Does anybody know if there are access issues to the gray cliffs above the Gray Cliff Lodge in Ogden Canyon? Seems like there is a potential of a million sport routes up there. Approach would be tolerable. Not sure if it is limestone vs other kind of rock. Don't see anything about them (except for the Blob) in Robb's book.
There are a few sport routes on the cliffs, don't know who put them up but the ones we did were in the 10 range. The approach $ucks and ran across some rattlers on the way (mid July). I may be interested in hoofing it back up if you want to check it out.
Bawls E. Climber wrote:There are a few sport routes on the cliffs, don't know who put them up but the ones we did were in the 10 range.
Seems like these are the routes on the Blob... not sure though?
I don't think hiking to the cliffs is a problem, but parking (lots of private drives) and/or wading the river is probably the biggest pain. It is limestone but I've never checked the quality. Also, Ogden has a ton of South facing sunny crags and not many shady crags. On the South side of the road you can find the cool and shady Killer Crag. I know there is potential for further development up there too.
I've hiked all around the cliffs, and there is potential but not as great as I had hoped. I know a few guys who were working on developing routes in the are several years ago and gave up due to a pretty awful approach and too many snakes. They did get one route bolted, on the lower right side (they think about a 5.8 and that seems about right after looking at it). There was also some old trad gear near the arete where the two walls come together. There could be some pretty fun stuff up there though.
I hiked around the lower and upper sections of the cliffs and didn't see any snakes, probably because of the time of year. I also know the owner of some property which is below part of the cliff, and he's a veteran of the Ogden climbing community. He's who got me into climbing and has mentioned more than once that someone should take a look at that area again. I've parked in the back of the Grey Cliff lodge and talked to them with no trouble starting the hike from there.
The limestone isn't the best quality overall though. It's like a bigger Blob. The west facing cliff seemed to offer some good rock.
The limestone doesn't look that good. If you were a wanting to put up routes, and I'm not speaking about you specifically, there are many better areas around Ogden to look to first.
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