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Elevation: 1,068 ft
GPS: 46.12655, -92.87017
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Shared By: Sean Patrick on Jul 20, 2014
Admins: K Ice, Kris Gorny

Description Suggest change

The town of Sandstone has a surprising amount of climbing spread between 3 areas: Robinson Park, Eldon, and Banning State Park.

Robinson Park has sport climbing, farmed ice climbing, dry tooling, and a handful of boulders. The movement from frowned-upon top-roping in the 80s to legitimate, town-sponsored climbing took many years, and was the work of many, but most notably Jeff Engel. This area now has some awesome sport climbing (the best stuff is 5.12, though there is good moderate climbing as well), and people every winter flock to the area for the best and probably the most accessible ice climbing in MN.

Across the river from Robinson lies Eldon. This land holds the best bouldering between Colorado and New England, though, admittedly, the boulders there are few. The sale of this land by Sandy and Eldon Johnson, and purchase by the MCA was manna from the heavens for Minnesota climbing. The Johnsons have been comfortable with a handful of people occasionally going to this area to boulder. The few climbers who knew about it (1995?-2014) were reticent to share it, for fear that it would be overburdened and abused by too many climbers, and access closed. That said, the Johnsons were always welcoming, and the sale of their land to climbers is a lasting legacy of their generosity to the climbing community.

North of Eldon lies Banning State Park. This area has been shrouded in even more mystery than the Johnson property. See the specific page, when it is up, for more detail. Again, Jeff Engel, and others, worked very hard to get this area open. As of July 20, 2014, there are still restrictions on where, and what type, of climbing can be done here. Make sure to get a permit when you arrive, and stick to the areas they allow climbing in.

All of these areas are recently opened, and many motivated people have worked for years to gently nudge them in this direction, with diplomacy, generosity, and hard work. The first goal with these areas, as with any area you visit as a climber, should be to act in a way that is conducive with maintaining access.

Please be good to this land, to the state parks and their staff that have granted us access, and to the kind people of Sandstone for welcoming us into their community.

Getting There Suggest change

Sandstone, MN is a small town just off of I 35, north of the Twin Cities about 1 hour 20 min, and south of Duluth about 1 hour. Please refer to the individual pages for directions to the individual areas.

142 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Sandstone

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
M7
 5
The Seam
TR, Mixed
WI5
 7
Left Pillar
TR, Ice
V2+ 5+
 45
Mike's Lunge
Boulder
V5 6C
 58
Best Boulder in Minnesota
Boulder
V6 7A
 25
That Girl's a Bitch
Boulder
V6 7A
 37
The Nose Thing
Boulder
V7 7A+
 23
The Raven Stand
Boulder
V8 7B
 5
Invisible Touch
Boulder
V10 7C+
 15
Tengo De La Muerte
Boulder
V11-12 8A+
 6
The Raven
Boulder
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 127
Compromises
Sport, TR
5.11c 6c+ 24 VIII- 24 E4 6a
 95
Adoption
Sport, TR
5.12a/b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6a
 115
Sigma
Sport
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
 20
Harvest Moon
Sport
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c
 32
Nexus
Sport
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
The Seam Sandstone Ice Park > Reservoir Dogs
 5
M7 TR, Mixed
Left Pillar Sandstone Ice Park > Stage Wall
 7
WI5 TR, Ice
Mike's Lunge Eldon
 45
V2+ 5+ Boulder
Best Boulder in Minnesota Eldon
 58
V5 6C Boulder
That Girl's a Bitch Eldon
 25
V6 7A Boulder
The Nose Thing Eldon
 37
V6 7A Boulder
The Raven Stand Eldon
 23
V7 7A+ Boulder
Invisible Touch Eldon
 5
V8 7B Boulder
Tengo De La Muerte Eldon
 15
V10 7C+ Boulder
The Raven Eldon
 6
V11-12 8A+ Boulder
Compromises Robinson Park > Relationship Wall
 127
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Sport, TR
Adoption Robinson Park > Relationship Wall
 95
5.11c 6c+ 24 VIII- 24 E4 6a Sport, TR
Sigma Robinson Park > Sigma Wall
 115
5.12a/b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6a Sport
Harvest Moon Robinson Park > Relationship Wall
 20
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b Sport
Nexus Robinson Park > Sigma Wall
 32
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c Sport
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