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gogo
Jun 3, 2005, 5:47 PM
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Alright, so my girlfriend has a week off coming up mid-june, and we want to take about 5 days off to climb a lot of sport routes.
The places we're thinking of are either the VRG in St. George, American Fork, or Little Cottonwood Canyon, but we're up for anywhere.
Here's the tricky part. She is fairly new to leading, so for her, routes in the 5.9-5.10d range are key. I injured my rotator cuff in february, so I can't just on steep stuff, but anything vertical or slightly overhung between 5.11-5.13b is good for me.
So, where should we go?
Thanks,
Paz,
Mike
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gogo
Jun 3, 2005, 5:49 PM
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Registered: Apr 6, 2004
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Alright, so my girlfriend has a week off coming up mid-june, and we want to take about 5 days off to climb a lot of sport routes.
The places we're thinking of are either the VRG in St. George, American Fork, or Little Cottonwood Canyon, but we're up for anywhere.
Here's the tricky part. She is fairly new to leading, so for her, routes in the 5.9-5.10d range are key. I injured my rotator cuff in february, so I can't get on steep stuff, but anything vertical or slightly overhung between 5.11-5.13b is good for me.
So, where should we go?
Thanks,
Paz,
Mike
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mrtristan
Jun 3, 2005, 6:09 PM
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I wouldn't recommend Little Cottonwood for sport. I love the place to death for trad, but for sport, I'd move on.
If I were you, I'd do Maple Canyon (never been there but heard awesome things), American Fork (great place, but the easy climbs are greasy like no other), and Big Cottonwood (never done sport there, but have heard very good things. Great setting, too.)
-Tristan
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yanqui
Jun 3, 2005, 6:25 PM
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Registered: Feb 24, 2004
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In reply to: Alright, so my girlfriend has a week off coming up mid-june, and we want to take about 5 days off to climb a lot of sport routes. The places we're thinking of are either the VRG in St. George, American Fork, or Little Cottonwood Canyon, but we're up for anywhere. Here's the tricky part. She is fairly new to leading, so for her, routes in the 5.9-5.10d range are key. I injured my rotator cuff in february, so I can't just on steep stuff, but anything vertical or slightly overhung between 5.11-5.13b is good for me. So, where should we go? Thanks, Paz, Mike
I love Little Cottonwood, but it's really more of a "trad" area. Although there are a few "sport" routes scattered about (e.g. All Chalk and No Action), if you want to do a lot of sport routes, you're better off going somewhere else.
It could be a bit hot in VRG, and it used to be (years ago) that everything was really hard there (although that could have changed).
American Fork was made for sport climbing and has lots of nice 5.10s and 5.11s, and gobs of harder stuff as well. If you opt for American Fork, it could be worth your while to visit Big Cottonwood (or even Little Cottonwood) as well. The Millstone offers some nice 5.10s and 5.11s (not too steep) in a semi-isolated setting and the S-Curves has some good (steeper) sport climbing close to the road.
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runningclimber
Jun 3, 2005, 7:12 PM
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Go to Maple Canyon! Plenty of great routes in both of your ranges. And very well bolted. I'm a newish leader as well, and I loved it there when I stopped by on a road trip last fall. (My climbing partner, who is much more experienced, enjoyed the more challenging stuff too.)
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sidepull
Jun 3, 2005, 7:12 PM
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Can I recommend another option? Maple Canyon - it has the variety and number of routes for both of you and there's always something in the shade. If you haven't climbed conglomerate before, you're in for a treat. Also, it's only 1.5 hours from American Fork.
In fact, maybe you could make American Fork kind of your central base and hit Maple and Big Cottonwood canyon as well. I wouldn't hit the VRG, doesn't sound like your girlfriend would get up much there - even the easy routes are really techy and pretty hard.
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jg
Jun 3, 2005, 8:04 PM
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VRG; aside from technically not being in Utah, most everything is pretty darn hard. But the St. George area in general has plenty of good sport climbing at all grades, so it would be a good place for a road trip. Usually it would be getting hot by now, but we have been having a cool, wet spring.
Little Cottonwood; really not too much sport climbing, but great for trad.
American Fork; I would think that your friend would want to be getting on at least mid-11's to get the most out of AF, although there are a few routes in the 10's that are excellent. I have been there the past three weekends; due to our wet spring a lot of the walls are still wet and dripping, which limits the amount of climbing available; maybe it will dry out by the time you are here.
I agree with others that Maple will be a great choice for you in mid-June. The areas are close enough that you could easily hit Logan, Little and Big Cottonwoods, AF and Maple over several days of climbing.
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sidepull
Jun 3, 2005, 9:15 PM
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In reply to: Go to Maple Canyon! Plenty of great routes in both of your ranges. And very well bolted. I'm a newish leader as well, and I loved it there when I stopped by on a road trip last fall. (My climbing partner, who is much more experienced, enjoyed the more challenging stuff too.)
Sorry - you and I were posting at the same time so I guess I wasn't suggesting another option.
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gogo
Jun 4, 2005, 12:58 AM
Post #10 of 11
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Registered: Apr 6, 2004
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Maple Canyon sounds like it would be really good, definetely a place we could start at and potentially move upwards from.
Thanks, all the replies on this have been really helpful.
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tenesmus
Jun 4, 2005, 1:30 AM
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If its really, really hot you might think of the Uintas. If you want a little adventure, go to the top of LCC and do something on Devil's Castle. 7 pitch .10c with a few gear placements. Also, the newer area at Hellgate has some nice routes if you feel like braving the rockfall (wear a helmet!)
Really though, 2 days in Maple and a day or two in AF and you'll be great. Just spend some time at the gym and you'll be in shape for it.
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