The Crescent Wall is a classic chunk of Lumpy granite located at the far east end of the ridge. It is easily identified by the Crescent "arch" that forms a big roof splitting the entire upper section of the face. The routes tend to be in the Five hard range with 2 X-rated exceptions. While a few of the routes do breach the huge roof, most of them reach a mid-point anchor and a rappel back to the base. If you are looking for a place, at Lumpy,where you'll see few climbers (if any) this is it.
Getting There
There used to be 2 trailheads that can be used to access the Crescent Wall. However, now there is one trailhead. Hike north on the right trail and then go east (and a little south) on the Gem Lake trail until the rock is very obvious off to your right. Then contour over to the base.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Crescent Wall:
This is the very obvious, left-facing dihedral on the right side of the wall, to the right of Pressure Drop and Finger-Lickin Good. It is actually the right side of the crescent that is the wall's namesake. The bottom two-thirds of the pitch is wide and 5.10 with very little actual off-widthing required. Oddly, the 5.11 climbing starts when it turns to hands and the corner begins arching out left more. When the corner begins to drast...[more]Browse More Classics in CO
Greg Miller and I went to Crescent Arch last Tuesday, the first time for both of us. Once we left the trail, the approach (and return) was pretty unpleasant. If when you leave the trail you find yourself immediately in big boulders, you may have gone too far. You need to leave the trail where it bends to the left and Crescent Wall is just across a ravine. There's an open slope leading down into the ravine that's obvious on the return, but hard to see on the approach. At the bottom of the slope are some big boulders. It may be best to skirt those on the right losing some elevation. On the return we descended a ways from below Crescent Arch, passing below most of the boulders and aimed for the open slope. That worked well until the last 100 feet before the uphill where we encountered some difficult boulders. Until/if the best route is marked with cairns, you're likely to encounter some scrambling to bypass big boulders and some nasty brush. At this time of year, expect ice and snow in the ravine. Consider NOT carrying all the big gear that we carried thinking we might actually do Crescent Arch.
The approach to Crescent Wall is simply heinous. I had heard that the approach sucked, but was confident that I could find something that worked, unfortunately I failed and going out as well as coming back were very unpleasant. I plan on cairn marking a reasonable approach (if I can find one) on my next day out there because THE WALL IS REALLY AWESOME, such a cool spot also. It would benefit greatly from an improved trail.
I thought the approach was ok. If you are fine with a bit of boulder hopping and a bit of bushwacking - not all that bad and not that long from the trail to the wall. I would not describe it as henious personally. Follow Ivan's recommendations to find the open slope which is a bit loose. This seems the best way down into the ravine.
This wall isn't for everyone: if you are into runout, scary 5.10 and above trad climbing definitely visit here (and really 5.11 and above to make the visit worthwhile). If not, I wouldn't bother. Most of the climbs encounter runout climbing and it is typical awkward, insecure, flared, slab cracks...though the 11 and above are pretty steep. I left thinking...hmm with a few more bolts this wall would be stellar, but I don't like runout, scary trad climbing that much. As it is it just wasn't enough protection for my taste. Though I thought Crescent Arch and Finger Lickin Good were exceptions. Doesn't seem like this would be a good place when it is hot out.
I thought everything on the left side of the wall was very runout, hard to locate the old bolts, very friction type slab climbing, and with flaking rock....enjoy.
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