In my opinion, this is the best climb in Cracked Canyon.  This climb has it all, balance, technique, strength, and great gear.

Follow up a beautiful, blank, right-facing dihedral (with the left side slightly overhanging).  This route bounces around through the first 1/2, sometimes all on the face to the right, most of the time right in the dihedral.

After the lower section is completed, break left (or go straight up for more style points) on a weakness in the dihedral.  Stand on a great rest ledge (pat yourself on the back) plug some pro, and launch into the upper 1/2 of the route for a spicey finish as the entire dihedral becomes overhanging but the holds are good.  This upper section has many nuts and small cam placements.

The climb is twice as long as it looks from the belay ledge, do not be fooled - it's a long pitch.

Superfresh

Fool's Grasp

Where Eagles Dare

Summertime

Limey Peel

Thor

Beginner's Luck

Algebra

Crack of Mind

Salvation

Cello

Tobacco Road

Margin

Where The Wild Things Are

Round The Corner

Roller Skates

Secrets Of Nature

Javelin

Froggy Bottoms

Attica

Genesis

Come On Sun

Chewbacca

Where Are Your Friends?

First Step

Pirouette

Free Box

Chip Off

Teacher's Pet

Exodus

Othello

Third Grade

Bat Splat

Icy Fingers

Orange Peel

Iago

Air Arete

Dog Leg

Bones

Easy Money

Reptilicus (The Crock)

Tick Fever

It seems like hard work getting to this marvelous climb if you don't like talus approaches.  You can see it the whole hike up.  Done in one long pitch, Summertime goes from fingers and gradually widens to hands and bigger to the trees on top, all on excellent rock.  It's a trip, well worth the hike.

Climb a left-arcing hand crack. A devious start with tricky protection leads to jugs and jams with just enough features for your feet.

An excellent and very demanding route.  Hard to figure out how to start, but once you do, keep going!  The bottom 1/2 of this route is very physical and somewhat puzzling in places.  I ended up doing a few very big gastons to deal with the low crux.  Reach a ledge to de-pump and then launch into the less pumpy but still demanding upper section.

This route climbs the left of two wide cracks. There are only a few crack moves as is is very featured. Follow the crack all the way up. There is a 3 bolt anchor with webbing.

Begin just right of

Round The Corner

moving up a bulge and onto a ledge below a roof, the same spot that you bust left on Round The Corner.  Head straight up the roof with some good hand jams and continue up to the top.  As always, watch for loose stuff.

Start straight up the slab, moving toward a vegetated crack.  A small, horizontal crack offers the only protection.  Continue up the crack sytem to the top.  There is a tree right at the top for a rappel.

10 feet left of

Chewbacca

, this is a splitter 6" crack. At first glance this would appear to be an offwidth nightmare. Luckily features can be found both inside and out of the crack both for holds and for gear and offwidth technique isn't needed most of the time. The roof up high looks hard but turns out to be reasonable.

Head up the variety of small crack systems to the right of

Free Box

.  Steep, intricate climbing leads to a small overhang at the top.  A high-quality route with good protection.  Anchors are just above the overhang.

This route shares the bolt anchors with the

Javelin

, 5.11a, which is a beautiful splitter hand crack in an overhanging wall. Cello follows a left-facing corner system to the left of the

Javelin

, which is about 75 feet from the mouth of canyon on the left wall.

The crux start is quite overhanging, and is climbed with a mixture of sidepulls, underclings, and jams.  Fiddling in good gear at the start is tough, so get an idea of the pieces you will need before you start out.  After pulling the bulge with a finger crack, continue up the left-facing corner to a bolt anchor.

This is fun route located just to the left of

Orange Peel

about 400 feet up the canyon on the left.  For some reason, I thought I was on

Orange Peel

at the time, and it sure felt easy for 5.10.

Follow a left-leaning crack with good face/crack moves to a crux bulge.  Clip a piton and back it up with a small RP, since you last gear is way below you. The route finishes with a runout headwall with good holds but poor gear.  You can fish in a #0.3 Camalot, but I did not see any other gear.  Without this piece and considering the rusting piton below you, the route may be "VS".

Rap or lower from the 2 bolt anchor.

Climb up a system of large edges. Pro is ok but not straightforward.

Climb the corner for 40', and continue around the left side of the first sloped roof, then go back right underneath the next roof. Climb straight up onto a fun, exposed, and runout slab with plenty of friction and a cool deep crack tunnel to the right. Top out on some blocks, and head left to the top of the descent gully.

There is no fixed anchors at the top. Building a gear anchor to bring up the second above the final slab is advisable. Then do a second 75' pitch to the left around easy terrain to the top of the gully.

The descent is from a cordelette around a lone tree at the top of the left side of the descent gully. Bring some webbing and/or quicklinks to beef up this anchor, as it is new as of 08/18/15. A single 60m rope rappel reaches the bottom of the gully. Then downclimb 20' of 4th class to reach the base of the route.

Start up a corner on the face just right of

Chewbacca

.  Move up the corner banking right to a roof.  When at the roof, bust left, making wild moves, traversing along a crack with a flake in it.  After turning the corner, make your way up the wide hand and fist crack.  After you top out, you can extend a belay off of bolts located to the right.  It could be a grade harder maybe.

Start on a hand crack just to the left of the big chimney. Continue up, stemming through the small roof feature and up the ledges,edges and cracks.

This is an absolutely amazing route and showcases the best of what climbing in Ophir can be.

Start standing in a bush (seriously), and reach high to a large edge. Pull off the ground, and use a series of good edges to gain a pair of widely spaced, opposing sidepull features. Here, the crux section begins. Amazing compression moves lead to a couple of small crimps and a final layback slam dunk move to a large edge. This section climbs like a long V7/7+ boulder problem and is well-protected by three bolts.

At this point, the hardest climbing is done, but a technical and committing second half awaits. Clip the third and final bolt, and then head up the looming headwall above. This section is only protectable by a single tiny cam.

Eventually you'll gain better holds in a left-angling seam that leads straight to a couple of large ledges and the anchor. You can protect the seam with another very small cam and/or some small nuts. After reaching the large ledges, there is one more bolt to clip before the anchor.

Smile and know you've ticked one of the proudest lines in Ophir.

It is the next step after

Orange Peel

. This route is beautiful and bold. Make bouldery moves right off the ground using awkward holds. You can't place good protection until you've made it about 15 feet. Plug in your first piece, then keep swimming straight up into the perfect handcrack above. The climb overhangs consistently by a few degrees throughout. Arrive at the belay ledge above, and clip the chains. Whew!

Start up the face on good holds with fun climbing for about 15 or 20 feet until protection is possible. Continue up the face and gain a crack system and continue to the bolted anchor.

I say PG-13 because the first pro is a bit high.

Climb up the right-facing dihedral until you reach an overhang, where you climb left and up through to a ramp. Follow the ramp up to the top. It is balancy and very fun!

Alternatively, per

Chris Dickson

: start in a finger crack on the left wall of the chimney (near its entrance). Layback up this crack (or you can stem it out using the other wall of the chimney) until you can pull around left onto the slab. There is good gear throughout this start. Once on the slab, cruise up the crack with some great fingerlocks and hand jams. Follow the crack until you can reach a large block sitting on a ledge (it's solid), then move around the block and to the right, pulling on jugs and sidepulls until you reach the anchor.

Genesis is a fun, easy route that protects well. It is easy to overlap with

Margin

on the right.

Another worthwhile 5.10 in Cracked Canyon.

Cruise up to where the thin hands crack arches left below a left leaning roof/dihedral.  Tricky stem or undercling as you move left here provides the technical crux, with good pro under the roof.  Above, intermittent reachy or thin moves between good stances as you continue straight up.  A couple of wide pods would allow you to get some big gear in, or else, you'll be looking at placements in horizontals or occasionally pinched cracks every 8' or so- never runout- but not always at your nose. A #5 Camalot in a wide water groove about halfway up could be nice. A wide crack finish at the top is easier than it looks.

This climb is easily set for TR after climbing

Chewbacca

or

Dog Leg

, if you have a cordelette or a few slings to extend from the bolted anchor about 6' back from the lip.

This is classic 5.8 - it is a beautiful, left-facing corner a few hundred feet up from the mouth of the canyon on the right hand side directly across from

Orange Peel

.

Climb the obvious corner via both face and crack. There is an awkward section down low, but many consider the roof up high to be the crux. There are bolts on top that can be used to belay your second up, but the descent is from a tree about 15 feet to the right. You will be rapping over

Dog Leg

and

Come On Sun

.

From

Telluride Rocks III:

this is a good toprope. Climb up the middle of the slab to the right of

Pirouette

.

Climb a slightly larger crack/corner system to the right of

Othello

. This has some equally burly moves as

Othello

to start, then it meets up with the final dihedral corner system for

Othello

.

This route is located on the right side of the canyon about 150 feet from the mouth. It climbs an obvious, splitter finger crack in a smooth slab.

This is one of the best 5.7 finger cracks around and a must do for the grade.  Follow the splitter crack for about 50 feet until you do a rising traverse up and to the right.

Rap from the bolt anchor above

Air Arete

, 5.10.

Start this exciting climb on the right side of the arete.  Clip the first bolt, then wrap around the arete to the left, and clip two more bolts.  There, that's the easy part, and all bolt protected.  Next, climb up into the twisted dihedral above, with your last protection well below your feet.  Finally, thin cracks provide protection and substantial handholds.  Keep climbing past ceilings to the anchors.

Start at a groove before the arete at the entrance to the canyon. Climb up and left eventually over to the arete then right on the massive ledge up towards the end of the route. Use the obvious tree up top for an anchor. There are some fun TR variations on this one with climbing all over the face.

Head up the corner just right of the wide crack.  This is the most challenging of the first half-dozen climbs on the right side of the canyon, which are all fairly close together.  A balancy move to a small crimp at the top of the arete makes for a final crux up high.

This is a full-value 5.9.  Head left up the steep, pumpy flake system.  Pull through and into the corner above and to the right.  After you exit the corner, head slightly left through non-descript climbing to the anchor.  Both the corner and the start are challenging.

Climbing up the corner below the overhang is the crux; however, it is easier to stay on the arete just to the left of the corner.

A bit of a sandbag, Bat Splat is tricky and a little heady.  Clip the one bolt, get some thin gear (Aliens/TCUs), and decipher the thin, traversing nature of the route, and head for the top.  Challenging route.  I'm not sure, but it might be 5.10+ in the new guidebook.

Climb the wide-ish crack system, with a few chimney-ish moves enroute to the top.  Pro either the back of the crack, or find ancillary placements on the adjacent faces.  This is nicely sustained with great stances where needed.

Note: This is route #25 in Johnston and Fowler (2005:93), who apparently gave it the incorrect name and rating.  I was informed by a knowledgeable local (who has climbed with Mr. Kees) that this is actually the crack named "Icy Fingers", and is not Limey Peel.  (Apparently, no one knows exactly where Limey Peel really is). And the next crack to the right (#26) is not Icy Fingers, but is a ~5.9 of unknown name.

If anyone knows this information to be in error, let me know and I will amend.

This is the most popular (along with

Chewbacca

) climb in Cracked Canyon - and for good reason. Look for an eye-catching hand and finger crack on the left hand side of the canyon a few hundred feet up from the mouth of the canyon. It is just uphill from

Tobacco Road

and directly across from

Chewbacca

.

Start up steep jugs and crack with rests in between many of the harder moves. At an obvious point about 50 feet up, the jugs and good feet run out and you are left with only a finger crack (the crux) for about 8 feet. Yellow and orange Metolius pieces work well here. Hang tough through this section, and you are rewarded with hand jams and easier climbing with some rests. A bolted anchor is found about 30 feet above the crux on a ledge. There is a rest out left before the crux that lures many over to it. It is somewhat questionable if this is helpful, because the moves back to the crack are awkward. Avoiding the rest is definitely more stylish!

This route starts up a short overhang that gains a large ledge with a bush.  From there, gain the thin crack above.  Now about 20 feet up, the rock becomes more solid.  Climb along the thin crack transfering into another to the right as you move up.  Gain a large ledge and move up into a short crack system that is more solid than it looks. Top out and belay the second.  There are ample placements along the way, but I think some cam placements could be bad news if it caught a fall, so be aware!

This route is located on the right side of the canyon about 150 feet from the mouth.  It shares anchors with

Pirouette

and is probably best done as a TR after climbing this route.  Follow the obvious arete to the right of the smooth slab with the splitter finger crack.

Just downhill from

Chewbacca

, you will find a good crack with a distinctive angle (dog leg) about halfway up. Climb up the left hand side of a small pillar and gain the crack above. Climb this through the awkward, wide, dog leg portion and to easier ground above. The climb ends at a tree with slings which is the descent for many of the climbs in this area.

The crux is the first 30 feet in the hand crack. It is strenuous. There is another cruxy move at the top.

Climb up the crack system with many ledges on the face for help.

Fight your way up the dihedral with very large hand to fist jams using every technique possible:  offwidthing, jamming, chimneying, stemming, etc.  This is the physically demanding section.  Get a great rest on a ledge, finish out the dihedral, and then break right on a short ramp/arete, pull the easy roof, and trend back out left on an obvious flake and climb up easier ground to the anchors above.  This pitch has it all!

Excellent, trad, sport route. You place some gear and clip some bolts, there is an early crux where you leave the crack/groove and grab some great incut edges, then return to the crack, dribble in some gear step up and clip another bolt, then an unter-grabben to some crimps (late crux), stand up and try to get a piece in the flare or with only another body length to go...maybe just punch it.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Cracked Canyon