This is the obvious inset open book to obtuse corner on the left side of the Grotto Wall, highly visible from the parking lot (yes, you will draw a crowd of slack-jawed Bago warriors during the summer months) and highly classic.

Scramble up on the ledge and get a load of this crack!  Incut features on the quartzy right wall and sinker jams in the ever-steepening crack take you to a final, pumpy section of finger locks before you gain the ledge (10a).  Belay here at bolts and chains, or if you have a 70-meter rope continue into pitch 2.

Move up the bizarre corner above the ledge past a stemmy section, then trend right on an undercut flake (Metolius 2 and 3 TCU's I think), passing a couple of pins to get out to a bolt protecting the bouldery, powerful crux (11+).  A second bolt above this takes you through steep but easier terrain with positive grips.  Surmount a final, easy roof to reach a double-bolt anchor at the lip of the wall.  Double-rope rap from here (you may make it down with a 70-meter cord) or top out on slabs.

The second pitch can be reduced to 10+ by heading left out of the obtuse corner then arcing back right above the first bolt to join the easier finishing section.

Cryogenics

Espresso Love

Stage Fright

Twin Cracks

Under Pressure - Extension

Girly Man

Twins For The Road

Headless Crankin' Chicken

Before There Were Nine

Tommy's 13b

Tarzan

Scene of the Crime

K - fight

Wire and Fire

Crime Victim

One for the Road

Stranger Than Fiction

Under Pressure

Mad Arab

Coldfusion

The Engagement

Stand By Your Van

The Knuckle Head

Grotto Wall Traverse

Victims of Fashion

Pea Brain

Star Spangled Dangle

Space Sluts in the Slammer

Headless Franken Chicken

Insurrection

This is a link-up of "

Headless Franken Chicken

, .12a," and "

Under Pressure's

" .12b 2nd pitch.  It is a nice, long, enduro pitch with laybacking and a dyno crux.

Espresso Love is a great line on the right side of the Lower Grotto, following bolts up a black streak.

Scramble up to the first bolt, get the second clipped then make tough moves left of the bulge. Blindly clip the 3rd bolt out right. Continue up easy ground to the ledge. Place an Alien here in the flake or do a move to the jug and clip the fourth. Climb the flake right of the 4th bolt (maybe there is a kneebar to be had). Clip the 5th and traverse left under the roof. Climb up through a few more clips to the chains.

This is a new second pitch to the Cryogenic Corner, stepping right off the belay ledge along a ramp into the fairly friable, white pegmatite. This route can be led as one long pitch, clipping the bolted belay with a long sling for gear, or broken into two pitches. If you do it in one pitch, use a 70-meter rope to get back to the ground from the chains atop the wall.

Step right from the belay on an easy ramp which quickly peters out. A bomber nut and a so-so blue TCU get you around the bulge into a faint corner with a good layback horn. Pump in some gear at waist level, fish in a sideways RP behind the horn and do the crux. Your next piece is about fifteen feet up in a good crack up and right. Finish in a small dihedral and step left onto easy ground atop Cryogenics, finishing at the chain anchors.

This route was done as a headpoint with all but the RP placed on lead. It can easily be toproped off the Cryogenics anchors. Though the gear *seems* good, it is in pegmatite. Beware flaky footholds and the possibility of a giant penduluming screamer down into the Cryogenics corner should the gear fail.

Stage Fright certainly lives up to its name!  Be sure to get on this one if you're feeling mentally strong; for me, the crux was keeping my head together while making hard moves way above the ground with my last bolt out of sight beneath my feet!  Both pitches offer quality climbing with a bit of headiness, so regardless of if you only do the first pitch or do both, this is a good climb.

P1: start up the face on the far left side of the slab.  Stick clip the first bolt or build a gear anchor for the belayer if you're not comfortable on this terrain, because a fall by the leader before the first bolt will send both climbers tumbling down the slab and over the cliff below.  At the second bolt, traverse right into the dihedral and climb it to the roof (crux).  More big pulls and stemming gets you to the anchor (5.11b)

P2: climb up and left along a weakness until you hit a big pancake above the 2nd bolt.  Traverse up and right (crux), reach right to clip the 3rd bolt, and pull onto the slab.  Make scary moves right above the bolt to the 4th bolt and easier climbing to the anchors.

NOTE: The anchors at the top of the second pitch were lowered in the summer of 2012 to reduce rope drag from pulling over the slab.  If you want to go to the original anchors, you can clip the new anchor and pull the mantle onto the low-angle slab to the anchors above.

The crux is at the top of the two parallel cracks under a roof to traverse right (crux), then pull onto a face onto a ledge to bolted anchor P1, belay.  Then up to the top of the Lower Grotto Wall belay P2.

You can rap from the anchors with a single 60m rope.

This extension to

Under Pressure

adds some exposed climbing high off the ground and a one-move wonder dyno crux to reach the top of Lower Grotto Wall.  While you can split this climb up into 2 separate pitches, I suggest running the pitches together into one mega pitch as the first anchor isn't the most comfortable to hang out and belay from and there is a great rest stance right before the 12b crux.  If linking the pitches together, extend the last bolt and anchor of the first pitch with long runners to reduce rope drag.

From the p1 anchor, make a rightward traverse with powerful undercling moves past the first bolt and a great rest.  Reach high to clip the 2nd bolt and immediately into the crux, which is followed by a hand jam and fat undercling rest.  Easier climbing gets you to the anchor at the top of the wall; the terrain between the last bolt and the anchor is protectable with a 1" cam.

LOWERING: Because of the traversing nature of the climb, it's easiest to bring up your second and then walk off.  With a 60 meter rope, it's also possible to lower off to the p1 anchor (tram in while cleaning), re-thread the rope through the anchor and lower off again.  A 70 meter rope will just barely get you to the ground from the p2 anchor; tie a knot in the end!

Think you got the guns, girly man?  Well you may want to climb like a girl on this one; techy, techy, techy!

Girly Man would be a 2-star climb if it started from the ground.  As it is, you can take the easier (but more involved) approach by traversing way right from the start of

Victims of Fashion

(1 or 2 bolts and some small cams along the way) or you can take the more direct but much harder approach by climbing

The Knuckle Head

.

Girly Man would be a 3-star climb if it ended at the top of the beautiful, golden dihedral, as that's where the good climbing ends.  From the anchors of

The Knuckle Head

, dive into difficulties right away trying to get established into the dihedral.  Put on your dancing shoes, and climb the ultra-technical corner for 6 bolts with a bouldery mantle move in the middle.  Once the corner start, trending right, continue slightly left.  Clip an old piton and 1 more bolt, then run it out (or place gear) to an old 2-piton anchor.  Clip this anchor and climb through one more bulge on big holds to the ledge above and an anchor positioned on the blank shield of rock.

Note that one rope will NOT get you back to the ground (not even a 70 meter)!  The easiest way to get back down is to lower back to the anchor of

The Knuckle Head

with a 70 meter rope and then lower again from this anchor to the ground.

This route climbs vertical to overhanging rock with stemming and bear hugs. It is a great warm-up for the wall on mostly big holds.

Rated .13b and referred to as #15 in Perkin's book, this route is among the best hard climbs on the Pass, deserving of a proper name, a realistic grade, and more atention. Originally bolted by Kurt Smith, and extensively projected by Dave Pegg and Phillip Benningfield, this route resisted all attempts untill Tommy sent in his typical crushing style. Very technical, slightly overhanging climbing on small crimps and sidepulls. Granite climbing of this style doesn't get much better.

This climb is recorded in the Perkins guide as #14 - 5.13b.  If anyone has any additional information about this route, please record it here.

This has excellent steep climbing; it is an Indy Pass classic that should get more love!  The first pitch alone is an excellent 11b.

P1: Start below a short dihedral and make difficult moves (crux) to get established in the dihedral.  Stick clip the first bolt or a fall here will send you and your belayer rolling down the slab and then over the cliff below!  From the top of the dihedral, follow bolts left through very steep, blocky terrain.  Arrive at anchor with comically large chains (who dragged those up here??).  8 bolts, chain anchor, 5.11b.

P2: Climb steep, overhanging terrain with big dynamic moves way over the ground!  The crux is getting into the dihedral above.  7 bolts, chain anchor, 5.12c.

Lowering: If you're working pitch 2 and want to lower back to the P1 anchors to prepare for your next burn the easiest/best way to do this is just to lower straight down into space.  Once you're even with your belayer have him throw out a loop of rope to pull yourself in with.  Tramming back to the anchor can cause the rope to get hopelessly jammed in the crack at the start of the dihedral.

Descent: cleaning either of these pitches is difficult due to how steep the route is.  The best descent is to walk off.  A single-rope rap from the top will leave you dangling in mid-air!

This is basically an extended boulder problem on killer crimps.  It was the first rap-bolted route on the Pass and an early 12+ milestone in Colorado.  This is the short, well-chalked face behind the huge evergreen down and right of Cryogenics.

Boulder high and make a hard first clip or stick clip the bolt.  Continue up on ever-crimpier climbing to some sequential moves on poor sidepulls.  There is a bit of a runout between bolts 2 and 3 but you probably wouldn't hit the deck.

You can take a piece to protect the easy finishing ground above the third bolt, as the route doesn't end until the big, recessed ledge.

K - fight is a great, little route. It is steep and climbs a bit like limestone. Steep moves out a little cave lead to some reaches and a hard-to-read finish.

I have been looking at this short piece of steep rock for 20 years. There are some amazing mica feathers above the first bolt.

A hard layback crux starts this route off and is followed by fun stemming through a bulge.  Climb up some cracks to the right to get to the anchor.

Yes, this is a link-up, but it's a pretty badass, direct linkup of 3 great routes!  This link-up takes the directissima line up the imposing, middle section of Lower Grotto Wall.

The first challenge greets you immediately by climbing

Scene of the Crime

(old school 12+...++).  From the anchor, continue straight up into the dihedral pitch of Rocket Man Dihedral (11c, 3" cam optional).  At the top of the dihedral, keep climbing straight up to the P1 anchor of

Victims of Fashion

(instead of trending right into Rocket Man's proper anchor).  From here, tackle

Victim's

burly 12b/c roof pitch to the final set of anchors.

While there is a lot of hard climbing on this link-up, you do get complete rests at the anchors of each of the individual pitches, which are set on recessed ledges.  For reduced rope drag, avoid clipping the mid-anchors along the route; the first bolts of the following pitches are not hard to get to.

This is a nice, pumpy line just right of the first pitch of

Twin Cracks

. Start on

Twin Cracks

or climb the unprotected and 5.9ish slot to the right. Place a piece or two in a flake and move right to the first bolt. A couple of difficult moves, including some stemming, lead to a layback and a difficult clip of the last bolt. Another 20' or so of easier unprotected or gear-protected climbing leads to the anchors.

Look for the two black bolt hangers at the start a few inches to the right of a long black streak.  Make some interesting face moves past these, then up and left to more cracks and bolts. There are good gear placements between the bolts.  Bring long slings, as the line wanders back and forth a bit.

This has the same start as

Twin Cracks

and

One for the Road

.  Follow 6 bolts heading out and right to a two bolt chain anchor.

This is the first route left of

Twin Cracks

. There are several interesting cruxes on this. The route starts by climbing a face to the left of

Twin Cracks

to a solid flake. Place gear behind the flake and make a hard move to get to a good stance (decking is a possibility if you blow that move). Continue up to the right-leaning slot through the roof that one traverses under while doing

Twin Cracks

. After the slot, go straight up the steep face via a hand and finger crack. The rock quality degrades slightly at the top, but there's still good gear.

This route is worth doing if others in the area are occupied, but it's not a destination climb.

This is twenty feet left of

Cryongenics

on the Grotto Wall. It's the dark spot on the left side of the pic. Climb an easy twenty feet up to a crack, after about sixty feet there is a bolt. The route turns to the right, and you see a piton. Continue up the crack, clip the

Cryogenics

chains or walk off the backside. If you don't clip

Crygenics

, building an anchor can be tricky.

Climbs moderate jugs to a bouldery bulge crux, makes an improbable move to a jug on the arete, then follows the arete to the anchor.

Nice, mixed gear route on the upper right side of the Grotto Wall.  Starts out with the business past two bolts, steeper than it appears for the first few moves.  Pull over the slight bulge and onto a slab with two more bolts then gear up to the anchor.

Hint if you want it, as you pull over the steep start keep looking left for a nice jug.  To the right is okay, but more slopers and crusty rock.

Thin face climbing chases 4 bolts up and left.  Using a stack of cheater blocks, reach the two thin starting crimps, and make a powerful move to get established onto better holds.  The crux hits you hard after clipping the 2nd bolt; move left using slopey holds and crimps into the left-facing dihedral and then into more technical (but easier) climbing past 2 more bolts.  It is a bit run out to the anchor, the route ends at the bottom anchors for

Girly Man

.

It is recommended to stick clip the first bolt.

This is a wonderful journey across and up the Lower Grotto Wall. The belay after the 2nd pitch is one of my favorites on the Pass, and the 3rd pitch will have you smiling from beginning to end!

P1: Climb the awkward, often wet, chimney to the slab above and traverse left towards the corner. You will find 2 bolts about 10' from the corner. This pitch is forgettable and can easily be skipped by walking around to the right and traversing back left on the slab to the same belay (starting high and going climbers left on the slab then down-climbing the corner is probably the least risky method). The chimney does has some mildly interesting moves however. 5.8. 50'.

P2: From the anchors, traverse left across a small ledge, ascend a blocky crack to another ledge before reaching the sloping dihedral crux (5.8) below a large birds nest. Be sure to protect your 2nd after completing these crux moves. Traverse hard left, ascend another blocky corner, then scoot around an arete to a black-painted 2-bolt belay on a small ledge. 100', lots of rope drag.

P3: From the belay, walk climbers RIGHT across out on the "diving board" and then up steep but juggy terrain into a right-facing corner. Go above this, traverse right and into a left-facing corner to a 2-bolt belay at the top of the cliff. Incredible pitch!  Around 60', some rope drag.

Descent: Your best option is to walk off to the west (climber's left). Two 70 meter ropes will reach the ground as 1 rappel, but because of the overhanging nature of this section of cliff, multiple raps with shorter ropes is not possible.

Pitch 1--Traverse (protected by a 1.5 cam) right to the first bolt. Continue up the shallow dihedral passing a second bolt. Place a gold Camalot and a red Alien then run it out to a fixed pin located at the top of the dihedral. Lean out left and clip the bolt and climb over the bulge (crux) to chain anchors under the roof (5.11a).

Pitch 2--Pull the roof just right of the chain anchor (5.12b/c) and continue 25' to chains (bolts).

Rap from there with one rope (85') or keep climbing a 3rd pitch through loose rock 70' (5.10a).

I'm adding this route to the DB in order to make route identification across this section of the Lower Grotto Wall easier.  I'm not sure of the history of this route, but it's one of the few routes on the Pass attributed to Lynn Hill and John Long.  The route follows 3 widely-spaced SMC-type bolts to who-knows-what (can't see any anchor from the ground).  The climbing between each of the bolts is scary: a fall approaching the second and third bolts could easily result in a groundfall.

From John Long: "Lynn and I were walking past this area of the wall and saw the bolts. We were bouldering a lot back then and were strong as God but this route looked rather dangerous, for sure 5.12 and you'd probably have to on-sight it or deck. Lynn said I'd have to be a Pea-Brain to even try it. I thought the 2nd and 3rd bolts were closer then they were and that the climbing would ease after 15 feet. Not so. It was basically a solo. I have no idea how Lynn followed because there were some huge reaches on crakopla. Must have been 5.13 the way she did it. Hope somebody replaced those old SMC bolts. They were bad 30 years ago."

This route is a bit contrived but offers a good ride with interesting movement through a series of corners and roofs. A couple of dubious-looking pitons protect the first 30 feet (an optional #2 Camalot or smaller piece offers security through this section as well). Good bolts protect all the hardest climbing. The route takes the line of strength through the bizarre features and is basically a series of boulder problems with good rests in between.

There is a hollow, wedged block in the final roof crux that would be very difficult to avoid using — it seems solid enough for now, but it might not be a bad idea to have your belayer wear a helmet.

The topout entails a little bushwhacking to reach the chain anchor, which is located on a block that is set back a bit from the large ledge where the technical climbing ends (another place to be wary of knocking things down on your belayer).

This is fun, thin climbing on a slightly overhanging wall.  Sharp crimps down low lead right after the second bolt to a good jug rest at the arete and the 3rd bolt.  Then fire up better, but more widely spaced, holds past 2 more bolts to a fun, scary mantle topout onto the slab above.  It's wise to stick clip the first bolt; it's scary to clip the second bolt but a good belayer will keep you off the ground!

The route itself is pretty sustained. The hardest parts are probably at the 1st to 2nd bolts and at the end, since you're PUMPED by then.

The hardest sport climb on the Pass,

Insurrection

climbs the directissima up the stunning, slightly overhanging shield of marvelous granite in the center of the Lower Grotto Wall.  The climbing is crimpy and continuous but also cerebral and surprisingly gymnastic for a route of this angle.  With excellent rock, engaging movement and spectacular position,

Insurrection

is an outstanding hard face climb.

Description

Protection

Routes in Lower Grotto Wall