Casket Quarry (Duluth)

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Description 

Casket Quarry has been frequented by ice climbers for 30+ years. There was some rock development here in the 80’s (4-5 routes) but the incredibly chossy exfoliating rock is less than inspiring so it was pretty much abandoned.

With the rising popularity of Ice and Mixed climbing, more folks started using it as a training ground for other arenas. Top-roping on loose blocks/flakes and vertical kitty litter is great for testing the limits of adhesion and practicing your “I’m-light-as-a-feather” mantra…

Then the crowbars and drills showed up. Mike Dahlberg pioneered the use of RB’s or removable bolts to lead a couple mixed routes but since nobody else owned the uber specialized hardware, they never got repeated. In 2005 Mike and James Loveridge started putting some serious cleaning time in. Countless days were spent hanging from a rope with all sorts of home made “technical trundling” equipment dangling off harnesses. Eventually, if all went well, a route would emerge from underneath the choss.

Now the crag has close to 20 Ice and mixed routes all of which can be lead ground-up with good protection. If this crag were in Colorado there would be 50+ climbers there every weekend! Luckily it’s in Northern Minnesota… Come on up here, tie in and start getting’ on the sharp end! Oh, buy Mike D and J.Lo some beers for all the money they’ve spent on bolts…

Please Note: If you plan on TR’ing a route off the anchors, PLEASE use your own biners/draws to avoid wearing out the expensive hardware prematurely. If there are biners or other clip in replaceable hardware on the anchor, feel free to use them. If they are looking worn and sketchy, just replace with biners of your own. Thanks in advance for being a responsible and thoughtful crag steward!

Getting There 

From the South: Take 35 North to West Duluth. Exit on North Central Ave. go just less than a mile on Central, turn Left on Medina and then Right on 57th Ave W and cross RR tracks. Turn around so you are facing west and park ONLY on the RIGHT side of the road.

From Duluth: take highway 35 South to 40th Ave W. Go Right on 40th and continue up to the stop sign at 8th Street. Go left (west) to a weird little triangle thing and angle/turn right on Medina. At the top of the hill turn right on 57th Ave W and cross RR tracks. Turn around so you are facing west and park on the RIGHT side of the road ONLY.

Walk up the obvious trail to the clearing where you can see the quarry walls. The majority of the routes are to the left on the "West Wall" section of the Quarry

PARKING: There are 2 houses back there so PLEASE do NOT block or in any way hinder access to their property. Also- do NOT park anywhere near the RR tracks as you WILL get towed! If there are no parking places remaining (there are room for about 5 maximum) park somewhere in the neighborhood west of the tracks and consider the extra 50 yard walk to the trail head training.

DANGER: Please Note- 

It is HIGHLY dangerous to rock climb these bolted routes in the sulmmer! Even though the routes themselves are cleaned of large debris (mostly...) there are many hanging blocks on either side of the existing lines that could calve off at any time (I’ve seen 2 ton flakes come off without the slightest provocation) PLEASE- do not climb the Mixed routes at Casket unless it’s been below freezing for a week or so. Trust me, it really IS that bad...

Thanks to James Loveridge for submitting the above info.

The Classics

Featured Route For Casket Quarry (Duluth)

B) Crescent M8-  MN : Casket Quarry (Duluth)

This is the farthest left bolted M-climb at the West wall section of the quarry (just right of “The Alpine Route”). Look for a small mattress sized ledge with a flat‘ish top about 10 feet off the deck....[more]   Browse More Classics in MN

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