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Straw Turkey
5.10a,
Trad, 3 pitches,
Avg: 3.7 from 183
votes
FA: unknown
Colorado
> S Platte
> Turkey Rocks
> Turkey Rock
Access Issue: NOTE: Access only from Turkey Rocks Trailhead.
Details
No access from the Turkey Rock Ranch Estates neighborhood.
Description
This climb is on Turkey Rock.
P1. The first pitch offers excellent moves up disjointed thin cracks with great moves and superb protection. The start begins 10-15 feet right of a huge pine tree, at the base of the climb there is a good lounging rock. Begin the climb by face climbing up the incipient cracks, past a great mantle, and up to two steep small dihedrals. After the dihedrals, find a good ledge for the belay (this is a long pitch).
P2. For the second pitch continue up the chimney/crack system until you reach an 20' offwidth section. Place your #5 and go, or walk it up. For an offwidth its not too bad (7).
P3. The last pitch exits up a small 5.6 section. Walk off to the right. Last note: You can avoid the offwidth pitch by bringing two ropes and rappelling off some slings on the first pitch.
Protection
Bring double wires, and cams to #1 on first pitch, the off-width section will need a #5.
[Hide Photo] Cable anchors suck, this pitch doesn't suck.
[Hide Photo] Paul (KT) chasing the light on Straw Turkey.
[Hide Photo] Kat A. gets into the crack-switch sequence on Straw Turkey, the crux if you are short. Photo: Carol K., 10/2013.
[Hide Photo] Chain anchor atop Straw Turkey pitch 1. A 70 will get you down from here.
[Hide Photo] Cable anchor, June 2022 - the cable has been covered with webbing and additional webbing loops added. Note the blue aramid sling is not part of fixed anchor.
[Hide Comment] This climb offers varied and sustained climbing, you might want to bring up an RP or two if you're at your limit and want to really sew her up---excellent pro the whole way even though it looks like the first 40ft are going to be spicy.
Jul 22, 2003
[Hide Comment] When I first did this in '99 there were slings off to the right ( around the horizontal crack ) These are now gone. Continue up to the cables to rap off.
[Hide Comment] As far as rapping off after the first pitch, you can also do a short downclimb to the large ledge ten feet lower than the cable belay and then traverse well to the right, around the corner. There is another anchor from which you can get to the ground with one rope (a 60m leaves you with a touch of down climbing).
Sep 28, 2004
[Hide Comment] Regarding the first pitch, I think this is one of those "no move is harder than 10a" routes. Great sustained and varied climbing. The gear is a little thin if you want to protect the mantle move directly, and if you don't, the fall would be unpleasant.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Jun 27, 2005
[Hide Comment] You can rap/lower off the fixed anchor atop p1 (some nuts and webbing) with a 70m rope. Great route, a must do at the grade.
Mar 4, 2009
[Hide Comment] SUSTAINED and awesome P1! As a wide guy, the second pitch offwidth was lots of fun and a little too short.
Note that from the belay ledge after P1 (20ft above the rap tat) you can can make it to the summit with a 70m and careful rope management around the corner. If you're out of gear by the time you get there, fear not! You can make an old-school rope-anchor around a bomber horn.
Sep 4, 2018
If you only want to do the first pitch, you can climb up another ten feet from the “tat” and walk off the ledges to the east. The decent route is even marked with cairns, but if easy third class is too difficult, there is a cable rap down “The Fiend” 25 ft east.
Better yet, try doing the route to the top.
Oct 7, 2019
[Hide Comment] Well, you know with enough battery power you can lower just about anything to your level. How about you just walk off or God forbid, if you believe in any kind of a deity, go to the top of the thing. I know my feet hurt, or it's too far, or I need to get back to my hammock at the base and put some super glue on my owieee. For christ's sakes, oops should I have capitalized that, leave the fucking, may I burn in hell for the curse word, gym mentality in town. Or better yet you stay home with it.
Oct 7, 2019
[Hide Comment] Monty, There is nothing to be confused about. If you place a “convenience anchor” on an existing route at Turkey Rock, it will be removed. No need to debate the semantics...that’s just the way it is. If you can’t deal with that reality, there are plenty of other places to climb in the SPlatte.
Oct 7, 2019
[Hide Comment] Vanishing Point and The Crime never went to the top. I put in the first anchors on those climbs because of the constant addition of old webbing being used for anchors. Saw lots of people toproping off of old bad and poorly placed anchors, so I put in the anchors, not because I really care about your personal safety, but I don't want to carry out the body and clean up the mess.
Oct 8, 2019
[Hide Comment] I moved away from CO almost 10 years ago, and you guys are telling me you're still using webbing for fixed anchors and not something sustainable like bolts/chains? I left some fixed nuts for an anchor just under 35m up on this route at least 15 years ago. It was meant to be temporary.
Oct 8, 2019
[Hide Comment] Darren, the anchors of webbing were from the early and mid '80s. The ones I put in were aircraft cable with cable clamps and rings. I left the springs in '93 and have no idea what has been put in since then. I do know that, if I still lived there, Turkey Rocks would be of a more pristine nature.
Oct 8, 2019
[Hide Comment] I think the reason why there is no permanent anchor atop pitch 1 is that there is an easy walkoff just above the top of the first pitch.
Oct 8, 2019
[Hide Comment] Thanks for the correction, Kevin. The convenience anchor is cable, not webbing. Btw, you can indeed topout VP or GWC via neighboring routes. I've done it that way or have used the convenient bolts, but maybe they should be removed? Though I have great memories of Peter G. hiking all 3 aforementioned routes in his high tops as we lapped them.
Oct 9, 2019
[Hide Comment] Well, climbers are lazy, look at all the trash at the base of any popular crag. So, as areas get more popular and sport climbing mentality takes over, more stupid shit gets done. There has always been an "I can go where I want and do what I want" mentality in climbing circles, sometimes as bad as the clowns on ATVs. The downclimbs off The Crime and The Point are not that hard but not really convenient, so that is why trash anchors and webbing are there. Also, climbers are cheap and won't leave anything new or of value as anchors.
Oct 9, 2019
[Hide Comment] Ben, you put them in, they will be removed, it's as simple as that. So save your bolts and time for some pinch crimpfest area.
Oct 15, 2019
[Hide Comment] Ben, it is a pretty easy walkoff, so why put in bolts? Yeah I know your feet hurt and that's what they do at Shelf Road and The Gym, but you don't have to do it everywhere. From the time that route was put up in the 70s until at least '93 when I left, there were no slings, and everybody walked off and downclimbed. If you go climbing outside, it is expected that you will have your wits about you, be able to look around, and figure out how to get down. Climbing isn't always neat and tidy. Climbing is a risky thing, you climb you can die. You take your chances.
Oct 15, 2019
[Hide Comment] Well, I have not put up a new route for some time, and when I did, I used very few bolts. Now removal of bolts, that I have done a lot of. Gorilla makes a fine line of single component glues that are much more gentle on your skin than two part epoxy types used on glue-in bolts. Just make you get a correct dirt color match to hide the glue. See, I really do care.
Oct 15, 2019
[Hide Comment] There is now a nice, shiny, new cable anchor at the top of the first pitch for your convenience. If you lower after leading, please lower off your own gear and not the chains, and rap after cleaning. Do not lower off the chains. We want this new anchor to last as long as possible. Thanks, Pete!
Nov 15, 2019
[Hide Comment] Actually, it’s not very shiny (on purpose) and was certainly NOT intended for anyone’s convenience but only to prevent the uninformed from taking matters into their own hands and igniting an unnecessarily (and un-winnable) controversy.
Nov 20, 2019
[Hide Comment] It's been a million years since I climbed Whimsical, but I think it had a cable for a long time. I have no idea how a cable is magically better than a bolted anchor. I think they are kind of a janky eyesore.
Nov 21, 2019
[Hide Comment] I used to climb the first pitch of this route as an alternate start to Satyr's Asshole. Great way to start a great climb. I believe I climbed it once with Kevin Murray, if my memory serves me correctly. Those were fun times shared with good friends. We would have never thought of rapping off after the first pitch, back in the 1970s.
Times haves changed. What amazes me, is the overzealous, fanatic opposition that both Kevin & Peter display when it comes to placing a 2 bolt anchor. A well camouflaged 2 bolt anchor has far less of a visual impact than a cable & is more reliable over time. At any other trad area, bolts are completely accepted for fixed anchors. Kevin & Peter have long declared themselves the rulers of the Turkey Rock Area. Thankfully, I have long since moved on, away from such pettiness.
Mar 31, 2020
[Hide Comment] Good memory, Mark, better than mine on that one. Hey, somebody has to keep the flame alive or the rocks will look like Shelf or Clear Creek Canyon. How you been? It has been many years.
Apr 26, 2020
[Hide Comment] The cable atop pitch one is barely thick enough to not slip through the crack and loosely encircles a block that has cracks on three sides….
Is there a backup to this that the “caretakers” would find acceptable for those who haven’t read this thread and are unaware of the exposed walkoff that was common place 50 years ago?
The presence of chains on the cable leads a climber to assume that toproping and lowering from this is acceptable and safe. If you’re going to do something, why not do it right???
Dec 20, 2021
[Hide Comment] ^^^ Especially since there's 50 other bolted anchors at this crag. Like on the climbs right next to this one.
The cables and slings on the back of the Turkey Tail are super dangerous too, and the rappel bolts I used to use on the South Side were chopped as soon as the guidebook came out. I didn't know there was a downclimb and ended up taking a new climber down some sketchiness to rappel off of the nearly as janky chain anchor on top of Eclipse, and my rope didn't reach all the way, but hey, I got to honor the memories of the old farts while I wasted an hour of my day with a new climber looking for a way to get down while they questioned the integrity of what they were rappelling off of.
It's not like this is some remote wilderness area. It's literally in a neighborhood. I'm not advocating for bolted anchors everywhere by any means, but where there are rotting slings or unsightly chains, I am.
Jan 26, 2022
[Hide Comment] Climbed this today, and though hot (90s in the Front Range) and fully in the sun, it was still great.
Thought I'd add a few things I wished I'd known:
(1) Wished I had just brought two #5s - less bumping, more fun.
(2) At the top of pitch two, the crack "Ts." Left is a tricky little finger crack that peters out and requires what I considered a heady runout on tiny crystals. I got most the way up that but bailed when the crack petered out. Lowering back down to the anchor, I then traversed RIGHT instead where the top of pitch 2 was ending. There was a much easier 5.6ish set of three cracks that took us to the top.
If this seems off or someone thinks we were just off route, please let me know.
Jul 23, 2023
“4. Fixed Gear. A. Fixed Hardware. I. The use of non-climbing specific hardware (e.g. concrete anchors, home manufactured equipment cables, etc.) is not allowed.”
When those cable clamps fails and kills an unsuspecting college kid, it will be a very predictable tragedy. Maybe then the crag bully can explain to their parents why a cable is better than camouflaged bolts.
Dec 22, 2023
Avg: 3.7 from 183
votes
Access Issue: NOTE: Access only from Turkey Rocks Trailhead.
Details
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Ridgway, CO
Great feet up the whole route! Oct 13, 2003
It doesn't get much better than this. Jun 27, 2005
Western North America
FT Carson
Denver
Foco, CO
Happy sending Jun 6, 2012
Urbana, IL
Note that from the belay ledge after P1 (20ft above the rap tat) you can can make it to the summit with a 70m and careful rope management around the corner. If you're out of gear by the time you get there, fear not! You can make an old-school rope-anchor around a bomber horn. Sep 4, 2018
If you only want to do the first pitch, you can climb up another ten feet from the “tat” and walk off the ledges to the east. The decent route is even marked with cairns, but if easy third class is too difficult, there is a cable rap down “The Fiend” 25 ft east.
Better yet, try doing the route to the top. Oct 7, 2019
There is nothing to be confused about.
If you place a “convenience anchor” on an existing route at Turkey Rock, it will be removed.
No need to debate the semantics...that’s just the way it is. If you can’t deal with that reality, there are plenty of other places to climb in the SPlatte. Oct 7, 2019
Silicon Valley/Boulder
Florissant, CO
Times haves changed. What amazes me, is the overzealous, fanatic opposition that both Kevin & Peter display when it comes to placing a 2 bolt anchor. A well camouflaged 2 bolt anchor has far less of a visual impact than a cable & is more reliable over time. At any other trad area, bolts are completely accepted for fixed anchors. Kevin & Peter have long declared themselves the rulers of the Turkey Rock Area. Thankfully, I have long since moved on, away from such pettiness. Mar 31, 2020
Colorado Springs, CO
Woodland park co
Is there a backup to this that the “caretakers” would find acceptable for those who haven’t read this thread and are unaware of the exposed walkoff that was common place 50 years ago?
The presence of chains on the cable leads a climber to assume that toproping and lowering from this is acceptable and safe. If you’re going to do something, why not do it right??? Dec 20, 2021
Estes
The cables and slings on the back of the Turkey Tail are super dangerous too, and the rappel bolts I used to use on the South Side were chopped as soon as the guidebook came out. I didn't know there was a downclimb and ended up taking a new climber down some sketchiness to rappel off of the nearly as janky chain anchor on top of Eclipse, and my rope didn't reach all the way, but hey, I got to honor the memories of the old farts while I wasted an hour of my day with a new climber looking for a way to get down while they questioned the integrity of what they were rappelling off of.
It's not like this is some remote wilderness area. It's literally in a neighborhood. I'm not advocating for bolted anchors everywhere by any means, but where there are rotting slings or unsightly chains, I am. Jan 26, 2022
Boulder, CO
Thought I'd add a few things I wished I'd known:
(1) Wished I had just brought two #5s - less bumping, more fun.
(2) At the top of pitch two, the crack "Ts." Left is a tricky little finger crack that peters out and requires what I considered a heady runout on tiny crystals. I got most the way up that but bailed when the crack petered out. Lowering back down to the anchor, I then traversed RIGHT instead where the top of pitch 2 was ending. There was a much easier 5.6ish set of three cracks that took us to the top.
If this seems off or someone thinks we were just off route, please let me know. Jul 23, 2023
Black Forest, CO
“4. Fixed Gear.
A. Fixed Hardware.
I. The use of non-climbing specific hardware (e.g. concrete anchors, home manufactured equipment cables, etc.) is not allowed.”
When those cable clamps fails and kills an unsuspecting college kid, it will be a very predictable tragedy. Maybe then the crag bully can explain to their parents why a cable is better than camouflaged bolts. Dec 22, 2023