Hot Chocolate is one of the best 5.12s in the canyon! A trivial start leads to some hard crimping on patina plates. Pull the big move to the huge hueco, and keep it together through the thin upper crux. This sports new ASCA glue-ins and Mussy hook anchors as of April 2019.

Hot Chocolate

Team Geritol

Baby Bun Right

Ya Hoo Serious

U2RNXS

Court Jester

The Killer Pillar

Palming the Porcupine

Ned's Highball aka Cyclops

Lycra-Phobia

Come A Time

Bust A Move

Who Dunnit Crack

The Terror

California Crack

Feet, Don't Fail Me Now

Hanging Garden

Static Cling

Ryan's Frightmare (Big Jim)

Do the Right Thing

My Kids Climb

Wallrus

28 K

Honeycomb

Fine Young Cannibals

The Bottom Line

The Reckoning

Ligneous Embracer

Time in Disguise

No Honor Amongst Theives

Jeremy

The Shield of Achilles

Big Brett the Baker's Buddy

The Garden

Jugalicious

Super Crack

Unknown

I+CN'?

Pantalones Perdidos

Just Do It

You're Busted

Delusions of Grandeur

Copacetic

Pick Pocket

Crack House

Ninos y Viejos

Slapstick

Scratch 'n' Sniff

Double Trouble

Pardon My French

Pumping Pockets

Cetus

Darla Does Buckwheat

Gun Control

It's a Schu-in

Rude Mood

Time Bandit

Fed Ex

Buffalo Chips

Rocky Mountain Oysters

Just Say No to Nancy

Organic Gardening

Otto

Slinky + Escalator

Penal Code

Pick Pocket is a classic mixed climb for the SLV. Climb past one bolt to reach a large ledge underneath the pocketed face with a small finger crack above. A hard boulder problem on pockets leads to a few more difficult moves protected by gear in the small crack. The gear is pretty bad until you get above the second horizontal crack.

This is a super-fun, easy, fairly long, frictiony face, with a great position in the canyon.  A hard start can be bypassed on the right. This is Route #19 in D'Antonio's guides (1999:36 and 1994:20).  The name of the route is sadly misspelled in the 1999 guidebook.

Baby Face Right has thin face climbing marred by the poor anchor situation. As of September 2019, there is no hanger on either anchor bolt, and the 3 bolts on route are old enough to be sketchy. Proceed with caution for now. This would be a reasonable, if short, warm-up if the hardware is replaced.

While I didn't climb it, this climb's twin, Baby Bun Left, also appears to have a suboptimal anchor and bolting situation.

Start out on nice rock and turns chossy at the crux. My partner pulled off six holds from the crux.

Per

Wes O'Rourke

: balancy and slopey climbing brings you to the third bolt and the start of the "business". The wall steepens as you enter some amazing pockets and crimp rails. Punch it through the bouldery crux, and crimp your way up to the anchor!

A tenuous boulder problem on small holds gets you to the first jug hueco. Pull on small pockets (crux) to reach the steep section that leads to the crack.

U2RNXS is called the "longest and strangest climb in the Rock Garden" in D'Antonio's book.  I'm not sure it's strange, but it is long for a Penitente climb.  It does have a variety of different moves on some cool rock though.

To find it, head right from where the Rock Garden access trail ends.  The climb is on the left near the mouth of the canyon.

The start has a balancy traverse left, then head up using a system of huge huecos past several clips.  The crux comes at you two bolts before the anchor - a crimpy section through a bulge.

10 feet right of

The Reckoning

is a corner with beautiful, white rock. This is Court Jester. Right now it is a scary 2 bolt climb (with BAD bolts), but I am planning on fixing this route. It has good rock with good stemming. If you want to top rope, it you can through my brand new anchor on

The Reckoning

.

Bear hug the steep pillar on some sweet holds. If you cheat left into the chimney, you'll be rewarded with bat guano. When the angle eases, cruise the crimp ladder to the top.

This was named after a dead porcupine found at the base of the route. It has great technical climbing.

Climb straight up the face through the obvious "Cyclops" holes to a highball topout.

Bob originally put this up on gear and 1 pin.  The route goes up the crack system and tops out right. The anchors on the left is Lycra-Phobic, 5.13b

Climb past 4 bolts up blank arete. This is super technical, but it has a couple powerful moves in the mix.

Across the canyon from

U2RNXS

is a sweet looking pillar/fin. This route climbs the face for a few bolts then the best part, the overhanging arête at the top! This route is rated 5.12a/b in the guide, but it felt way harder, like .12c, but maybe I missed something. The position at the top portion of the route is unbeatable. Not sure what to say about that "anchor", it is a mess.

Climb clean .5/.4 corner crack that start in a flared roof.

The anchor is all the way at the top of the formation on the left side of the chimney.

Start just right of

Otto

climbing excellent pockets up great rock. Originally a 2 bolt climb, this is now well-protected with 4 bolts. It is one of the best .11s in The Garden.

This is a trad-protected route that has a diverse set of holds (flakes, pockets, edges, etc.).  There didn't really seem to be a well-defined crux.  Some poor quality rock at the top detracts from the overall aesthetics of the route.  Otherwise, this is a stellar line.

This is the first 5.11 established in the SLV. It is a beautiful crack climb that rarely gets climbed. A hard to protect crux mantel at the first piece makes this route committing and a bit spicy. Pull the hard mantel, and enjoy crack climbing from fingers into the wide chimney up high.

There is a hard move past the 1st bolt, then it is still sustained, thin edging/slabbing to the anchors.

This is supposedly an electric climb.

It is on SLVCA's long bolt replacement list.

Climb a fun, overhanging start on jugs into the scoop to a heady finish.

Climb the low angle corner to gain the green lichen covered slab up high. Watch the clips and the slight runout to bolt three. Use all of your slab skills to dance up the great holds to the anchors. Check out the top down

photo

.

This is a really nice slab route with the crux getting past the third bolt.

A short face climb in a nice little secluded side canyon.  Not remarkable, but worth doing to warm up. This is Route #85 in D'Antonio (1999:46), although no topos are in the guide book.

Getting past the first bolt on sharp small holds is the crux. This has great climbing all the way to the anchor.

Bouldery start to sweet huecos and a couple of optional hand jams up top. Stick clip recommended.

This shares a 4th bolt and anchors with the Unknown Glen Schuler route, 5.10d, to its left.

This is a nice warm-up for the area.

Immediately left of

Darla

and on the adjacent buttress, FYC climbs up steep terrain on a system of near perfect edges. The climbing is continuous and fairly relentless for the grade. It seemed as though every move was close to 5.11 and the cruxes start coming at you right off the ground. FYC comes highly recommended for the good stone, continuity, and relentless evolution of sequences.

The crux may be getting off the ground, but the whole route is thin, sustained, and fun.

This route shares the same slab start as

The Terror

, but where the wall turns steep, The Reckoning climbs the beautiful prow 15 feet right of

The Terror

. A tricky sequence up perfect pockets on perfect rock gains the anchors. There are no sharp holds on this one!

As far as locating the route, the best I can suggest is approaching from Penitente and looking straight ahead as you enter Rock Garden proper.  As a 5.9 leader, my eyes went straight to the route - a steep slab & rather long route for the area.

The start can be made a bit easier by staying in the left hand groove / crack in order to clip the first (and second?) bolt(s).  Trust your feet & keep moving up.  This is very fun and fairly sustained.  It is a great reason to hike into the Rock Garden & start exploring.

Time in Disguse has cool stemming up a black water groove to a crux move near the top.

From the

Super Crack

and

Slinky + Escalator

, walk west ~200 yards till you find an overhanging refrigerator. This is No Honor, it starts sitting belie the roof and climbs the roof via narrow compression.

This is a short, crimpy route left of

Ligneous Embracer

(there is 1 route between them). It climbs the dark overhang via pockets and crimps with the crux right at the top. I thought it was great.

This is a nice V7 boulder problem on pinches and crimps. After you crank the boulder problem, you're "home free" or whatever that means. It's like 5.11 from 2nd bolt to the anchor. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad this route actually has an anchor, but the anchor is in a strange spot. This is a worth doing route because of the cool holds at the start.

A short face climb in a nice little secluded side canyon. Not remarkable, but it is a fairly easy 5.9, and worth doing to warm up. This is Route #84 in D'Antonio (1999:46), although no topos are in the guide book.

Climb a crack system past a series of vegetated ledges.

Jugalicious is just left of the

Copasetic

dihedral.  It begins off the ledge system 25' above the trail at a single-bolt anchor.  Step out left and up the pocketed wall to a roof.  Pull this with an undercling and a crimp - harder if you're short.

This is not in the Rock Garden proper, it is on the hillside filled with boulders just west of the RG parking. This is the awesome, highball splitter with the gnarly rock in the landing.

Start up a slab and left-leaning crack to a slight bulge. Power through the bulge, alternating between the crack and sweet crimps, sidepulls, and pockets on the face, then trend back to the right through the crux and up to the chains.

It is a good warm-up.

This easy warm-up ascends a short buttress. This is Route #87 in D'Antonio (1999:46-47).

Fire up the steep face with the crux coming gaining the obvious dish.

This climb ascends a big, overhanging prow with huge glue ins and chipped pockets. It has good stone but has had some abuse and neglect.

This is a really nice climb, that deserves more traffic.  Take a line of edges and pockets past the initial face into a scoop.  The scoop is a nice place to take a breath before tip toeing up to the lightly pocketed wall above.

Coming out of the cave just right of

Buffalo Chips

is a very steep line that begins on huge lay-away jugs; this is Delusions, and is aptly named (at least for some of us). Continuous and powerful flake climbing for three bolts leads out of the cave and into gonad-land. This climb is a bit weird in the sense that the pro is so reasonable where the climbing is powerful, but gets really sparse where the climbing gets technical. It is possible to pre-clip a long sling from the bolt above the cave, and this seems very desirable since the run-out comes close on the heels of very pumpy climbing. Pull out of the cave onto a short very technical grey face with reachy moves on good stone. Subsequently, a good horizontal stance can be negotiated via a sizeable pocket. This is followed by more thin edge climbing on near perfect rock. This route might deserve three stars, as consensus demands. The rock coming out of the cave is a bit dubious, but it has held up over the years and may only look as though it will break away. Otherwise, expect excellent climbing, powerful, and pretty scary in the middle - if it is done without pre-placing the draw.

Copacetic heads up a left-facing corner with huecos and fun stems.  It is located on a piece of rock that is fairly far up-canyon in the Rock Garden - beginning on a ledge 25 feet above the trail.

Crack House has a very high first bolt, but it's fairly secure ~5.10 movement to the first clip. Watch for the deck potential between 1st and 2nd bolt.

With blessing from the first ascensionists, SLVCA may add a safety bolt between bolt 1 and 2 after feedback from climbers as to the groundfall potential. Reach out at

slvclimb.org

.

This is not bad climbing, but it is wandering and discontinuous.  Nevertheless, it is a fun warm-up.  Two climbs to the left of the obvious dihedral that is

Copacetic

, Ninos y Viejos begins right off the trail as opposed to the ledge system higher up.

The rock quality gets better up higher. This has technical arete climbing.

Start under the bulge, then move into the horizontal crack. Follow the crack around to the right, use the face some, and then move up left onto the bulge, finishing with moves up high on hollow grips.

Climb through the unique, fish scale underclings to arrive at the bulgy crux. Pull the insecure and sequential crux to gain the upper seam. Fun and continuous seam climbing (5.11 seam crux) will get you to the anchor.

Climb a bouldery start and nice slab on sweet rock to funky, hueco face just to the right of

Organic Gardening

.

This climb is left of

Fine Young Canibals

. It starts off a fat ledge with a high first bolt. This route has good rock and interesting moves, BUT there [was] no anchor, and topping it out [was] no fun. I post this route as a warning, that bailer is on 3rd bolt for a reason.

Per

Wes O'Rourke

: this route is now well protected with a lower first bolt. It climbs the clean wall on perfect pockets all the way! This thing is on you the whole time, so stay focused and crank the continuous moves all the way to the new ASCA anchor.

This is the super sweet, overhanging arete 10 yards up the hill from

No Honor Amongst Thieves

. It starts on the lowest holds you can grab (as a mortal) and climbs directly up the arete.

Shortly before the second drainage coming in from the right is a pair of buttresses with a dark channel between them. Darla climbs the edge of the right of the two buttresses. Excellent and interesting climbing with good continuity leads to a complex sequence that will dump the climber rightward to run the arete for a short way. This is followed by a very interesting and technical slab with as much exposure as you can get on a short cliff. Darla is a fine line and well worth the run. Good continuity, good stone, and excellent pro.

Start on top of a boulder.  Grab small holds and pull.  There is a hand crack out left after the second bolt.

There are continuous crux moves on this short route. It is fun and well worth the effort. It sports new ASCA bolts and Mussy hook anchors as of 2019.

Perhaps it is stretching to post three stars for Rude Mood, but this route is a personal favorite of mine.

A couple of hundred feet past the second drainage is a chocolate colored buttress that is carved out as something of an inset that is part of a left-facing corner system.

Start climbing in the slot on the right and try not to stem too much. There are good hands deep in the slot that allow you to move upwards without the stem, however, the stem is almost too logical to be avoided and it is a toss-up as to how much it affects the over-all grade. It is also highly rationale to bail out right on a ledge system at 30 feet for a complete rest. To keep up the continuity, avoid the rest. Tricky and fingery climbing puts you back on the face for 35 more feet of continuous edge climbing.

Fairness would drop a star for the possibility of steming off the ground and resting at mid point. Nonetheless, this route is too cool to lose any points - analogous to the beautiful coed begging for grades, who can refuse?  You can cheapen the date a bit further by scrambling over the top to toss a TR on Dr. Duane on the adjacent left buttress. Three stars for the cool moves, thin and technical edging, continuity, good stone, and well reasoned pro.

The crux is passing the third bolt. This has good slab climbing and excellent protection.

Nice thin face climbing, with crimps and slopey un-huecos, lead to a cool bulge that will suck you into being harder than it needs to be. It's pretty easy to lead past the 5.6, to TR this and

The Bottom Line

.

Just before the first prominant drainage system from the right is a blocky formation with a classic long slab. Buffalo Chips runs the middle of the slab in 70 feet of fine, technical smearing with a bulgy crux shortly before the anchor. This line offers some of the best moderate climbing in the canyon and is recommended for anyone getting started on the sharp end or working through the numbers game.

This is a so-so route with one little hard move down low.  It is mainly a decent place to hang out in some shade, have fun, and climb these 2 moderate lines with inexperienced or out of shape friends.

Just Say No to Nancy has steep, well-protected climbing right off the deck that leads to a crux at 2/3 height and transitions to lower angle terrain and a little slabe to the coldshuts.

It is a fun route and is worth doing.

A wide start leads to splitter fingers with an occasional hand jam pod to rest. Place great pro, and fire the crux bulge to a bolted anchor. If you're solid at the grade, a #5 is not necessary for the start but would certainly make things feel more casual.

This three bolt route stands out on great looking rock on the Spearman Ranch side of the Rock Garden (a few climbs to the left of

Team Geritol

).  The first bolt is about 15' off the ground, but there is a ledge you can scramble up to and make an easy first clip.  The climbing is tricky, so use your feet as the hueco pockets aren't as positive as they look from the ground.

This is the roof climb 50 yards west of

Super Crack

. It starts standing with a few easy moves to a crimp rail, make a big throw to the ledge, and then head slightly left for a proper topout.

Penal Code has a high first bolt - a stickclip recommended. Begin with a bouldery start to a good finger crack, gain the ledge, and continue up the "shaft" of the route.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Rock Garden