I'll be on a business trip next week to Sioux Falls, hoping to climb @ Palisades on Wed if anyone can join me. I've never climbed there before so if anyone has any good beta I'm open to it! I'm in the 5.8-10 range.
Be sure to bring your top rope stuff--a lot of the climbs are easily set up by slinging a tree/boulder, but if you have the option of bringing some trad gear King Rock is the way to go. You won't be leading any of them, because they're all over water. But if you have trad gear (and a few of the climbs you could probably set up with simple slings) there are some really good routes to lower down too. I definitely recommend Alexander (5.8) and Cleopatra (5.7)--both solid routes for the area. King Olaf (5.10) is also a fun one. If lowering over water isn't your thing there is Stepping Out (5.8) on the Rattlesnake formation along with some other good climbs with super easy set up. On the other side of the creek are some good ones too with equally easy set-up. Chackstone Tower has some good climbs but one must lead or scramble up the backside (which is a doable 5.3ish) If you're going to lead I recommend leading the Bitch--it doesn't have the best placements but it's a fairly easy climb (5.8). Other than that, have fun and bring bug spray; the water is really high and when I was there last weekend the bugs were petty bad. Be safe.
Forgot to mention: MP does a fairly decent job covering the area but if you can part ways with $15 there is a solid climbing guide written by a couple locals that can really help with finding the routes as there are no anchors or bolts. You can pick one up at the Great Outdoor Store in down town SF.
Hey Henny, planning to drop some co workers at the airport around 7ish then drive straight to the park, so for sure by 8 on Wed morning, maybe a bit earlier. I have a 2pm flight out on wed, but if all is going good there is also a 6pm or so flight i can catch :)
Ross, thanks for the beta! Im new to trad, but anxious for more practice, have a limited trad rack now, but should be enough to lead there though, i don't recall reading about anything too tall...
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