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ia02
Jun 21, 2013, 11:04 PM
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Can anyone tell me if there any areas near SLC that would be suitable for climbing in summer? I'm thinking higher elevation or even DWS if it exists in the area. I'll be the area at the beginning of August and would love to add a day or two to my trip if there was any tolerable climbing that time of year. Cheers!
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theguy
Jun 21, 2013, 11:13 PM
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Depends what you mean by near: Uintas are a few hours, and high enough; Stone Garden is good limestone sport. Re. DWS, last I checked Utah was a desert other than the high alpine.
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marc801
Jun 22, 2013, 2:39 PM
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ia02 wrote: Can anyone tell me if there any areas near SLC that would be suitable for climbing in summer? I'm thinking higher elevation or even DWS if it exists in the area. I'll be the area at the beginning of August and would love to add a day or two to my trip if there was any tolerable climbing that time of year. There's limestone and quartzite sport up at Alta at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The granite in the lower canyon will likely be too hot except for the very early early morning couple of hours since most of the routes are on the north side of the canyon. Those will be pretty toasty by 9am. Chances are someone will strongly and misguidedly suggest Lone Peak Cirque. Yes, high (> 10K'), cool, and great granite but is about a 5 hr hot and dry approach, so the majority of climbers spend at least one night camping in the cirque. It would be a brutal affair if it was just a day trip although some animal-wo/men manage. So unless you want to hump overnight gear along with climbing gear and water (there is a good chance there won't be any snow left to melt by August this year)..... You can likely chase the shade in Big Cottonwood Canyon thanks to the multitude of aspects. There's also a great alpine 5.8 on Sundial Peak, accessed from BCC with about a 3 mile approach. American Fork has a number of areas that stay relatively cool, assuming you want limestone sport with very few climbs below 5.10. About 45 minutes from downtown SLC. If you want sport on endless cobbles, Maple Canyon also stays cool-ish and staying in the shade is easy. About 1.5 hrs from SLC. The Uintas were already mentioned - again about 1.5 hrs from SLC. Stone Garden and Ruth Lake are perhaps the most popular areas, but there are others. There are other options, but by then you're getting into significant drive times, so they're really not "near" SLC.
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theguy
Jun 22, 2013, 6:42 PM
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Good info Marc; wish I'd known about the Alta climbing when I lived there.
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marc801
Jun 22, 2013, 7:00 PM
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A lot of the stuff at Alta is relatively recent - as in within the past 8 years. There are routes on: 2 sections of the Hellgate Cliffs (warning: mtn goats regularly knock stuff onto climbers below. A guy was killed there 2 years ago, and he was wearing a helmet at the time.) The Cecret Lake cliffs - the ones that start out of the lake runoff stream Sugarloaf Cliffs - both the set facing east above Cecret Lake and the ones above and to the lookers right, facing NNW toward Mt. Baldy. There's also been a fair amount of development on Devil's Castle: http://www.mountainproject.com/...ils-castle/105834094
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