Crux: Gaining the arete and running bolts 1 and 2. This is a sporty fun climb with nice U.P. exposure.   Lead fall decker potential if your belayer is not fully engaged.

Rated P.G.

Cosmic Slab

Brown Eyed Woman

Lip Traverse

Obsession

Thunder Chicken

The Grinder

J.C. Superstar

Ice Fall

Catholic Girls

Shit Hooks

Bolete

Bubblewrap Grips

Brookside Crack

Dog Bowl

Stoned Cold Liar (AKA Old Dirty Bastard)

Porcupine

Stupid Human Tricks

Free To Roam Tower

Faceless Wander

Attack of the Killer Bees

Yooper Trooper

God Jam'it

Cosmic Charlie

Birch Polypores

Eggshells

Dandruff

Thunder Chicken Express

Three Roofs

Last Call For Alcohol

Obsession Direct

Lie Detector

Patina Crimp Pinch

Tip Toes

Mossy Overhang

Batteries Not Included

Rope-burn

dead collector

Twenty-year-old Trembling

Hot off the thumbpress

Off-Kilter

Off the Scale

Prow

Tobacco Road

Exothermic

Starts on the left face in the chimney.  Move left at the horizontal groove to gain the headwall above a desperate precipice.

Start with a high foot and press down with the right hand. Stand up, and repeat on several slopey ledges to reach the top. Best friction slab I've found in the U.P.

An easy out for Killer Bees up a small crack on the left side of the face.  Good first lead.

Start from the ledge (15' above the ground) at the bottom of the lower slab. Head up right or left. Head past the small overhang and then the big one. Piton (if still remaining) was placed in 1981.

Start left hand on crimp seam and right hand on crimp gaston using poor feet of choice. Make your way through a couple crimpy moves and a greasy pinch into first jug. Then follow the obvious seam and a powerful move into the next jug followed by intricate movement at the top requiring creative body positions focused around a sidepull with a circular indent within the main seam. Finish on solid slopers over the lip. One of the areas most classic lines, a must do. Best conditions found in late spring or fall when the rock is dry.

Fight the steep offwidth to the first ledge, then transfer into the traversing finger crack, then fight your way up the long offwidth to the top.  Rap down gully, no anchors.  

Nice face climb perched above the forests of da U.P. eh! Cracks and ledges help your way. Variations on this one.

Slab climbing Keweenaw style! No real crux. Fun warm up climb.  

*Ice climbing in the past on Ice Fall (go figure) when the conditions are right.

Second slab as you hike in on the trail. Dished face climb.

Off-width to the right of Obsession. Head through the roof.

Two hand start on the bottom horizontal crack at the nose of this boulder. Utilize the top horizontal crack and the chossy looking growth on the right to straddle and climb straight up the nose. Some nice big moves get you to an easy mantle up top. Walk off to the left of this route.

Sit start on two crimps and work the compression feature on bubble wrap holds. Top out, and then top out again. Great rock quality and clean. Given a generic name because I'm sure it has been climbed before.

Lowball boulder. Start on the crack and crimp to the left. Move up through the crack and top out.

Two hand start on the middle point of the bottom horizontal crack. Move straight up utilizing the above horizontal crack, slant cracks, and nice sloped lip up to a mantle top out. There's a big dish at the top you can use to help mantle but be warned, it collects water in wetter conditions. Walk off on the left side of the climb. 

Up and slanting right then straight and then left to the anchors. Crux is 15-20 ft. before the anchors, the holds thin somewhat and you make a right to left move upward. Look for a block with a neutral grip.

Two hand start on the left side of the bottom horizontal crack. Move up and to the left utilizing the top crack and sharp slopers covered in iron inclusions (they can rip up your finger pads. Great grip!) to a mantle top out. Walk off on the left side of the climb.

This route starts straight up from below the headwall of Exotermic through the triangular roof.  It is the farthest to the left on this face.  The next route to the left is around the corner on Obsession face and that route name is Clavin's project.

A large tower/buttress coming out of the wall just to the northeast of the ice falls area.  Good protection every 10-15 feet, variety of gear sizes needed.  Top rope access extremely difficult/impossible.  Excellent learner piece for first time leaders.  Can top out by traversing the top of the tower back to the wall and climbing the sides of a very steep, scree filled gully.  Climb the gully walls, not the gully itself, as it is NOT STABLE and has FATAL FALL potential.

The most northerly climb in the Obsession area, just north of Catholic girls.  A face with deceptively small holds.  Stick to the right side.  All balance.

Good crack up to small roof.  Deceptively few holds coming over.  Cracks can be difficult to protect due to flare.

Start as low as possible sitting on the inner boulder with hands on right rail and feet hooked on left rail. Compress and climb right rail till you can span the boulder.  Continue to the point of the prow, and rock over the top with solid right heel.  

Climb up the left side of the block and gain the horizontal right-left tending crack. Move right all the way to the end and exit onto the face above.

Start left hand on sidepull to the right of obvious jug rail and right hand on crimp gaston to the left of the arete. Pull a move into the crimp just above you, then work the arete to the crux at the top. Use intricate balance/mantle beta or huck for the mega jug at the top to reach the topout.

Obvious & fun right leaning crack into crux arete finish to solid top ledge. Solve the mystery of which holds are actually good on the arete. 

Start with left hand on low sidepull, and right in a shallow pocket. Work up obvious seam before traversing right on slopey edges, and throw right for the jug. Good movement on cool holds, tricky but not bad with the right beta.Too nice of a line to not have been done before, but I gave it a name anyways cause it deserves one. Reach out with FA or original name.

On the face directly below the large, woodpecker ridden red pine.  Large flakes and a good crack.  Very juggy, good for beginners.

Start on the same corner jug that is shared with Bolete then traverse right through the obvious sloped crease that meets up with Thunder Chicken direct. Perform the same crux finish as shared with the direct version toping out on slopers over the lip. If you don't like crimps do this alternate version that skips over the crimpy start. Just as fun as the direct line of Thunder Chicken but adds something extra. Like Thunder Chicken, a must climb area classic. Best conditions in late spring or fall when the rock is less humid.

Straight up the dirty slab to the first roof, pull to the easy slab above.  Angle left up this slab to the left corner under the orange second roof.  Reach out and ascend the bomber flake up to the mantle.  A "thank god" ledge gives you time to sort out the small nuts needed to protect the crux (with bomber placements at your heals) which is the move out right around the 3rd roof.  Get established on the slab above and cruise to the treeded ledge.  At this point you need to choose where to stop.  This is the natural end to the climb and a bomber white pine anchor, but one rope will not get you down, and the pull from the tree is really tough and barely doable  (will be replacing webbing and rap rings.)  Or, you can continue up  the buttress on an easy featured slab and anchor on the white pine about 40' higher.  The rope will pull much easier from this tree.  There is no 4th class approach from either side of the buttress to toprope this route or walk down.  Sometimes has Perrigrine falcons nearby, so avoid if nesting perigrines are giving you the flyby.

Start up a flat featureless slab for the first 20 ft.  Hug the right side arete, as that's where most of your initial protection can be found.  Pull over a small roof/shelf and work your way left to two obvious large crescent shaped cracks.  Balancy to the top.

Head left from the lower ledge and up the arret and over the headwall. One bolt after the headwall?

Begin on the leaning slab and in the crack. Crux is pulling the roof. Finish 10-15 ft. after the roof.

Start right hand on patina crimp pinch. Left hand on slopey horizontal or in crack. Move left through good edges. Has potential for a lower start, but is scrunchy. Given a generic name because I'm sure it has been done before.

Squat start on sloping crimp rail with terrible feet. Pull through to holds trending toward prow. Top out on moss covered holds (needs a good scrub). Given a generic problem name because I'm sure it has been climbed before. Obvious line with hard opening moves. It's even hard to establish on the start hold. Stand start is about V4.

Two pitch route, or make it one. Fun little cruiser climb.

The start is slanted and getting on this climb can prove interesting. The crux pretty much the whole climb. Climb the underclung flake/crack system up and tending left then finishing on slopers up and right. Rope-burn is a great boulder problem-ish climb which needs a TR, or 9-plus crash pads.  

Be aware of the run of your rope on TR.* 

Sit start under the small roof using shallow pocket to start. Move in and left through good crimps. Pull the roof to the shallow edge, don't use lose sharp left lip. Traverse right on obvious edge to top on the right ridge.   Flat landing with one sharp rock. 

Start with both hands on the sloper ledge as shown in the image. Follow the line to the awkward and slabby topout. As of right now, the first ascent believed to be Dane Dingman in summer of 2020. Let me know what you think of it!

Left hand start in a low triangle right pulling crimp, right hand off to the right on a slopey crimp. Cross over and work your way up the splitter cracks to sideways crimp at the top. Keep an eye out for a potential thumbpress. Finish on a good ledge. V1 for tall people, slightly harder for shorter folks. 

Sit for starting position with both hands either on the obvious rail or pinch jug on the arete. Make your way up the arete while fighting the barndoor using cool pinches and crimps in awkward positions. Fight for jug crimp at the top. This boulder is harder than it looks and will make you wish you had feet where you don't. Crux might just be pulling the first move as you fight the tendency to barndoor and fall back off the angled face. Multiple sessions might be required to work out the beta. If you're crazy, you might just find yourself enjoying this quality line in the end. 

Tough overhanging face. Watch the pendulum and lead fall potential.

This one is fun, but the ending is kind of lame because you can exit on the slab. There is a potential dyno just left of this Arete. The top would need some scrubbing. Given a generic name beause im sure it has been climbed before.

The rating varies from 5.4 to 5.9 (left to right) on this face of cracks. Left of J.C. Superstar. Great setting for Cliff Dr. Lower from the belay tree and make the climb two pitches.

Secluded, 20-150+ ft. grey basalt cliff outcroppings. Awesome climbing experience in the isolated Keweenaw Peninsula. Great beginner crags and a handful of classics for the seasoned vet. Be aware of the private property boundaries along Cliff Drive. Watch for poison ivy and ticks. These two nasties are not pervasive but present. Loose dogs can get skunked, porcupined, or picked up by the sheriff. Some of the approaches and/or climbs might be vegetated due to a lack of traffic. Fall colors are amazing. Hopefully the Aurora Borealis will put on a show if you're camping in the Keweenaw.

 *Guidebook for this area exists - Published in the past by Michigan Technological University - Ridge Roamers Climbing Club; "Climber's Guide to the Keweenaw".

 *If someone is/knows the First Ascent parties please contact Big-Time-Small-Timer.

 There are approximately 66 known and documented routes at Cliff Drive.

 Areas are listed in order as you would come across them driving northeast along Cliff Dr.

 - Ice Fall Area (19 routes) - Diamond Block (3 routes) - Overkill Roof (Unknown) - Brave Words Block (2 routes) - Free to Roam Block (1 route) - J.C. Area (17 routes) - Obsession Area (20 routes) - Tower Area (4 routes)

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Cliff Dr. - Keweenaw County