Interiors Wall Area Rock Climbing

Climb those routes while they are still there! The buttress to the right of the large crack in the photo (right of the white box saying "Layback") fell down. Look for some huge new chunks of talus on the slow below this wall. Nov 12, 2006

WARNING: the route labeled as NEW does NOT have anchors as shown!!
The route will likely rank in the .11+ range and is 120' to the red webbing on the upper left shoulder as seen in this image. The start is sustained #0, 1, & 2 C3s, then widens. The middle is wonderful 5.10 hands, then widens again to #4-5 Camalots. The ending is an X-rated traverse left about 12' with much loose rock.

To add insult the the ending - the bonehead that installed the new red webbing had threaded it as a "death type American triangle" !! Christ people have you leaned nothing?! BV re-tied it into an equalized system (during one the most violent wind storms I've ever seen on the CO plateau. Then it rained mud.) Apr 30, 2009

Greg,

The route labeled as "new" is actually an old route, if I remember correctly the old Bjornstadt book named it "something between, right variation", or something like that. It originally went to the top. Just to the left of it (like 2 feet left) there used to be another corner crack (which I think was called simply "Something Between"). in the last year and a half or so, the left side totally fell down. That is why you see the red webbing anchor up in the middle of nowhere up there.

Anyway, I climbed both of them several years ago, with the right one (which is still there) going at 10+ or so. Fun route. Instead of topping out, we went to that anchor down and left. Good times for the second person for sure! Bolts sprouted up in the last year or so on this route, about halfway up, and were fairly quickly removed. Apparently, somebody thought that routes obviously end when the crack gets bigger than #3 Camalot. Definitely not so in Escalante Canyon, anything that looks like it has even a remote possibility of going to the rim has gone to the rim. Wideness and looseness are just part of the game there, and bolted anchors that show up at the end of the tame sections will most likely continue to disappear.

The route that used to be on the left side was a very good route also, if I remember correctly in the mid 10 range or so, and it is too bad that it is dearly departed. That was a pretty damned big rockfall, and I am surprised it didn't go all the way down to the road and make a big mess.

Hope you are enjoying your explorations out there. Lot of adventure to be had. Apr 30, 2009

Hey Slim, thanks for the input. The (new) anchor out there, now makes more sense. While tiny tight fingers is a super tuff size for big guys, we certainly concede to small fingers, and/or better skills. Kudos on ya, but for sausage fingers I'm sticking with solid 5.11 for the first 15-20', and whining about it, too. LOL. We did see the fallen tower and read about it, but didn't make the connection with that anchor. Thanks again. Belay off. May 8, 2009

Greg, the start used to be a bit easier but now there is nothing to stand on at the beginning. Hucking yourself up into the first bit and keeping going could possibly push it into the 11 range. Sure is a nice crack. If you top out, you can hike to the left maybe a 100 feet or so and there is a tree to rap off (2 ropes), might have to look around a bit as I am fuzzy on this. May 10, 2009

Anyone know what the tall 140-180' route is in between UNKNOWN 3 and the cave? It's on a left-facing section and has a really long chain anchor.... May 24, 2016

Does anyone know anything about the climbs on the huge pillar between Keyhole and the cave? We climbed a mostly low-angle crack with a fun, little, steep finger crack on the right side of the pilar, probably around 9+. About 30m up to the anchor and it looks like there's a fun crack system up the middle of it and a fat flake on the left. Any info would be cool. Apr 23, 2017