Mountain Project: Climbing Telluride/Norwood area

Ophir Wall is located at about 9,000 feet in the "town" of Ophir outside of Telluride. Many single pitch and several 600 foot climbs are on the Ophir Wall. Despite its reputation, Ophir has a lot of very high quality rock. Ophir is old school; the grades are solid, the routes can be runout, and the climbing is technical. John Long and Lynn Hill put up many high quality routes here, including the coveted Ophir Broke.

Getting There

Heading north on US 550, turn west (left) on Ophir Pass Road, about 10 miles outside of Silverton. Ophir Pass is too rough, but a high clearance vehicle is nice. If you don't want to go over Ophir Pass, then you can take 184 West to Cortez and then CO 145 East to Telluride. Ophir is about 15 miles south of Telluride on CO 145.

The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Ophir Wall:

The Slot 5.7 Trad, 1 pitch, 100 feet East Buttress

Blue Moon 5.8 Trad, Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet Main Wall

Hot Wee Wee 5.9 Trad, 5 pitches, 500 feet, Grade II Main Wall

Dr. Gizmo 5.10+ Trad, 2 pitches, 200 feet Main Wall

Cheeseburger in Paradise 5.10+ PG13 Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet Main Wall

Y-Crack 5.10d Trad, 1 pitch, 100 feet Main Wall

Party Out of Bounds 5.11 Trad, 1 pitch, 70 feet Party Wall

White Salamander 5.12- Sport, 1 pitch, 70 feet Main Wall

Savelli Express 5.13a Trad, 8 pitches, 600 feet, Grade III Main Wall

Featured Route For Ophir Wall

Y-Crack 5.10d CO : Telluride/Norwood area : ... : Main Wall

This classic route starts on a ledge (Tennis Shoe Traverse) about 150 feet off the deck, about 200 feet to the right of the large, left-facing dihedral. Consult the guidebook for an approach pitch. This 5-star crack to hard to miss from the road. This is a must do route if you are in the area for a few days. It starts out in a flared jagged wide crack with hand jams inside (5.10a). This leads to a good rest at the intersection of the upper two cracks. The left part of the Y-crack is easier ...[more] Browse More Classics in CO

Comments on Ophir Wall

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By Anonymous Coward
Jun 16, 2005

Bill Kees is the man.

By Anonymous Coward
Sep 10, 2005

"Ophir ", in terms of climbing, generally refers to 3 main areas. The Ophir Wall, which is the prominent face you'll see from the road, The Dark Side which is made up of many smaller cliffs directly opposite The Ophir Wall, and Cracked Canyon, a moderately steep canyon a few hundred yards east of The Ophir Wall. The approaches to these three areas are very different and I would recommend asking a local or consulting one of the guidebooks (as of this fall the third should be out) for advice.

Often described as loose, chossy, etc. the area does offer a good variety of climbs up to about 5 pitches with some good, dense cragging in Cracked Canyon. I would guess that at least half of the 200+ climbs in the area are well worth doing. Besides many good climbs the place has a great history with routes put up by Robbins, Barber, Long, L. Hill, C. Fowler, A. Savelli, M. Wilford just to name a few. And of course Bill Kees, who was correctly identified as "the man" by previous AC. Of course with a crew like this putting up the routes the warning sign should be flashing "stiff ratings, at times runout".

Beautiful setting. Have fun.

By Erock
From: Flagstaff, AZ
May 26, 2007

Is there a good guidebook for this place? Can you get it in Telluride?

By adampeters
From: Golden, Colorado
Jun 20, 2009

Guidebook is "Telluride Rock", you can find it at Jagged Edge in Telluride.

By chris Kalous
Sep 1, 2009

Went to the Ophir wall for the first time, pretty specifically to do Ophir Broke among others. I was very psyched to see and try this test-piece. My favorite part? Hiking up to see an old ratty fixed line on the route. No wait, I think repeatedly batting it out of the way while pumped silly leading the upper part was even better.

Look, mini-traxioning is all the craze with the friendless, but if you have a training route you want to leave a cord on, don't pick the area's most noteworthy and proud test-piece. Only an ego maniac would think its okay to impinge on another's experience like that. At least leave it set up as a top-rope so anybody could pull it to get it out of the way.

Otherwise, Ophir Wall and Cracked Canyon both are awesome. Did not find the grades super stiff (is there a backwater area that doesn't claim this?) Better be good with your gear to safely lead some of the harder trad pitches, though.

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Ophir Wall

Description

Getting There

The Classics