Indian Creek
A liitle under an hour south of Moab is the
infamous Indian Creek crack climbing area. In contrast to "normal" sport
climbing, Indian creek requires precise "crack climbing" techniques to conquer
their routes. This involves painful camming of the feet and hands into finger,
hand, or fist wide cracks; this means that the way the toes or hands are
inserted and contorted in the crack provides friction, that then allows the
support of one's body
weight
.
\
Traveling south from Moab, IC is located off route 211. A few minutes past Newspaper Rock puts one in the IC climbing area. There are a few established campgrounds off the main road, but S's friends (who invited us on this climbing trip, thanks guys!) recommended a hard to find, but incredibly rewarding BLM land camp site. We got into the Bridger Jack Mesa near midnight, so finding the "non-descript gate immediately following a short but very noticeable, slightly curving distinct downhill section of the road" was a challenge, but we got in all right. we woke to our campsite:
the first picture is Supercrack Buttress in Donnelly Canyon seen above. In this area are hundreds of routes. And this is maybe 10% of the IC climbing area.
All the routes here are trad. They are also very difficult! a 5.9 or 5.10 in IC is a different beast than a 5.9 in BCC, for example. Fortunately for us, we brought a couple of rope guns. Here's one of them.
Kimber leading Incredible Hand Crack (5.10c)
Susan wrestling with the crux.
Me struggling with Generic Crack (5.10a). This was one of the toughest, longest cracks that i have climbed. got to the top, somehow! bring on the pain (ha ha ha)!
As you can see from the pics, the weather was gorgeous. Back in SLC, the temps were dipping into the 40's, but in IC, daytime highs must have been close to 80. The company was wonderful...we talked about climbing and travel, told bad jokes, and shared some PBR's. we had a fire at night to keep warm and made smores. We saw shooting stars. Gotta love the outdoors.
.
\Traveling south from Moab, IC is located off route 211. A few minutes past Newspaper Rock puts one in the IC climbing area. There are a few established campgrounds off the main road, but S's friends (who invited us on this climbing trip, thanks guys!) recommended a hard to find, but incredibly rewarding BLM land camp site. We got into the Bridger Jack Mesa near midnight, so finding the "non-descript gate immediately following a short but very noticeable, slightly curving distinct downhill section of the road" was a challenge, but we got in all right. we woke to our campsite:
the first picture is Supercrack Buttress in Donnelly Canyon seen above. In this area are hundreds of routes. And this is maybe 10% of the IC climbing area.
All the routes here are trad. They are also very difficult! a 5.9 or 5.10 in IC is a different beast than a 5.9 in BCC, for example. Fortunately for us, we brought a couple of rope guns. Here's one of them.
Kimber leading Incredible Hand Crack (5.10c)
Susan wrestling with the crux.
Me struggling with Generic Crack (5.10a). This was one of the toughest, longest cracks that i have climbed. got to the top, somehow! bring on the pain (ha ha ha)!
As you can see from the pics, the weather was gorgeous. Back in SLC, the temps were dipping into the 40's, but in IC, daytime highs must have been close to 80. The company was wonderful...we talked about climbing and travel, told bad jokes, and shared some PBR's. we had a fire at night to keep warm and made smores. We saw shooting stars. Gotta love the outdoors.
Posted: Mon - October 30, 2006 at 08:46 AM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2007 11:24 PM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2007 11:24 PM