The BLM office in Monticello has asked the Friends of Indian Creek to remind climbers that there is a 14-day limit on camping on BLM Land. The F.O.I.C. understands that there is a bit of a history of staying in the Creek for far longer, but heavy climber-traffic in the area has made the BLM take notice of this tradition. Be aware that overstaying the 14-day limit makes climbers look as if we feel the rules don't apply to us and thus has an effect on long-term access. Moving your campsite throughout the season, or perhaps finding a site outside the main Indian Creek area, will not only help smooth relations with the BLM, but will also keep you from possibly getting hit with a fine.
Black Uhuru has got to be one of the best 5.10s anywhere. Begin on the far left side of the wall, well past scarface, sicilian, etc., underneath a huge varnished right facing corner. The climb begins up some easy ledges to the splitter corner. Climb this with jams and laybacks. The climb has several difficult sections with good rests/hand jams and takes all sizes of gear. This is a long pitch and needs two ropes to get off safely (maybe 1 rope reaches the top of the ledges but it has been a while and I don't trust my memory)
This description doesn't fit the route I've always been told is Black Uhuru. Unless I'm mistaken Black Uhuru is near Scarface, and is the next dihedral to the left of the hand-to-wide hand crack Where's Carruthers. It is a left facing dihedral which is climbed via twin cracks (one is thin hands in the dihedral, the other is wide hands on the face) into a chimney. The chimney is exited via cruxy liebacks to another lieback section before the anchors. If I remember correctly, the crux is actually best protected by stoppers and is a rare Indian Creek 5.10 that felt for-real for the grade.
The hands corner just to the left of Where's Carruthers is not BU. The above description is accurate in terms of the climbs location. The climb has a plaque below it. BU has a lot of fingers as well, with a short finger crux near the top.
'where's carruthers' is only about 5 feet left of scarface. starts in a hanging flare of sorts (off fingers to tight hands) and then goes to a straight in right facing dihedral with hands to fists. the route listed on this page definitely isn't WC. it looks like black uhuru.
By Kat A From: Bart and Lisa Ville, CO Oct 28, 2008
Joe Gartner's route description is accurate for Black Uhuru. We did this with a 70 m rope belaying from the ledge, and didn't have any problems lowering. I don't recall how much rope we had remaining, so I'm not sure if 60 m is sufficient. Even for small hands, I had to layback parts of it but there are facial features allowing for decent rests. This is a great climb.
By Guy Humphrey From: Fort Collins CO Oct 26, 2009 rating: 5.10d
This is a beautiful varnished corner that looks harder than it really is. There are a number of no hands rests between the hard lieback sections.
Here is a rack recommendation:
1 #0.3/0.4, 6-7 #0.5, 3-4 #0.75, and 2 #1,2 camalots...
By ccmski From: Prescott, AZ 4 days ago rating: 5.10+
Great route. 70m works from the top of the ledges. Plentiful rests keep the climbing more moderate than it appears. Lots of #.5 BD
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