Tricky climbing for the first few bolts utilizing sidepulls and fingerlocks in a steep groove system leads to a fun crack switch and enjoyable face climbing to the anchors.

It's nice to stick clip the second bolt, so your belayer can belay down the hill a little and not up on the ledge.

Cat Woman

Down On The Corner

Breathless

Giblet Gravy

Tierra del Libre

Super Size Me

Godzilla

Freshly Squeezed

Fried Chicken Extension

Dust Bunny

Jim's Palomino

Jewel Rosena

Aries

Bottom Feeder

Leanie Meanie

Gecko Blaster

Mint Jelly

Castration Station

Leaping Lizard

Fleece Pocket

Velcro Glove

Patchouli

Red Cap

Best in Show

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Big Kitty

Ryan Goes to Hell

Limp Lizard

Virgin Wool

Nat Turner's Rebellion

Velociraptor

Hold On Loosely

Gigantor

Wilson

Evil Twin

Fresh Fried Chicken

Mashed Potatoes

Triceratops

Spunky Monkey

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Black Ball Retriever

Buggery

Eight Days On The River

Fried Lizard Gizzard

Bladerunner

Jorts are the New Lycra

Freshly Shorn

Miniature Snouter

Bellatrix

Ent Killer

Ultimatum

T-Rex

Joyful Journey

Clever Girl

Mongrels

Infinite Jest

Bizzler

Hold On Tight

Hold The Line

Howl Roof

Go Chargers!

Shake Your Groove Thing

Corn Fritter

Bighorn

Start up Bushwhacker, a wide bolted crack for a few bolts. From a stance, climb up right through a bouldery overlap. This section is significantly harder than the remainder of the pitch. Finish with thoughtful movement to an anchor with lowering carabiners.

Down On The Corner has fun and featured climbing in the right-facing corner. It is 5.9 to the first anchor and is protected by 7 bolts. Then it is 5.11a/b to the second anchor and is protected by 3 additional bolts.

Start on some choss. Once you get through that and onto the black slab, it gets good. Climb the slab moves just right of the arete. Once through the black slabby section, the climbing gets easier.

This is a fun route if you can ignore the initial band of choss. Definitely bring your 70m rope for this one.

There's a tricky slab section a little ways up, then it gets steeper with massive jugs where you need them.

Climb the first 5 (crumbly) bolts of

Breathless

, then head up and right, and climb 11 more bolts up the vertical face. The face has many short cruxes and many mini-rests. It stays on you all the way to the top!

Start by rockaneering in a dirty, bushy corner up to the first bolt. Don't let first impressions scare you off at this point, because the rest of the climb is pretty great! Consistent edge pulling past the first 9 bolts brings on a good pump before you arrive at the crux above the 10th bolt. Keep it together, and fight to clip the chains!

Climb through the standard choss band, and climb juggy 5.11 for a long section. Get a good rest near the top of the wall where it begins to steepen. Climb some engaging moves for a few more bolts to a final scoop. Try to shake here before pulling the final cryptic and quite difficult boulder problem, past a final hard clip.

The crux is pulling over the roof about 20 feet up. It is 10a to the first anchor, and the extension ups the grade to 11c/d.

After the roof, move up and right into a nice, short, right-facing corner. The climbing eases dramatically after the roof pull.

This is the 3 bolt extension to

Fresh Fried Chicken

with a crux near the top. This adds quality to the pitch: an extra star? and some difficulty or an extra letter? Thanks to the FA’er(s)!

This mini-route offers good challenge in its short length. Pull fun bouldery moves past the initial bulge, and tip toe up the engaging slab to the anchors.

With some more brushing, chalk, and traffic, this climb could become quite popular for people looking for a good, short, bouldery 12a.

Jim's Palomino shares the first three bolts with

Jorts...

then breaks right into a flake system that leads to the first reachy/balancy crux that spits you onto a steep headwall. Attain the break in the wall, then work your way up through a bulge to reach another flake system. This thing stays on you the whole headwall. It is both technical and powerful.

Carefully pull through the low choss band to the first bolt.  From here, big pulls to great incuts and big flat edges characterize this climb until you reach a hard pull from crimps to another great sidepull.  Mantle top-out to the anchors above the ledge.

Pull a roof on underclings right at the start (the crux), then make your way through moderate climbing to a bulge. Once over the bulge, a fun, right-facing flake puts you at the anchors on top of the route.

Start off the Insomnia Ledge, and climb up a steep, black-colored face that is split halfway by a ledge. There are a few large pulls below the ledge, but most of the business comes above on mostly large holds with a few slopers thrown in there. Don't let the pump get you!

Leanie Meanie climbs totally interesting moves with impossible to grip white powder all over the rock. It looks so cool but is nothing but frustrating.

This route is llong with many cruxes. There is one good rest at about 1/2 height, then it is very sustained through about 6 bolts of hard climbing. You get a decent rest before final steep bit, then make a few more punchy moves to easier climbing to the anchor. It climbs much more friendly with a few draws extended. The guidebook says it is 90 feet, but it seems longer than that. Watch your rope with a 60m to be safe.

This is a decent trad route on the left side of the Main Elk Crag. Follow an open dihedral system with some stemming to a ledge with some loose rocks. Negotiate a headwall that is a bit steeper than it appears from the ground to the anchors. Watch for loose rocks and blocks that could become dislodged. There was one or two that looked a bit dangerous when I was here.

Castration Station has cruxy moves throughout with poor foot holds in spots for super fun, sustained climbing. Watch out for some slippery rock at like the 4th or 5th bolt.

This is an extension to the

Fried Lizard Gizzard

corner.

Climb past the anchors of that route up the corner to reach a rest ledge out left before continuing up the slightly overhanging face. There is a crux right off the ledge and kind of another crux near the top where you can either cut back left on the face or continue up the arete to the anchors.

Cruise through the low choss to a beautiful face of flakes and edges. Pumpy moves down low lead to some techy moves above. This is fairly continuous the entire time.

Start up the standard choss band, and pull the low roof. Traverse powerfully left on good holds, and continue up to easier ground. A nice rest presents itself before the final roof, which can be overcome on good-size jugs.

This is the left variation of

Big Kitty

. Do the same pumpy layback start as that route, then start heading left into the dihedral after the third bolt.

It is fun and pretty continuous. I didn't think there was an obvious crux on this one, just fairly sustained climbing. There are lots of laybacks and a couple jams and fingerlocks here and there.

This climbs the obvious crack line through the bulge.  The crux is at the second roof, it is kind of a hard/strange clip on the bolt above the roof.

Climb the arête up the slab.

This has rap rings at the top.

Pass 2 bolts worth of less than ideal rock, then pass a short .12a crux to a rest. Faceclimb a beautiful headwall on small crimps, edges, and sidepulls with a few dynamic moves for 4 bolts. The headwall is the crux. This has sustained climbing to an easier top-out. This is a totally awesome route - best on the wall!

This has fun, varied climbing. Start up the choss band with a few interesting opening moves, technique your way up the middle slab, and finish with a roof pull with great holds.

It felt a little spicy on lead in comparison with some of the other routes, but it is still perfectly safe.

Layback a strenuous flake, then move right across a pleasant face with one hard move past a little roof. Steep, flowy climbing with ample holds makes this a popular warm-up.

Ryan Goes to Hell is slabby with odd blocks. Watch for the bull snake at the 2nd bolt. The anchors are tucked onto the right, in the chimney.

Once a scary run-out lead, this route has now been re-bolted (with permission from the FA) for your clipping pleasure!  The rebolting effort has morphed this route into a great, fun, and challenging addition to Main Elk.

After getting through the loose choss band at the start (this is the only bad rock on the entire route and prevalent across all routes at Main Elk), climb fun, technical, golden limestone to the overhanging crux.  Decipher the crux moves, and you are rewarded with a great jug rest below the final black slab headwall.  Attention to your feet and a clear head will help you get through this headwall, which is littered with sharp rock, great sidepulls, and thin horizontal crimp rails that look like they came off your hangboard!

An early overhang leads to enjoyable, flowy climbing.

A crux on loose rock down low leads to left-trending stemming. Pull around the corner, and enjoy pleasant face climbing to the chains.

Start on small horizontal ledges to the first bolt. Then follow a discontinuous crack system up changing corners. The technical crux is at a right-facing corner near the 4th bolt. About halfway up, continue by pulling over a bulge into a left-facing dihedral, and step out left on slab under another mini-bulge. The final slab is protected by 3 bolts to a corner with a layback crack and stemming to the anchor. The route is continuous and

LONG

but has 2-3 decent resting spots along the way. It is well-protected at the cruxes.

Start on Bushwhacker, now bolted (permission granted by Brian), and climb up the wide crack 50 feet to a stance in an alcove.

Clever Girl

continues up and left, but you want to climb the obvious crack like feature on the right. Several bolts take you to a cruxy move near the anchor.

This is an exceptionally fun route. Some say it's Main Elks best route. It is certainly the best that I have done so far. Like many of the routes here, there is an initial chossy section, but once you're through it (it's not that bad), the climbing is just one groovy move after the next. There are multiple 5.11ish cruxes, right up the center of the wall. This is one of those routes that reminds me why I enjoy climbing.

This was originally a trad route, now it is fully bolted. It is a stellar dihedral/crack climb, one of the best of its grade in the area.

This is one of the steepest routes at Main Elk. You might feel like you're climbing at Rifle as you kick your feet around in space and crank long pulls on big, blocky holds. The movement is fantastic. The main thing this route suffers from is lack of traffic, which is why I'm posting it here. It sits below a runoff zone and is prone to collecting dirt if it goes unused for too long. If it cleans up it might feel more like honest 12c (the "12c/d" rating is how it's listed in the guidebook) and be the kind of pitch I would climb again and again. The dirt factor at the top makes it a touch harder, though.

Start out on easy slabby blocky stair step climbing.  Then move to a roof.  Pulling the roof and getting a good stance is probably the crux.  The black rock above the roof is very beautiful and fun to climb on.

Previously a mixed trad climb, it's now fully bolted, extended higher, and in my opinion one of the best 5.9s in Western Colorado.

Start up some broken rock that quickly leads to excellent dark brown stone. A short crux at the steep crack leads to interesting climbing all the way to the anchor.

This is an excellent variation to

Velociraptor

that throws in one more crux and continues up an overhanging, bottomless dihedral instead of the slab corner high on the route.

Climb the first 2/3rds of

Velociraptor

.  Right before getting established on the dark slab up high, make exciting moves right and into the steep dihedral for a few bolts before reaching a separate anchor at cliff top.

Spunky Monkey has cool, balancy moves sideways to a small roof.

Pull powerful moves through the low roof up to a cool, tufa-esque pinch. Pull over the roof to the third clip and a few more big moves to easier ground above. After a nice rest, continue up easy ground through cool rock formations and a few challenging moves as you traverse rightwards. Pull the final roof, and climb up the tenuous slab to the anchors. The line wanders quite a bit, so long draws are nice on the 2nd, 6th, and 7th bolts.

There appears to be a variation halfway up that traverses into the finish for "Big Kitty".

This is probably on the lower end of 12b.

This is, bar none, one of the best routes at Main Elk.  After the initial choss band, the rock on this route is absolutely bullet.

Stick clip the first high bolt and move up and left to the left side of the large blocky nose feature ('Best in Show' climbs up the right side of this block and shares a rest jug at the top).  From the top of the block, bust left on crimpy and airy climbing to a powerful crux sequence which eventually gives way to larger holds and the anchor.

This has fun climbing up a relatively steep corner system. One tricky move down low, but the true crux is the mandatory laybacking up high.

Start on blocky climbing to a roof.  Pulling the roof is not bad. Continue up the face and start climbing the arete.  Around the second to last bolt is the crux, kind of a awkward move on the arete.

This fun, short route climbs the clean-looking finger crack in the left-facing corner.

Start by climbing up the chossy choss band, which fortunately is well protected by bolts.  Gain a stance below the crack, clip a bolt, and jam/stem/lieback your way through the bulge to a good stance above.  A few more easy moves gains the anchors.

This has easy climbing up to an exposed move around an overhanging arete. Bolts follow the arete.

Start from the ledge above the choss. Do some easier moves off the ledge up nice rock. It shares the first three bolts with "Jim's Palomino", the route to the right. It steepens into some pumpy moves to gain the large, right-facing flake/crack.

After the standard Main Elk choss start, pull the overhang, and get established above the roof. Clipping the second bolt is quite tricky, consider a stickclip. Once above the overhang, get some good holds and cruise to the anchors. Use caution at the anchors as the rock begins to deteriorate.

A couple of easier bolts leads to a short and physical crux that takes you to an undercling feature that's big enough to match. Do a delicate step left, and find some bigger holds out left to make this 12a. Apparently the original line stayed straight and went around 12c.

This rarely traveled line is well worth climbing. While a bit sandbagged with a difficult devious crux, the rock is good, and the moves are quite fun.

After negotiating the initial choss band, climb up and negotiate the powerful, technical crux.  Get a good finger slot, clip the 4th bolt, and climb fun 11+ rock to the anchor.

Climb up the middle of the black slab past a definite crux.

Wow. Amazing addition by a local legend. Busting through the steepest part of the big roof in the superlative area, taking an obvious line of weakness that maybe only the boldest of choss wranglers would tackle, until you get up there and realize the rock actually quite good! Climb through the wild roof with memorable, satisfying movement in a crazy cool position with cool holds, try to shake and or clip(or neither) at a stance once the lip is pulled, then tech your way to the anchors pumped silly. Phenomenal route with a little bit of everything.

This is the King line of the Main Elk crag and the most difficult by assigned grade. The crux of this route climbs more like Rifle Canyon than Main Elk.

Climb up easy, intro rock for a few bolts before encountering some tricky, face climbing moves. A good rest presents itself part way up where you can hang out as long as needed. Leave the rest through another short crux, and get established on a decent shake below the imposing roof. From here, power and kneebar your way through the steep, tiered roof to a final finishing jug. Lower here to save your rope if working the route, or if sending, climb easier rock to an anchor just before the top of the cliff.

A left kneebar pad is helpful.

A 12b variation of this route "Baby Rex" climbs the lower face before breaking left to finish on "

Triceratops

". Don't follow these bolts which break left into the dihedral.

Joyful Journey has some awesome juggy moves down low to a roof crux.  A little kneebar trickery makes things much easier. This looks terrible but climbs like a Rifle classic.

This has easy slab to fun chimney climbing; squirm or stem to steep laybacking. This pitch allows you to use a variety of techniques and climbs to the top of the cliff in this section.

An airy finish adds to the fun!

From the trail, walk uphill 20' to some ledges where you can belay. The first 15 feet of route is an off-hands to fingers crack (2 bolts). At the 3rd bolt, start a series of face moves over moderate bulges to small, horizontal ledges. It is fairly sustained for rating, but there are good stances in between clips. The last 10 feet to anchors is still a bit dusty but should improve over time with more ascents.

Climb up fun and somewhat chossy rock to the base of the roof, shake out, then pull an easy little boulder out and left to a stance and start the business, fun, technical somewhat runout climbing ensues. if you like standing on your feet and crimping then this thing is your rig.

Bizzler has easy climbing to a right traverse. Bust up the arête feature to a stance, then head dead left on funky crimpers to a jug. Grab some holds, and jump to a jug. Finish with easier climbing to the top.

Hold The Line is cryptic and more pumpy, after the slab, than it appears from the ground. The crux is moving past the last bolt to the anchor.

The bottom is a little R-rated as the 1st bolt is about 25' up past really chossy rock. I climbed up 5' and stick clipped it. The crux is exiting the offwidth squeeze roof and doing a couple campus moves to stand up on the ledge. It has an awesome finish! Howl after the send!

Climb mostly cheatable OW moves to the top.

This is best done as 2 pitches if you are climbing to the rim, the topmost anchor. The first 60' takes you to a nice ledge with two bolts, 10d. This section includes some funky moves in a groove/handcrack about 25' off the ground. Easier climbing leads to the ledge.

It is easy to continue up another 30 feet to an anchor at the lip of a roof, also 10d to this point. It is 30 meters to ground from this point. A funky groove to a stance below the roof is the crux of this section.

If you are interested in pulling the airy roof above and techy moves, which ups the grade to .11c, then I suggest bringing your belayer up the first 60 feet to the ledge. Lead up to and over the roof to an anchor at the rim. This is 130 feet to the ground I believe. The upper headwall is fun but suffers from seasonal dirt runoff, be forewarned.

There are a couple tricky moves in the bottom half of the climb, the upper half is easier but fun. It is a good choice for a warm-up lap.

Bighorn is a bit of a squeezed route, but it seemed to climb independently of the routes on either side.

Pull the initial bulge (about 11a?). Then find fairly easy climbing to about the 3rd or 4th bolt. Move left a few moves when the route seems to join

Velcro Glove

. Finish with sustained crimping and sidepulling to the anchor. There are two crux sections with interesting and fun moves. It looks blank above as you're climbing, but keep moving, and holds will appear.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Main Elk Crag