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Big Sky [Suggest Change]
5.7 YDS 5a French 15 Ewbanks V+ UIAA 13 ZA MVS 4b British
Avg: 2.2 from 61
votes
Routes in East Face
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"The Route on the Left" aka Sand in the Vaseline S 5.10b/c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b |
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Alligator Soup S 5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a |
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Anarchy S 5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b |
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Antline T 5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b |
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Beat Me Up, Scotty S 5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c |
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Beginning of the End a/k/a Sandy Monster S 5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a |
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Big Sky S 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b |
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Binary T,S 5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b |
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Bob's Buttress Crack T 5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c |
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Dancesatmoonrise aka The Passion S 5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c |
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Death of a Dinosaur S 5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a |
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Diesel and Dust S 5.11a 6c 22 VII+ 22 E3 5c |
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End of an Era S 5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c |
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End to End S 5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a |
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Extremist (former entered as Civil Disobedience), The S 5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a |
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Inner Sanctum T,TR 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b |
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New Era T 5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b |
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New Generation T,S 5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b |
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Ormes' Chimney T 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b R |
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Skyline Pig S 5.10b/c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b |
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| Type: | Sport |
| FA: | Tom and Ric Gieman ca. 1991 |
| Page Views: | 7,743 total · 38/month |
| Shared By: | Steve Marr on Sep 17, 2001 |
| Admins: | Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac |
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Access Issue: New 2018 partial West Face Closure
Details
New as of 2018: a portion of the west face of this formation (at least from & including Monster Crack, 5.8, to & including Sword in the Stone, 5.8, and Big Sky) is closed to climbing due to wildlife concerns. The impact on brown bats, great horned owls, red tail hawks, and Cooper's hawks have resulted in part of the West face of Kindergarten Rock (aka Grey Rock), Keyhole Rock (aka Sleeping Giant), and the area between to be closed for all human uses including hiking and climbing. This information was from Bret Tennis, Garden of the Gods Park Operations Administrator.
Access Issue: 2017 Seasonal Closures - Partial Closure Lifting
Details
From the Garden of the Gods Staff:
The closure for Gray Rock has been lifted. The closure on North Gateway remains in effect at this time.
From the Garden of the Gods Staff (3/1/17):
The closures are in place for the Tower of Babel- please refer to the attached images. As of this posting, there are no other closures, but we anticipate closures for North Gateway and Gray Rock similar to those in years past- but we're waiting until we see confirmed nesting behavior before enacting any closures. We will update this post as closures come in to place or are lifted.
A closure is now in effect for the North half of the East face of Gray Rock- please refer to the attached images. We are monitoring another nesting site of North Gateway, so it is possible that there may be some additional closures on North gateway, depending on what we see.
Tower of Babel:
Gray Rock:
Click hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, and hereuploads.mountainproject.com… for another way to view the images.
UPDATE (5/22): A closure is now in effect for the North half of the East face of Gray Rock- please refer to the attached images. We are monitoring another nesting site of North Gateway, so it is possible that there may be some additional closures on North Gateway, depending on what we see.
Click hereuploads.mountainproject.com… and hereuploads.mountainproject.com… for more images.
Previous years' information:
From the Garden of the Gods Staff (10/18/16):
All closures for the park have been lifted. We don't expect any closures until March of 2017.
March 2, 2016
Based on observed nesting behavior, climbing closures in effect for for North Gateway Rock/Tower of Babel and AKA Kindergarten Rock (AKA Gray Rock). We expect these closures to last until approximately August for the West Face of N. Gateway and Kindergarten Rock, and until approximately October for the Tower of Babel- we will update this thread when these closures are lifted based on observed behavior, which will ultimately determine the specific dates.If you have questions, please stop by the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. Also refer to forum post for maps: mountainproject.com/v/garde…
We also want to remind the climbing community that white chalk is prohibited in the park. When placing closure signange/notifications, our park rangers noted chalk stains on several routes in the closure area (Anaconda and Grapefruit Dance), as well as the blowouts bouldering area (which were cleaned last year, meaning all the chalk here is new). We are again hoping that the community can come together and address this issue before it requires any action on our part. We'd also like to thank the PPCA for their efforts to remove chalk stains in these areas last year, and hope that local climbers might consider helping them remove chalk stains from the rock this season- check their website for more info on upcoming events- pikespeakclimbersalliance.o…
Finally, we want to remind everyone that you can fill out your permit online, any time! Visit parks.coloradosprings.gov/p…
to register to climb. This should only take a few minutes, and is valid until the end of the year (New Year's).
OLD CLOSURES
We were notified on 10/2/15 that all bird closures have now been lifted.
Per Stewart M. Green: the Garden of the Gods Park is now open to rock climbing as of Tuesday, June 2.
Update as of 8/4/15: as of this week, SOME closures have been lifted in Garden of the Gods. Grey Rock (aka Kindergarten Rock) is now entirely open. The Summit Ridge, East Ledges, and West face (excluding the West face of Tower of Babel) of North Gateway is also open.
Per Stewart M. Green: ATTENTION!! The Colorado Springs Parks Department has CLOSED ALL CITY PARKS, including Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, and North Cheyenne Canon, to rock climbing for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
This is due to record rainfall totals in western Colorado Springs which as caused severe trail and parking lot damage, saturated the sandstone cliffs, and is causing parts of cliffs to break off.
The parks will be re-evaluated on Monday to determine how the closure will last.
Please respect the closures and take care of our precious climbing areas!
Update as of 3/27/15:
North Gateway Rock and Tower of Babel closures:
--- Invalid image id: 110249045 ---
Kindergarten Rock:
Update as of 10/25/14:
Per Wesley Hermann, Park Interpreter, Garden of the Gods: All closures are lifted including Tower of Babel
Update as of 8/10/14:
Closures in Garden of the Gods Park for raptor nesting sites have been lifted. This includes the East face of North Gateway, the East Ledges on North Gateway, and the East face of Grey (Kindergarten) Rock. Closures for Migratory Birds are still in effect - this includes the Tower of Babel. We expect this closure to last in to early Fall. Please refer to the map attached. If you have questions, please stop by the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center.
Prior closures (pre 8/10/14): There are currently two closures in effect, both on North Gateway Rock. The first closures is for the Eastern Face (including the East ledges), which will include routes like Max's Mayhem, Snuggles/Fall Crack, etc. The second closure is for the Tower of Babel on the North end of Gateway Rock, and includes Anaconda, Ryan's Inferno, The Inferno, and Triple Exposure. The routes listed above are for reference, but may not represent all routes affected, and closures may be subject to change. We've provided a map of North gateway showing these closures.
North Gateway Closures- East Face and Tower of Babel.
North Gateway Closures- East Face and Tower of Babel.
Submitted By: GardenoftheGodsStaff on Mar 5, 2014
Addendum: March 29 - Based on new reports of nesting behavior and of raptors exhibiting signs of stress/defending their nesting sites, we are updating our closures to include Big Sky and Sand in the Vaseline (aka The Route to the Left) on the East face of Grey Rock (aka Kindergarten Rock). Other routes on the East face near the South Summit such as New Era will remain open, but we ask that climbers approach these routes from the South, and avoid the North end/approach of the East Face while the closure is in effect.
The closure for Gray Rock has been lifted. The closure on North Gateway remains in effect at this time.
From the Garden of the Gods Staff (3/1/17):
The closures are in place for the Tower of Babel- please refer to the attached images. As of this posting, there are no other closures, but we anticipate closures for North Gateway and Gray Rock similar to those in years past- but we're waiting until we see confirmed nesting behavior before enacting any closures. We will update this post as closures come in to place or are lifted.
A closure is now in effect for the North half of the East face of Gray Rock- please refer to the attached images. We are monitoring another nesting site of North Gateway, so it is possible that there may be some additional closures on North gateway, depending on what we see.
Tower of Babel:
Gray Rock:
Click hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, hereuploads.mountainproject.com…, and hereuploads.mountainproject.com… for another way to view the images.
UPDATE (5/22): A closure is now in effect for the North half of the East face of Gray Rock- please refer to the attached images. We are monitoring another nesting site of North Gateway, so it is possible that there may be some additional closures on North Gateway, depending on what we see.
Click hereuploads.mountainproject.com… and hereuploads.mountainproject.com… for more images.
Previous years' information:
From the Garden of the Gods Staff (10/18/16):
All closures for the park have been lifted. We don't expect any closures until March of 2017.
March 2, 2016
Based on observed nesting behavior, climbing closures in effect for for North Gateway Rock/Tower of Babel and AKA Kindergarten Rock (AKA Gray Rock). We expect these closures to last until approximately August for the West Face of N. Gateway and Kindergarten Rock, and until approximately October for the Tower of Babel- we will update this thread when these closures are lifted based on observed behavior, which will ultimately determine the specific dates.If you have questions, please stop by the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. Also refer to forum post for maps: mountainproject.com/v/garde…
We also want to remind the climbing community that white chalk is prohibited in the park. When placing closure signange/notifications, our park rangers noted chalk stains on several routes in the closure area (Anaconda and Grapefruit Dance), as well as the blowouts bouldering area (which were cleaned last year, meaning all the chalk here is new). We are again hoping that the community can come together and address this issue before it requires any action on our part. We'd also like to thank the PPCA for their efforts to remove chalk stains in these areas last year, and hope that local climbers might consider helping them remove chalk stains from the rock this season- check their website for more info on upcoming events- pikespeakclimbersalliance.o…
Finally, we want to remind everyone that you can fill out your permit online, any time! Visit parks.coloradosprings.gov/p…
to register to climb. This should only take a few minutes, and is valid until the end of the year (New Year's).
OLD CLOSURES
We were notified on 10/2/15 that all bird closures have now been lifted.
Per Stewart M. Green: the Garden of the Gods Park is now open to rock climbing as of Tuesday, June 2.
Update as of 8/4/15: as of this week, SOME closures have been lifted in Garden of the Gods. Grey Rock (aka Kindergarten Rock) is now entirely open. The Summit Ridge, East Ledges, and West face (excluding the West face of Tower of Babel) of North Gateway is also open.
Per Stewart M. Green: ATTENTION!! The Colorado Springs Parks Department has CLOSED ALL CITY PARKS, including Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, and North Cheyenne Canon, to rock climbing for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
This is due to record rainfall totals in western Colorado Springs which as caused severe trail and parking lot damage, saturated the sandstone cliffs, and is causing parts of cliffs to break off.
The parks will be re-evaluated on Monday to determine how the closure will last.
Please respect the closures and take care of our precious climbing areas!
Update as of 3/27/15:
North Gateway Rock and Tower of Babel closures:
--- Invalid image id: 110249045 ---
Kindergarten Rock:
Update as of 10/25/14:
Per Wesley Hermann, Park Interpreter, Garden of the Gods: All closures are lifted including Tower of Babel
Update as of 8/10/14:
Closures in Garden of the Gods Park for raptor nesting sites have been lifted. This includes the East face of North Gateway, the East Ledges on North Gateway, and the East face of Grey (Kindergarten) Rock. Closures for Migratory Birds are still in effect - this includes the Tower of Babel. We expect this closure to last in to early Fall. Please refer to the map attached. If you have questions, please stop by the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center.
Prior closures (pre 8/10/14): There are currently two closures in effect, both on North Gateway Rock. The first closures is for the Eastern Face (including the East ledges), which will include routes like Max's Mayhem, Snuggles/Fall Crack, etc. The second closure is for the Tower of Babel on the North end of Gateway Rock, and includes Anaconda, Ryan's Inferno, The Inferno, and Triple Exposure. The routes listed above are for reference, but may not represent all routes affected, and closures may be subject to change. We've provided a map of North gateway showing these closures.
North Gateway Closures- East Face and Tower of Babel.
North Gateway Closures- East Face and Tower of Babel.
Submitted By: GardenoftheGodsStaff on Mar 5, 2014
Addendum: March 29 - Based on new reports of nesting behavior and of raptors exhibiting signs of stress/defending their nesting sites, we are updating our closures to include Big Sky and Sand in the Vaseline (aka The Route to the Left) on the East face of Grey Rock (aka Kindergarten Rock). Other routes on the East face near the South Summit such as New Era will remain open, but we ask that climbers approach these routes from the South, and avoid the North end/approach of the East Face while the closure is in effect.
Description [Suggest Change]
Per Sandra Kemp: as of June 4, 2018, the West Face closure starts with Big Sky. There is a metal sign hanging on the first hanger.
Big Sky ascends a shallow corner system up the east face of Kindergarten Rock. The route is actually the retro-bolted start to the Hong-Fiedler Route (5.7+ R/X) that continues past the Big Sky anchors to the summit ridge. Unlike the majority of the routes in the Garden, the rock on Big Sky is very solid. Climb past 4 bolts on great rock with very positive holds (jugs, incuts, and edges) to a 2-bolt anchor.
I wish this climb could have been twice as long as it was. It is a fun route.
Big Sky ascends a shallow corner system up the east face of Kindergarten Rock. The route is actually the retro-bolted start to the Hong-Fiedler Route (5.7+ R/X) that continues past the Big Sky anchors to the summit ridge. Unlike the majority of the routes in the Garden, the rock on Big Sky is very solid. Climb past 4 bolts on great rock with very positive holds (jugs, incuts, and edges) to a 2-bolt anchor.
I wish this climb could have been twice as long as it was. It is a fun route.
Durango
FYI - if you'd rather try the new route on TR before hopping on it on lead, its possible to traverse 15 feet left on the ledge at the Big Sky anchors and pick up the upper part of the new route (2 more bolts to the open-shuts, 5.7ish). Ok, so its kind of a weenie bypass of a 5.10 crux, but it winds up extending the 5.7 climbing on big sky another good 30 feet, and when you're done you have a 5.10 toprope ready to go. We'll call it "New Route de la Weenie Way." Jul 27, 2002
California/Colorado
As you look at Kindergarten Rock from the east, you see 2 distinct summits - and Big Sky starts at the ground pretty much directly under the saddle between them. There are 2 ways to get there, and they're about the same in my oppinion:
From the main parking lot: Take the main sidewalk south through the park. Stay on the fork that cuts between S. Gateway rock and Montezuma's tower. Just past montezuma's, you'll see some trails cutting of to the east through the bushes. Hop the fence and follow the haphazard trails eastward between the north ridge of kindergarten rock and S. Gateway. Once on the east side of Kindergarten, head south along the base of the rock. Big sky starts in the lowest point along this face.
From the south parking lot: Follow the approach for New Era, Bob's Buttress Crack, etc. From the hight point where Bob's Butt crack and End of an Era start, continue north down into the little valley. Big sky will be the next set of bolts you see. Oct 17, 2002
California/Colorado
I don't see how you can find a difference between 5.7 and 5.8. Half a grade easier than 5.7? What's that? How about 5.easy or 5.fun? May 9, 2003
Now, regarding ratings: I agree in part - far too much debate is wasted on the "correct" rating for a route, especially given the subjective nature of ratings in the first place. My point was that regardless of what number you assign to things, IMHO, Big Sky is WAY easier than, say, Finger Ramp, despite the fact that they have the same number attached to them...that's all. May 19, 2003
Cool climb though...
Patrick Jul 31, 2004
While between climbs we were serenaded with a marching band at the Visitors Center. Their sound bounced right off the building to this climb - it was pretty cool. May 16, 2005
Colorado Springs, CO
Fun but short route with 4 bolts to a 2-bolt anchor (plus a piton). Interesting route in that it follows a flake/crack just a little left of the anchors all the way up. Good quality rock and gorgeous views. Oct 20, 2008
Colorado Springs, CO