PRINT: Rock Climb Beef Jello, City of Rocks

Beef Jello

5.10d, Trad, 50 ft (15 m),

Avg: 3.2 from 15 votes
FA: Kimber and Janice Almond- 1990's
Idaho > S Idaho > City of Rocks > Beef Jello

Access Issue: (1) Weather Wall, Yellow Wall, & all the crags north of Twin Sisters are CLOSED. (2) No trash cans. (3) Highlining temporary ban in place for CIRO and CRSP Details

(1) The area, crags, and routes just north of the Twin Sisters are on private land and the landowner recently posted no trespassing notices at the gated road/trail to the area. Any access of these areas and routes is trespassing. The area was closed by the landowner due to trespassing, illegal camping, fires & trash, and disregard of owner's privacy.
Please be respectful of the land owner's wishes and do not climb or hike here until further notice. This includes White Lightning, Skinner Roof, Weather Wall, Yellow Wall, Larry's Annihilation, Needle Rock, Mississippi Fred's, and Secret Tom's. Park officials and CRAG are working to regain access to this valuable climbing resource. Be patient and check back for updates.
(2) No trash cans anywhere in City of Rocks: urlzs.com/c4eZH
(3) HIGHLINING IS PROHIBITED
By the authority of the park manager, Highlining at City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park is temporarily prohibited as of August 28, 2019.

The park(s) is reviewing highlining activities. Here are Google Drive links to the closure and the updated Code of Regulations for CIRO. drive.google.com/open?id=1y… and drive.google.com/open?id=1Y…

Access Issue: Summer closures Details

I believe this area falls under a voluntary closure during mid summer. I speculate it is probably to allow undisturbed cattle for a local rancher with grazing rights.

Description

Kimber Almond told me when he was exploring in the Circle Creek drainage and found this crack in the 90's that he was shocked no one had yet climbed it. He said he cleaned out the moss and lichen and discovered a sweet little yosemite like finger/hand crack in a corner.
The crux comes about mid way, and is easily overcome with some liebacking. Patina face holds adorn the right wall of this vertical right-facing route. I would agree with Bingham's guide, and give this climb 3 stars if not for the long approach for only two climbs on the formation, and shortness of the route. A budding 11a leader would likely appreciate this climb more than anyone.

Location

Located on the east face crag that bears its namesake- look for the vertical right facing corner. Rap off.

Protection

The gear is great- it basically places itself, and you have sizing options. Bring a single set of cams from fingers to off hands. You don't really even need runners. Lower off the chain anchors at the top.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

At crux #2.

The route...

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Brendan N
Salt Lake City, Utah

a fantastic climb well worth the hike
I sneaked around the direct start by climbing patina to the right
this is the "Crack of Doom" for 5.10 climbers, a true classic

make a day of exploring circle creek and its seclusion Sep 9, 2009

Benjamin Eaton
Sandy, UT

I really like this route. A slightly overhanging right facing corner. For me, there were two cruxes. First crux is located off the deck until you land on the large slopping ledge. It is a series of finger stacks and wanna-be ring locks. Second crux is right when the hand crack turns to finger size (orange Metolius cam size). Just lay back and drive up to your first available hand jam. The whole route has a total of three good rests. Oct 15, 2011

Charlie S
NV

5.10d

There are rests after each crux. I found the gear slightly tricky, but maybe that was because I placed too much.

Short and fun! Powering through the cruxes to get to the rest stances would have been better than fiddling with gear before the cruxes.

A #3 is nice to place near the top after the last crux. Oct 1, 2012

Boissal .
Small Lake, UT

5.10d

I'd say the 10d rating is definitely for the direct start, flaring off-fingers with no feet. Tape is a good idea on this one, it doesn't see much traffic and between the lichen and the sharp nature of the rock your mitts may get shredded. Mar 30, 2015

Kyle Simms
Salt Lake City, UT

5.10d

Walking around in the baking sun trying to find the imperceptible trail didn't put me in a fantastic mood; lesson learned not to poke around on really hot days and just stick to shady stuff closer to the car. I think this route makes a lot of sense if you are ticking others in the area (Great Wall, Fiesta, etc..), however, I'm not sure if it's worth the walk to do this climb alone. That being said it is a pretty fun route; I would compare it to Heartbreaker (10d) but leans the other direction and is more sustained at the grade. The crux is definitely the direct start. When I topped out there were a couple pack rats chilling outside of a nest they had built right below the chains. Let's just say they were not happy about me intruding on their quality rat chill sesh. Jul 4, 2021