West Face  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  9,385. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Ron Olsen on Apr 1, 2006 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

BETA PHOTO: Wise Crack; the left-most route on the w...

Description 

The West Face of Surprising Crag has some of the earliest routes on the rock. Many of these older routes are hard, scary, and infrequently climbed. There are a few modern sport routes here, too, but most of them are quite difficult. Other than the route "The Other One", a fun route up the prow at the right end of the West Face, this area sees little traffic.

A number of the scary trad routes have not yet been added to the MountainProject.com database, but will be included in the list below.

Routes from left to right:

A. Wise Crack, 8, 1p, 60', bolts.
B. Pocket Fisherman, 11, 1p, 65', bolts.
C. Curve of Binding Energy, 12, 1p, bolts.
D. Entrapment, 10+ X, 1p, gear.
E. Heart Like a Wheel 10- X, 1p, gear.
F. Space Goats, 11+, 1p, 70', bolts.
G. Furious Howard Brown, 12-, 1p, bolts.
H. Buried Alive 10+ R/X, 1p, gear.
I. Power Line 11+ R-, 1p, gear.
J. Power Line Pup 11 R-, 1p, gear.
K. American Beauty, 12, 1p, 70', bolts.
L. Amber 11+ R, 1p, bolts & gear.
M. Mercy Drilling, 12-, 1p, 60', bolts.
N. North Crack, 8+, 1p, 60', gear. LFD.
O. Shakedown Street, 12, 1p, 60', bolts.
P. The Other One, 11-, 1p, bolts. Right-hand prow.

Getting There 

Follow the trail to Surprising Crag, then walk left and around the corner. The first route you get to is The Other One.

The Classics

Featured Route For West Face

North Crack 5.8  CO : Boulder Canyon : ... : West Face

Per D'Antonio's Boulder Canyon guidebook, this is the deep crack in the dihedral, just right of Mercy Drilling.Either smush into the crack or do dihedral moves.The crux was edging left onto the face at the end to reach the anchors for Mercy Drilling. Moving out is committing. Overall, there are good rests & several "what next?" spots for a 5.8 leader....[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

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BETA PHOTO: The Other One. The bottom part of the route and t...