Routes in United States of America for selected grade

An exceptionally popular easy route up the central buttress between the two arch features. For such a popular route the climbing isn't actually that great, with lots of rambly 4th class pitches to start, an unavoidable aid move, and some mungy bits as well. The climb is also quite linear, especially up high, so passing slower parties or climbing parallel to them isn't particularly easy.

1. 5.6 100ft Chimney. There are several variant starts, most of which are better than this pitch.

2. 5.4 200ft Walk right along ledge to short crack (5.4).

3. 4th 200ft Continue right along ledge.

4. 5.6 100ft Crack on face.

5. 3rd 200ft Continue right along ledge until it ends.

6. 5.6 or 5.7 100ft Up cracks (5.7), or the exposed corner further right (5.6) to dead pine tree (lots of belay options).

7. 5.6 150ft Up cracks and blocks (optional belay) then up sandy pin-scarred groove.

8. 5.6 100ft Sustained jamming to tree.

9. 5.6 100ft Easy offwidth trench to lovely cracks.

10. 5.4 100ft Blocks to A0 pendulum (goes free at 5.10c - slick water polished slab). Move left along ledge system to base of next corner.

11. 5.7 100ft Flake and tree, then step left around major arete.

12. 5.6 165ft 2 corners to belay at tree.

13. 5.5 100ft Angle up and left with tricky pro.

14. 4th 100ft Continue angling up and left on slab to rappel bolts. The rappel route starts here.

15. 5.4 150ft Exposed horizontal slabbing left to trees. Rim is 300ft above here.

Bolts replaced in 1992.

This classic route is short but sweet. It offers great hand crack action while still having plenty of face holds for the non-crack-initiated (great learning spot!). Bolted anchors easily accessed via the Dirty Chimney.

Warning: The first 20 feet of this climb offers tricky protection and have sent many an unprepared climber to hospital.

Well deservedly popular route. Crack starts as fingers, grows to fists by the end. Footholds at the bottom are very polished, and the opening moves bouldery. The gear placement is great, the moves are nice, it's easy enough for newbies to try and hard enough for experienced folk to enjoy. Short, but hits the sweet spot. Bolted anchors can be easily accessed via the dirty chimney.

1. 130ft (5.7) Jam up the right-facing dihedral with insecure footholds on slick, polished rock. Belay at the tree.

2. 50ft (3rd class) Scramble up 3rd class to a large manzanita at the base of a wide crack.

3. 80ft (5.6) Wide crack climbing leads to face climbing. Continue up and right to belay at an alcove on a ledge.

4. 130ft (5.5) Easy slab climbing leads to a large ledge.

5. 80ft (5.6) Easy slab climbing on knobs leads to crux liebacking up a flake. Continue up to another large ledge and belay at the tree.

6. 90ft (5.6) Follow the crack up and right. Belay from cracks atop the buttress. A fun 5.8 alternate finish follows the thin flakes and broken cracks up left before traversing back right across the steepest rock directly below the summit.

Walk off descent with short 3rd and 4th class exposure. Retreat earlier by rappelling with 2 ropes or escaping left atop pitch 4.

Pro to 2".

One of the most climbed routes in North America: Almost no approach, 350 feet of moderate crack climbing and all day shade.

Up, step over the gap, up trending right, then traverse left along the edge, up left of the anchors, then reach right to clip the anchors.

Located in the leftmost dihedral of the five open books area, this route begins with a 4th class scramble up to a bush. Then it's two or three pitches of varied climbing with corners, cracks, friction slab, and a bulge. Be careful of loose rock at the top, and consider belaying from the trees to the right instead of the left. Walk off left to descend with an optional single rope rappel.

Seemingly intimidating from afar, the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak is a beautiful 5 pitch route filled with lovely moderate climbing.

A must do when in Tuolumne, Cathedral Peak can become quite crowded, fortunately the climbing offers many ways to navigate around other parties, at least down low (up high the face narrows, and parties tend to get bottlenecked).

One of the most popular multi-pitch routes at Red Rocks due, at least in part, to large comfortable belay ledges the whole way. Can be rappelled on one 70m rope with a bit of 4th class down-climbing, or with two ropes.

Starts below an obvious left-slanting crack.

1. 150' 5.5 - Climb the left slanting crack, skip the optional belay at 90', up a wider crack to a ledge, then continue up the crack to another ledge. Bolted anchors are a few yards out to the right.

2. 50' 5.5. Hike right along the ledge, boulder up to the next ledge, and up gentle slabs to a steeper wall. Re-belay from here, then up steepish black wall to a small overhang, the up a left-facing corner to a ledge with trees. End on a belay off a small group of trees.

3. 120' 5.6. Start up 4th class terrain about 15' to a small ledge, climb a thin crack in the varnished face left of a small corner to a small roof, traverse left under the roof to another crack that continues upwards, and up this to a ledge with a large block on it. Belay off slings around the large block.

4. 50' 5.3. Traverse right and a bit down to a ledge with a crack above it and anchors.

5. 110' 5.6. Climb the crack, past a bolt to run-out 5.5 terrain to the anchors. Most people end here at the anchor and rappel.

Starts where the ledge turns into a ramp up to the right.

Start just left of the big boulder. Up the face to the corner system, pass it mostly on the left, then go right again to the anchors.

1. From a small clearing with slopping blocky section which includes a small semi-detached pillar, aim for the fixed 3x bong anchor.

2. Traverse right to the bolted belay/rap anchor, the bigger horizontal crack holds gear, but it's also the best thing to use as a ramp for your feet... can be very spooky/exposed/run-out.

3. Head straight up the face, pulling the large flakes, up the corner with the tree, belay with natural pro on the ledge.

4. Go straight up from the little cave and do a balancy move to the left flake, head up the easiest path, past a 2 tree doulble ledge and up a ramp to the left up to the base of aireation buttress.

For a safer second traverse: trail a second rope or use doubles and merge pitch 2 and 3 together, only using a single rope after passing the last piece of pro at the beginning of the traverse, run this rope on the left side of the tree when climbing the chimney on pitch 3, this way, you can better protect your second across the traverse.

Goes up 3 bolts to anchors beside trees.

The bolts that continue above the anchor are "Rubicon".

Climb the blunt corner below the railway ties, easier if you go around the corner to the left at times, more difficult (maybe 5.8) straight up the bolts.

The right-most bolted route, about half-way up the ramp.

dangerous traverse P1- difficult to protect, polished- source: Falcon Guide

Pro to 2".

P1: start on scrubby vertical arête with lots of features and a crack for pro. Follow crack past small roof to ledge. P2: Move right to steep corner crack and continue to top. Rap station is on the backside, to the right.

The easiest route up Devils Tower and likely the most climbed route up the tower. Newer crack climbers often struggle, frequently insisting it's severely sandbagged.

This climb is best recognized by the right-leaning pillar on the left flank of the south face.

Approach: from the parking lot, go up the paved trail and take the branch that goes counter-clockwise around the tower. Walk along the path until you encounter a pair of metal viewing tubes. Follow the obvious climbers trail until it reaches the cliff, at the base of the "bowling alley".

There are a number of variations to exactly where the climb starts, and how the pitches are counted. The following seems to be a common choice:

1. 5.5 Climb one of a number of cracks up to a bolted anchor (80 ft), sling this with a long runner, then traverse left on 4th class terrain to a tree below the base of the leaning pillar. Belay off the tree or build a gear anchor on a comfortable ledge below the tree. (Some split the traverse into a seperate pitch.)

2. 5.6 (70ft) Leaning Column -- Climb up to the base of the leaning then up the left side of the pillar to a bolted anchor.

3. 5.7 (70ft) Durrance Crack -- Climb up a pair of cracks to another bolted anchor atop a pillar. Often combined with the Leaning Column.

4. 5.6 (30ft) Cussin' Crack -- Climb the off-width to a small ledge, then traverse right and up an easy short crack to the next ledge and another bolted anchor.

5. 5.5 (40ft) Flake Crack -- Climb the flake-filled crack to an off-width finish to another bolted anchor on another bid ledge. Often combined with Cussin' Crack.

6. 5.5 (40ft) Chockstone Crack -- Climb up the chockstone-filled chimney to a steep finish over a chockstone boulder. And, guess what, another bolted belay on another good ledge.

7. There are two popular finishing options:

   1. Jump Traverse to Meadows Finish
      1. 5.8 or 5.6 A0. Climb down and right from the ledge, then traverse rightwards on a thin horizontal crack, until you can step down across a large gap to a flat ledge. Continue along the huge ledge and build a belay. (Grab the piton to make the step-across easier.)
      2. 3rd class. Hike pretty far rightwards along the Meadows, occasionally climbing downwards to a lower section of trail. A pair of pillars -- the right of which is taller than the left -- sit just right of the bottom of the Meadows rappel. Do not climb up here unless you love lichen, loose rock, poor pro, and hiding pigeons.
      3. 5.2 (100ft) Climb the chimney then easy slabs to the top.
   2. Bailey Direct 5.8- (150ft) -- There are options up and left of the belay. One is to climb into a chimney past a rotten piton and some moderate face climbing. Whatever you do, keep your eyes open for a two-bolt anchor.

Often just climbed to the rap anchor on the ledge.

Bolted Anchors. 70 m rope to rap down.

Good beginner granite crack. Don't take it for granted, requires solid jamming skills to tame the grade down to 5.7 and has some thin feet. If you know what your doing though this is an excellent warmup with a nice chimney as second pitch option which is only done by every second party or so. Chimney protects with midrange cams in a series of horizontal cracks to emerge onto a short face climb to reach the anchors. The crack pitch is ice but this gets stars only if you also do the Chimney pitch.

A superb sustained route at the grade (5.7+). Very popular, due to bolted anchors, ability to be rappelled on single 70m rope, and very good climbing with generally solid protection.

Start below the left-most of 2 obvious long cracks the split the lower part of the varnished buttress left of the corner that Spectrum climbs to the roof 60ft up. This is a few yards above a huge boulder that leans against the cliff creating a tunnel.

1. Climb the left crack to an anchor on a treed ledge. 110ft. 5.5 (Handren says 5.6, but it doesn't climb that hard.)

2. Climb straight up from the anchor, then follow a crack in the wall right of the main chimney to a ledge. Up the steep corner, then right under a block to an anchor at the right end of a big ledge. 110ft 5.7.

3. Go up and right about 10ft of easy ground to a left-leaning corner. At the top, traverse left past a bolt (crux) then up a steep crack to a ledge. Then up and right to the anchor. 85ft, 5.7+.

4. Go up about 20ft to a horizontal crack, then move up and right accross discontinuous cracks to an anchor on the face. This pitch has the most complicated route-finding -- generally, when in doubt, go up or right. On the face there should be a down-arching horizontal curve, and the anchor being aimed for is near the bottom of the curve. Belay at anchors with huecos for your feet. 95ft 5.6.

5. Move up and right to a thin crack, then over a bulge and up a thin (finger crack) on a varnished face with small holds and small gear. Finish on a small triangular, down-sloping ledge (crux). 95ft, 5.7+.

6. Variant, adds an extra 75ft pitch, not usually climbed due to fragile rock and run-out climbing. Climb up passing a small roof on the right, then continue up and right to an anchor in a small right-facing corner. 75ft, 5.7.

This is a 5.6 Variation to Bunny, which generally follows the same line except you go through the roof instead of around.

Three pitches of scrambly crack climbing up a slightly positive (20 to 30 degree) slab. Just before reaching the top-out at the end of the third pitch, the crack seam disappears and the climber must make two or three intimidating traverse moves to better holds.

The route finishes on a very large ledge with bolts. There are now 5 rappel anchors (including the final belay station) that let you rap in a direct line to the bottom.

1. 5.6, 110+ft. Climb a left-facing 3rd then 4th-class corner up towards a downward-pointing dagger of rock. Pass this on the right side, pulling a small roof (5.6) then up and right to a small stance for the belay.

2. 5.6, 100ft. Climb the right-curving hand-crack up the slab until there is a stance for belay at a widening in the crack.

3. 5.6, 150ft. Continue up the right-leaning crack until it tapers out, then a few thin (for 5.6) slab moves up to a large ledge to finish.

The climbing starts on easy slab until you reach the flake & then things get vertical. There is no protection before you reach the flake but none is needed. Climb the flake using slab and other features for feet. All protection is in the flake and in the crack behind the flake once it widens. Climbing is more difficult after the flake widens and gets even more vertical. Bring doubles in mid ranges from .75 through 1, triples in #2 & 3 saving One of each for the anchor. This climb is a fabulous lead.

A Red Rocks Classic!

Approach: from Pine Creek parking lot, follow the main trail just past an old home foundation. Take a left here on the Oak Creek trail. This trail eventually forks right after about 15 minutes. Take a right on a faint trail heading to Juniper Canyon. Head for the Rose Tower, a rounded top pink formation by going into the second of two gullies. The first gully is the descent. The climb starts bout 250 yards up this gully after going over some boulders and a small creek, at a small clear beneath a left-facing, left-leaning chimney in a corner.

1. 90ft (5.7R) Climb the slab on the left side of the corner, passing a bulge (crux) and head diagonally right to a small sandy alcove,

2. 120ft (5.7) Climb the corner then move right into a splitter crack (fingers an hands) to a small ledge (semi-hanging gear belay)

3. 100ft (5.7) Continue up the crack, over a bulge and then move left into the corner. Climb the corner and belay with gear at a good ledge on the arete.

4. 140ft (5.7) Traverse right and then up a runout easy face, trending right towards a huge left facing corner. Follow the corner to a big flat area atop the column. Don’t go into the corner too soon. You can use some stoppers for your anchors here and save some cams for the long pitch ahead.

5. 195ft (5.7) The money pitch! Head up and right to the beautiful corner as long as the rope will get you. A 60m barely reaches a small ledge at the top of the corner. Save somesmall to medium size gear (.75 camalot) for the belay.

6. 50ft (4th class) Head right and up, then right and up again to the big flat top of the Rose Tower. Sign the logbook

Descent: Head north off the Rose Tower (the other side of where you came from) with 1 short exposed down-climb, then hike south down the gully (gully east of Rose Tower).

Climb the obvious jagged crack that starts in a rectangular groove with leaning rectangular blocks at the base.

Starts behind pillar that looks like it has a boulder perched on it, left of the Solar Slab Gully.

1. 5.6 40m Cracks and featured patina to a bolted belay below a right facing corner.

2. 5.6 30m Corner and crack to belay in middle of face.

3. 5.6 30m Up and right to chicken heads on arete. Step left above roof to anchor.

4. 5.4 20m Easily up to 'Solar Slab' terrace.

Climb the slab on the right.

Climb the right side of the slab

Approach via Johnny Vegas or Solar Slab Gully. Both are easy, Johnny Vegas is great value, too.

Descent - Either do some soloing to the right of the route facing the wall, or follow cairns up and left to the Black Orchard Gully walls. A single 70m rap, (double ropes, on rope stretch just!) or multiple 20-30m raps will get you down to the slabs. From here, it's a ~hour walk down (trend UP the canyon, but down the slabs), and then back down through the canyon to the car. This descent is more tiring than the walk out, but can avoid scary scrambling and abseil madness.

A single rack to 3 will get you there with some inspiring runouts if you choose to link pitches.

Climb pitch 1 further than the original finish, anchor on the block half way up pitch 2. This lets you get to the p3 anchor with a 70m rope. A few other pitches can be linked (you might need to simul ~5m), making for an enjoyable day out.

Pro to 3.5".

Start at the very bottom of the Flatiron, just up from the bridge. Look for a water groove going up, and a rougher edge to the right of it, with a couple ring bolts.

P1. Climb up past two ring bolts, then angle up and left towards a tree. 5.6R 60m.

Continue upwards for about 5 pitches on the face before hitting the right ridge line. Then a couple pitches left up this past a couple false peaks to the final peak. (Rap anchors.)

Rap off the back side -- one single pitch (30m) rap. Then hike down the trail between the first and second flatiron. Trail will bring you back to the bridge at the base.

Generally 6-10 pitches depending on how you pitch it out.

A great first pitch, and easier, but still very pleasant pitches above.

1. 50m (5.7) Up the obvious crack (which is mostly easier than it looks) to belay on the obvious big ledge (keep some mid-size cams). Can be split into two (or even three) pitches.

2. 50m (5.6) Hardish move to gain face, clip bolt out right, then up as you will to a natural belay wherever you like.

3. 30m (4th class) Up as you will to the top.

Climb the rounded arete to the right of the face, then traverse to the anchor. A very committing feeling lead for a 5.6.

This line goes up and rightwards up a less than vertical face parallelling the edge of the wall as it drops off into a bit of a gully.

Be careful top-roping this route -- a fall can easily swing off the route into the gully, and even following has some risk.

Knobby route, really nice warm up and pretty route

4 bolts, plus ring anchors (recently added).

Pro to 3". Descend with 80' rappel.

1. (90', 5.7) Climb easy ground, allowing yourself to be funneled to the crux. As the crack reaches vertical you will definitely begin to realize where the difficulty is. Immediately after the crux, belay on the ledge. Gear anchor. It looks like there were bolts there at one time.

2. (180', 5.7) Continue up the easing crack to a belay in some vegetation.

Location: This is one of two obvious right-arching dihedrals well to the left of Gemini Crack (the other is Rats Ass).

Protection: Standard rack. Rappel from either of two new sets of ring anchors (near the old rap tree) above Gemini Crack. Gemini can be crowded.

Despite the name, only 5.7.

Climb the obvious crack with ledges up to lower-offs. Very good protection with generally good stances to place it from.

2 bolt anchor with rap rings.

Climb the ridge starting at a tree on the far left side of wind tower. First pitch leads to a ledge after a nice finger size crack. Second Pitch ends at a ledge with an overhang. Climb an interesting flake through the roof to some low quality rock at the top of the pitch to reach several trees. descend by walking off to the north by way of the cable on the east face of wind tower and either rappel or down climb ~20 feet of 5.3 moves through an obvious notch on your left, down climb leads to trail.