Avg: 3.2 from 104
votes
Approach as for the Waterfall Wall. PEMA is upstream after the Tyrolean. After the tyrolean, don't rap in anywhere! Head straight/right up a gully, then go climber's left (south) along the base of the cliff maybe 150 yards. Princess Ella's Magical Adventure starts at the toe of a small buttress maybe 30 feet above the creek, base of the route at 37.97697, -107.65729. Shiny bolts head up 75 feet to a ledge and a big pine. 3 more pitches of friendly bolts get you up the headwall finish to a big ledge and great views.
Per Eldo Cruiser: you can stay left on last pitch for 5.8 finish.
Descend with 4 raps with a single 70m rope.
There are a few loose rocks, but overall it has great rock. You can scope it from the highway 100 yards south of the parking spot, just above a scree slope that goes all the way to the creek.
11 quickdraws, anchor slings, a rap device, a single 70m rope (likely better with double ropes), and helmets.
Continue with onX Maps
Sign in with Facebook
San Juans, CO
Fayetteville, WV/Moab, UT
durango co
youtu.be/K9uBbnxC5N0 Jun 24, 2013
Colorado Springs, CO
grand junction, colorado
Cedaredge, CO
Mesa, AZ
The tyrolean traverse lines appear to be in good shape.
Approach beta: ascend the loose gully, and look for a trail on the left before ascending the gully to the right.
The climb itself was very enjoyable, and the final pitch was my favorite with fun movement and a couple bomber hand jams, not that they’re needed but certainly welcomed. I felt the climb wasn’t anything past 5.8 and just barely that. It also seemed fairly well-protected.
Route beta: P1 and P2 are easily combined. P2 has only 1 bolt. Take the left bolt line at the start of pitch 4 for PEMA, and take the right (straight up) bolt line for the Happy Ending (10a and a little runout at the roof). Aug 6, 2018
Telluride
Salt Lake City, UT
Also, I wouldn’t recommend this for those new to multi-pitch. The river is deafening in the early season - most, if not all of the pitches put the leader out of the line of sight of the belayer, and you won’t be able to hear each other. Bring a whistle or something. May 21, 2022
Denver, CO
Had an 11 hour epic with two others after we rappelled down the anchors on the "ledge with a giant pine tree" which was supposedly 35m but was really 45m. Our horribly missed approach took us to the headwall where the waterfall empties into. Doing some post-epic research, it looks like the only way out from there is to climb "A Fistful of Awesome" which is a mixed sport/trad route. Planning to climb PEMA, we left the rack in the car and only brought some emergency nuts. We climbed up the headwall as high as we could and did some sketchy stuff to get back to the rap anchors we took down (almost pulled a 500lb boulder down on me and had a Tibloc slip on a rope). This was nearly a SAR call or worse.
Even now, I am a little confused on the proper approach to PEMA (the out-of-print guidebook at OMS has similar directions listed here). After the tyrolean, there are a few scrambles with fixed ropes in place (as of July 2023). Once you get to the top of that section, there are two trails. One goes left and the other right. The right takes you up a gully with loose rock (or if you cut hard right you hit the rap anchors we took by accident). This split where the fixed ropes bring you seems to be partway up that gully, so I'm not sure if this is the spot you are supposed to split left or if that is further up the gully (seems low consequence to go left and check it out just in-case. Rather waste time there than in the gully with loose rock).
Hoping someone sees this and can clarify the approach in another comment at least. If possible, I'd like to suggest an edit to how this climb is posted on mountain project: don't have it grouped in the same direct area as FOA. If you look at it as "this climb is in the waterfall wall area" and follow the location information for that, you will end up in the same situation as us and be climbing Princess Ellas Terrifying Adventure. Definitely want to go back and climb the actual route. Heck, maybe even go climb FOA (after leaving a bail rope on the rap anchors of course) and overcome some of the deep trauma I probably developed. Jul 6, 2023
Conifer, CO
The approach is fairly straightforward. It's about a 4 - 5 minutes hike after you cross the river via the Tyrolian. The descriptions says head "right" and then climber's "Left". I would say head more or less straight up until you hit a fixed hand line that takes you slightly up and left a loosely eroded trail. You will then see a little climber's trail that goes left and parallels the creek. It goes upstream about 300 feet, and you will see the starting bolts on the right. Aug 15, 2023
Durango, CO
On the topic of communication, just buy the damn Rocky Talkies already, and save yourself the headache of strained communication. At this point in my climbing career, the radios are an essential piece of multi-pitch kit, and I will never climb high without them again. Have fun! Aug 18, 2023
Austin
Denver, CO
Firestone, CO
I am not sure why it is listed under the Waterfall Wall, as it is quite far from it. I forgot to look at coordinates at the base, but we went the right way the first time but didn't go left (south) enough to find the start. We walked down and back up again and were surprised how far it was from the Waterfall Wall.
The climb itself is super fun. I climbed it with my 14 yo son, and we both shared the same opinion - it is the softest 5.8 we have ever climbed outside in CO. I would not hesitate to solo this route.
I would rate it 5.8 in a gym....
Still - super fun climb (once you find it), and we had a blast with the river crossing approach, the climb, rappel, etc. Jun 30, 2024