The Mezzanines Rock Climbing

The Mezzanines are a series of large, obvious, broken quartzite cliffs east of northern Ogden (not North Ogden, which is a different city) on the west side of Lewis Peak. They are north of Ogden Canyon and south of Jumpoff Canyon.

There has historically been very little recorded about the routes here, even though they are the longest routes in Ogden and among the longest in the Wasatch. Only three lines are listed in the David G. Robb guidebook for Ogden (and basically zero information or beta is given, and what is given is wrong) even though "dozens" have been climbed. All of the climbs here are traditional, and there are no fixed anchors. Expect lots of ledges, a fair amount of broken and loose rock, and a lot of adventure.

The Mezzanines routes generally face west or southwest and get a lot of sun.

Descent Option 1: The Canyon

The Robb guide lists two possible descents, one being down a steep gully near the north end of the Mezzanines and the other being down an unnamed canyon at the south end. (See The Mezzanines overview photo for relative location.)

For the canyon descent, traverse right (south) along the top of the cliffs until you can drop down into a brushy gully. This gully turns into a canyon, and the canyon eventually deposits you back on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which you follow back to the trailhead. Going down the canyon requires minor down-scrambling, bushwhacking, and getting past one large dropoff. This dropoff could be rappelled by using a horn as an anchor (use an equivocation hitch), but it can easily be bypassed on the skier's left via ledge systems and 4th class downclimbing. See the descent beta photo for an overview.

This descent is long and very unpleasant and took us about 1 hour 50 minutes from the top of Timex. It is a bigger, longer, much more unpleasant version of the Jumpoff Canyon descent. I don't recommend this descent. Option 2, the gully, is faster, easier, and less of an ordeal. That said, it is the faster and preferred descent option for any routes south of the Amphitheater.

Descent Option 2: The Gully

This is the better descent option. (See The Mezzanines overview photo for relative location.)

The descent gully option is at the north end of The Mezzanines and starts just north of the top of The Nose. From the top of the routes head north until you are at the top of a steep gully. You should be able to see a large pine tree near the bottom of the gully. Though the gully is steep, the going is relatively easy (some 3rd and 4th class downclimbing, but nothing too hard, scary, or exposed) and straightforward. Before you get to the pine tree, traverse right (north) into a second, larger gully system. Follow this gully all the way down until you're out of the cliffs. You may have to downclimb through a cliff band or two, but rappelling shouldn't be necessary. From the bottom of the gully, you can either follow the bottom of the dry wash/small canyon back down until it intersects with the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and the gravel canal road (not recommended because of cliffs in the draingage), or you can descend down the mountainside to the left or right of the drainage. Either way, you'll ultimately end up at the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and then the canal road. Follow either the trail or the road back to where you parked.

Note that at the pine tree, you can also continue down skier's left a bit and basically end up on the approach trail/path. It requires a bit of downclimbing or maybe a short rappel, but it's a little quicker then cutting back right and allows you to stay up out of the drainage.