The Thing

This is the crack that splits the face 30 feet left of The Thing.  Start in a shallow hands-wide sized corner with a splitter finger crack on its left.  When the corner ends, commit to the fingers/off-fingers splitter, pull a bulge up high, and continue with more off-fingers to the anchor.

Shank Face

From Generic Crack, walk about 60' to the left.  There you will see a huge flake in a left-facing corner.  This flake forms a tips-crack on the right, and a finger-to-hand crack on the left side.  A double chain anchor is 35' off the ground, just above the top of the flake.  A single bolt and ring are above the right hand side, to serve as a directional to protect the fingertips varaition (5.11+, TR)

P1: Climb to the top of this flake (5.9) fromt he left, with good protection and simple, but powerful moves.

P2: Climb up the corner, in  agreat and solid tight-hands crack.  This starts as a 2-2.5" crack for a bit, the eases up to really good hands for a few moves.  After a few more moves, the climb drastically changes its nature.  The corner becomes softer rock (but still safe) and turns into a "double-inset" up above.  This is like having 2 aretes facing nose-to-nose with 12" in between and a chunk of rock some distance behind.  The fun part may be the shenanigans you pull to achieve one no-hands rest after another, by heal-toe, knee-bar, or other odd modes, using the hollow area back in the corner for these positions.  Once past the steepest part of the rock, smaller cams are more useful than large ones (1-1.5").  No OW gear is necessary.

A beginning leader may likely find the distance between a few of the pieces disconcerting when combined with the odd positions of theis route, and as a result will tunnel back in to chimney the moves.  That's no fun, so let it all hang out and enjoy it!!!

The Naked and Dead

From the parking lot, go across the drainage and then past the first trail (to Generic Crack).  The next trail will take you up to the Chocolate Corner area.  Hike past Chocolate Corner to a large inset chimney with two routes inside.  This is the route on the right side of the chimney, ascending a slightly overhanging thin hands to finger crack in an acute dihedral/slot to a anchor composed of two drilled pins.  About 70 feet.

Start up the seemingly frictionless thin-hands slot (with occasionally tolerable hand jams) to a pod, where you can place the #3 Camalot and milk a "rest".  The 25 feet from the pod to the anchors is the crux, with acceptable and sometimes excellent fingerlocks. Hardmen and hardwomen will just jam straight up to the anchors, while the rest of us softies can use an inelegant combination of stemming and chimney technique to supplement the finger jams.Three stars anywhere else, but two stars at most for Indian Creek.

Drainpipe

A couple off-finger moves and face climbing lead past some softer rock to a shelf, pull past a bulging slot with fists to hands and into the sweet varnished left-facing dihedral above, stem, layback, and fingerlock up this sustained corner with mostly great fingers to a couple tipsy moves and a flared handjam at the anchor. A fine route for the grade, with great stone save for the one soft section at the start; with a bit of traffic this should become a popular line.

Twitterpated

This route is just right of

Chocolate Corner

.  Go up a widening and sometimes awkward crack to ledge with anchors, about 70 feet.  Save a few small cams for the end. I think there are upper pitches too, but I didn't do them.

Elephant Man

Boulder move off the ground in to a roof fist slot that tapers down to tight fingers. Lock that finger down, reach left to a "jug" and pull yourself on to a great ledge. From there its good fingers for a move or two, stem left foot and grab some less then great rock out left which gets you to somewhat of a rest/good stem. Work up some crap rock in to a crisp and i mean crisp #2 camalots for 60 feet to a rest under the last crux! 00 C3's and some wicked stemming gets you over the roof now tips to the top...

JARNI ZVRAT-KY

Start with an easy layback in the corner to a chockstone and rightangling crack. The Curx comes just before the bolts as the right angling crack becomes horizontal. The bolts are at a good stance next to a large boulder/flake.

5.10 Corner

Start on the side of the tower facing the canyon wall and step up to a bit of slabby rock. Move to a short, somewhat overhanging, left-facing headwall. Get over the overhang and follow the crack that trends up and right, then step around onto the west face of the tower for a last seven or eight feet of exposed climbing (a small TCU may be used to alleviate some of the exposed feeling).

Ansaid Tower

Much like it's much thinner sister route,

Sister Skywalker

, Rainbow Sign ascends the sandy white section of wall between

Generic Crack

and the Elephant's Trunk.  Much of the route is characterized by solid OW climbing, but, unfortunately, the start and crux finish are marred by sandy, friable rock.

Begin by ascending the sandy pillar (seems very loose) at the base of the climb by means of a handcrack on the right side.  A #2 Camalot could fit here, but the moves are 5.8 at most and a fall onto a cam would likely shear the pillar right off the wall.  Mount the pillar, dust yourself off, and ponder your fate as you take in the 5" crack rising above you.  Ascend the offwidth (protects with #5 C4, bring two to leapfrog or walk, or bring 5 or 6 to sew it up) utilizing the occasional facehold for feet or to cop a rest.  Unfortunately, your ascent will likely be more difficult than mine, as I broke a half-dozen or so holds off on the way up.  The crack is sustained, but a couple decent rests can be had by way of faceholds, or a nice thigh/knee jam if you're the right size.  Even with the features available, I think the OW section clocks in a solid 10/10+.  About 70 feet up, the crack begins to narrow from fists to thin hands in a span of about 15 feet.  Grab a nice hand jam in a pod, shake out, and launch into a sequence of powerful lieback moves up the now-very-thin (00 and 0 TCU/Mastercam) crack, which leads into the 11+ crux, a sequence of tough moves from a good sidepull onto sandy slopers and a couple loose holds to gain a stance tall enough to clip the anchors.  Whew!

Rainbow Sign

This route is an extension of Jarni Zvrat-Ky -- though it would be more accurate to say that Jarni-Zvrat-Ky is a shortening of Dust to Dusk, as this route went in first.  Either way, climb Jarni-Zvrat-Ky to its anchor and then exit the alcove to the right.  This is the crux and requires (for me, at least) wild stemming while reaching over to a seemingly blank face which houses a thin hands splitter.  Once established in the splitter, progress upwards on sometimes friable rock for 40-50 feet to the anchor.

The move out of the alcove is wild, and the crack above is nice and steep.  With more ascents the rock on the upper section might clean up, but it seems that most parties stop at the first anchor.

Dust to Dusk

A nice change of pace if you're getting tired splitters or you want your gobies to heal.  The crux involves insecure arete liebacking w/ fixed kb's for pro.

Half Shark-Alligator, Half Man

Tight hands in a corner with 1 and 2 camalots to a bulge where it widens a little to 3 camalot. There is a small flare at the top that may take a 4 camalot if you want, and then you're at the anchor. The name of this climb is due to the fact that an owl lives in the cave at the top.

Owl Crack

A nicely varied OW-squeeze with featured rock and more face holds than typical of the Creek. Very reminiscent of Zion.

Start with a flared OW/squeeze with good hands in the back, pull out of the flare into a cups splitter, run it out up a wider chimney to a bolt, and finish with a tough squeeze section to a belay alcove. Great blue collar outing!

Sleeve of Wizard

A flaring seam that is mostly face climbing on small, friable holds that may break.  A few were broken on the first ascent and subsequent top-rope ascents.  The moves are interesting but the overall quality of the route is diminished by its short length and soft rock.

Sister Skywalker

This high quality stemming and liebacking problem is located in an attractive, varnished left-facing corner just left of the much more popular Generic Crack.

Stem the first 20 feet on tiny gear (00 TCU size) to a welcome 0.75 Camalot placement.  Above this is a bolt which protects ten feet of crux climbing up to some solid fingers liebacking.  Save a rattley fingers piece for the run to the anchor.

Fuel Injected Hardbody

This route is after Elephant man and just before Dos Hermanos.  Only P1 is listed in any of the guide books and it goes at about 5.9.  The first pitch splits a big block and is relatively short - probably no more than 60'.  It ends at a ledge with nice Fixe anchor bolts.  Belay from this ledge even if you only want to do P1 and rap when you are done.

P2 is the business.  Leave the ledge on the crack to the right of the anchors.  Basically, the crack gets wider towards the top, but the first 3rd of it stays pretty much in the 1.5 Friend to 1.75 Friend size.  I hate these sizes.  I was able to chimney for part of the upper section, which is kind of a flaring slot with gear in the back.  My second, a little bit better of a climber than me, called the pitch 10+/11-.  This is what I though it was, but I'll err on the side of caution, since it was a seasonal warm-up.  The route only gets 2 stars because the top of P2 gets a little sandy.  Remember that 2 stars in the Creek is better than 3 stars at many other places.This pitch is no longer than 80' since I lowered from the anchors (through my own biners of course!) back to the ledge on 50m doubles.

The nice things about this route are that it is not the same move over and over, but is still a crack, and the hordes were too busy with nearby chocolate corner and all the others.

Unknown

Starts in a slightly offset, flared corner with thin hands and quickly gets into hands and offwidth at the top. Ample face features abound on this climb, making no particular section too hard.

Unknown (L of Dos Hermanos)

A long first pitch with lots of hands fists and offwidth. 170 feet of that will see you to the first set of anchors. From there pack a lunch and hope you fit!!!

Violently Happy

This route is in the next corner left of "The Naked and the Dead." Look for a left leaning pillar with a large chockstone near the bottom. Clearly seen in the Donnelly Canyon photo.

This is a short and super-fun route - at least until you get to the last 15 feet.

Start by squeezing into the chimney below the chockstone, then pulling up and over it. The fun commences with good gear and great stemming - one hand in the (finger) crack, the other on the leaning pillar. The pillar leans away from the wall, so the stemming gets more exciting as you climb.Once you reach the top of the pillar the real work begins. Your two smallest pieces will fit in the bulge - but, if you're not solid while liebacking on sloping tips, save one larger green Alien size for the short ramp over the bulge.The anchors are just large machine-bolts sticking out of the rock, with webbing slung over them. Not too reassuring. The current rings are aluminum rap rings - don't toprope through them (duh)!

Unknown 5.10+

As described in the Donnelly Canyon intro, this route is quite obvious.  On my first visit to the area, I said, "That must be Supercrack."  I was wrong, but this is one striking line.

From the parking lot, cross the drainage and head up canyon about 50 yards, then follow an obvious and well built trail up and left to the bottom of the route.

The first pitch is 120 feet long so don't forget the trail line.  The first 25 feet or so are the awkward crux of the route, then you're in hand jam heaven.  The crack does widen slightly near the anchor.  The #4 Camalot is for the obvious pod at the bottom, you could get by without it with a big-hands piece a little lower.  Have fun, and don't forget to keep your weight on your feet, no matter how much they hurt.

The route has a wider second pitch that I've never seen anyone climb.

Generic Crack

This Line offers a 5.11 Variation to the First pitch (5.8).  Start at the Right of the Triangular Flake and follow on Thin Fingers through the Crux (the 10 feet after the white Band) until you reach the final Jug holds at the top of the Flake.

Naked and the Dead Variation

This climb is truly incredible. The greatest part is that its nice hard climbing that varies incredibly in size, its not the same move all the way to the chains. Dos Hermanos is located to the left of the Drainpipe Corner and to the right of the Elephant route and chocolate corner. Just look for the sweet looking crack busting right through the middle of the huge roof. Start by heading up a system of twin cracks. Actually the left one is a crack, but you can't really get you're feet into it cause it has an edge pointing away from you, and the right crack is really only a rail you can slap and lieback and heelhook your way up. The feet are mostly smears on the face. The first crux comes right before you hit the low angle section, trying to get your feet up on a ledge. You can rest here as long as you want, its no hands. Next, head up the steep heros handjams to a rest right under the roof. Reach out as far as you can and place a #3 camalot, then jam out the roof, keeping your feet in the crack. Depending on hand size the roof is either easy(large hands), hard(cupping, normal hands), or highly improbable(womans hands). Look for crimpers on the left side to help you pull the lip. The last move is literally the crux of the whole climb. Super good fun.

Dos Hermanos

I've looked at this for years as the logical extension to Fuel Injected. The corner above the existing anchor continues to a great ledge way up there. Once you've achieved the Hard Bod you can graduate to the Dad Bod! The rock quality is great and the climbing likely isn't harder than 10+ or so, but you may be a bit gassed and have to tap the extra fuel cells. We considered many name options including the famous Jackson Browne song "Running on Empty." The ledge at the top of the route is amazing, with very beautiful walls flanking you at the perfect stance. Wish I had a photo.

The route was put up in what may be one of the longest yo-yos of all time. Aaron got the rope up on Fuel Injected, then I TRed up that with the tagline and some gear and led on. Hauling the drill up with a Gri-Gri on my belay loop with no pro and crouching on the ledge was one of my more interesting first ascent experiences. Bulldogs drill fast but they sure aren't light.

At the end of the day Joe led the whole route for the full trad dad experience, narrowly pulling off Fuel Injected and then heroically persevering on. It was the conclusion to an amazing and classic Creek day with a good crew. This was also the last day I climbed with my late good friend Nolan Smythe. Rest in peace brother. You were one of the best and most genuine of the new generation of climbers. Respect.

Dad Bod

Mr. Peanut lies up and approx 20' left of

Chocolate Corner

.  There is a somewhat hidden hand crack on the right, just left of a wide crack. Start up the hand crack to a small roof (crux), which narrows down to consistent fingers to the anchor. It is rated 11+ in both the older Sharp End guidebook as well as the new Bloom book, but I would argue it's more like 10+, possibly 11-.

Mr. Peanut

Another popular moderate classic.  Hike along the main Donnelly buttress north from Generic, past Binou's, and look for a beautiful thin-hands crack in a dark right-facing corner.  Trample (as lightly as possible) up from the trail to the base. Start with #1 Camalot size until it pinches down slightly (#2 Friend), grunt (or panic depending on your style) through the thinness to a nice ledge on the left.  Continue up the widening (starts #2 Camalot size, ends #3 Camalot size) crack to the anchors on the right.

If your hands are small this will probably be a cruise.  The rest of us probably will say there's a move or two of 9+.

Chocolate Corner

This route has the unique distinction of being the only sport climb at the Creek, and a great one at that! Let 'R Buck makes for a good end of the day/weekend/month trip climb when your paws and feet are too sore to shove in any more cracks. Located to the right of

Binou's Crack

.

The crux on this route is getting to the second bolt. If you botched the sequence right at the bolt, then you might hit the deck (or come really close). Having the second bolt clipped is nice, but maybe not necessary with an attentive belay. After the third bolt, the climbing is superb and balancey and in the 5.11 range.  The rock on this route is awesome and moves are memorable.

Let 'er Buck

Classic moderate climb.  Very popular.  Starts in a right facing corner next to the neon sign that says "Binou's" (actually just pecked into the rock - probably by Indians).  Jam the crack until it gets tiny and a nice wide crack opens on the left, take a nice rest on a great knee jam, and scoot on up to the top.

Binou's Crack

This route is a reasonably good Donelly climb and seems to be free more often than others.  It is just as long and good as 'Generic Crack,' but less generic.  The size changes throughout and the angle weaves back and forward, throug a few hanging corners and flaring pods.

Fing a long climb left of the ever-popular Chocolate corner area- continue left past Mr Peanut and toward Generic Crack to near the bolted arete of Let Er Buck. Just right of there (if memory serves- I just did it again on Easter of 04) is a splitter off of the ground with rounded edges. About 10M up is the first pod, which is also the crux.

A rack of cams should include a few down to an inch, with at least two each #2 and #3.5 and probably three each #2.5 and #3.  That should do well, but if you love plugging tons of gear, consider taking more.  Take a few slings too, as the pods protect deep in back.

A 70M rope will get you down, a 60 won't without trickery.

Unknown Pod Climb.

P1: Chocolate Corner.

P2: Nerve wracking stemming up the corner past a few bolts and small nuts and cams, head games.

P3: Amazing looking snaking thin hands splitter up a steep! wall with great exposure.

Ocean Negro

A 50' black corner to a choice between a 5.10 hands corner or 5.11 finger splitter. It starts off as a difficult laybacking boulder problem. I left a fixed nut because small cams take up the only holds and a pillar looms below. The nut makes it safe and solid. Then .11- finger climbing leads to a ledge that used to have a jingus two pin anchor in a splitter crack. I "replaced" the anchor, and in a fit of ruthless vandalism, moved it another 50' feet higher to where a sweet 5.10 corner and a 5.11 splitter converge. The route continues via a blocky flake system to a bolted offwidth roof at least one more pitch (I only spied all this from the ground). It appears that the FA probably aided a few more feet above the new anchor (knifeblade pin scars evident) and swung into the flake. It is possible to step left into the flake system from the top of the splitter, however. The whole route seems to have been nailed originally, as angle scars pock even the 2 inch cracks.

I'd give it three stars, but the fact that the crux is significantly harder than the rest of the route detracts a little. But the upper splitter is a classic finger stack trainer; the low angle, footers, and pods keep it from being brutal, but rattly stacks are required.

Unknown AKA Reclamation

This is the climb to the left of Drain Pipe in the same alcove.  It is a bit longer, but we were able to do it with a 60 m rope with no problem.  We finished this climb on Thanksgiving Day just as the weather turned to hell.

Starting this climb was a grunt for me and I felt insecure.  However, my taller second was able to move through this section more securely.  As mentioned above, the start is wide and awkward. Once this section is surmounted, the climbing is more straightforward. This crack undulated a bit more than most IC crack and allowed for more size variety.  We felt this climb was for sure a solid 10 and maybe 10+.  Though most climbs that eat 1.5 Friends/.75 Camalots at the Creek tend to be harder, the presence of pods and some sections being slightly less than vertical kept it from being an 11.  Save a 3 Friend/2 Camalot or 2 for the top, which is probably the only place they'll fit anyway.

The Crack Just to Left of Drainpipe

As the name suggests it's a fun little line to do while waiting for Generic Crack. Finger locks to some face moves, finishes with a mantle onto a ledge.

There is no bolted anchor. Take 3 0.4 Camelots to make a gear anchor. Retrieve gear anchor on rappel of Generic Crack with a fun little swing!

Description

Routes in Donnelly Canyon