades go don't get your undies in a bunch if you think I am way off. Just let me know what you think. Oh, and Tom, can you delete the "overhanging wall" off the main list? Just wondering.
I don't know how to contact James; but my girlfriend and I were also thinking of a cleanup day at Necedah. We were thinking cleanup in the AM then grilling for lunch then climbing in the afternoon. I can be reached at thane1200 at Hotmail dot Com.
Jesse is talking about a route called "Hydroponics" (at least when I was climbing there). About 5.9 or easy .10. Starts up a little layback corner to a ledge at ~20 feet, then up the crack. Good pro, good climbing.
I really like climbing at Necedah, but I always get a little lost. I was wondering if anyone could make a little map of the bluff showing where the different areas are.
Anyone know the name of the boulder problem that goes directly up the face on the river side of the coyote tower? In the above picture it would be the face to the left of the climber.
Necedah (Petenwell Bluff)
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