My personal review of Indian Creek from a Squamish Climber

Hi there, 

I am a squamish based climber who recently visited Indian Creek for a couple of weeks. Here is my full summary of how I felt the whole climbing community was. This is not a troll post, take it as you will, but I think a review is good for people planning on coming, especially with an expecation from Squamish rock 

Guidebook: 

- I purchased the Creek Freak guidebook back in Squamish to attempt to understand the; camping beta, rack beta, grading scale, roue finding, approach etc. Upon moving reading the guidebook and attemping to understand things, I realized that purchasing it was a big mistake. There are no close up photos, and every crack and every wall looks the exact same, especially from the distance the photos are taken at

- Example, as I was looking for the blue gramma crag, the guidebook says it's the first climbing area and can be located at the first sight of dihedrals. As I was coming into the climbing area, I saw about 50 dihedrals, and 50 pullouts, and about 50 crags that looked climbable. 

- The map is quite pointless, it's just a squigly line with markers on where each crag is, but no geocordinates. A location with 0 cell reception should have at least a good map in the guidebook 

- In the end, all I used was mountian project and a hellofalot of guessing 

- Guidebook may have 1 star as the climb, but mountainproject may have 5 stars. This huge variance on the majority of the climbs make it difficult to understand if the climb is straigth choss or non in climbable condition 

- 50% of the book is redacted making it extremely hard to understand anything 

- Unfortunately, I have no good notes about this guidebook 

- Book is extremely expensive 

- Squamish select guidebook is extremely comprehensive. If you didn't have a phone nor a car you'd be able to find every single crag in the 600 page book without an issue by just reading the guidebook

- 1/5

The climbing

- The climbs look really cool, seriously. It looks exactly the same as I see in photos and such. The red rocks, the perfect splitters.

- Grades seem to be a mess here, as if you hop on a 10 or 11, if could be a 10a or 10d, or 11a or 11d, etc etc. I won't be blaming this on anyone or anything as it's very clear and stated in the book that it all depends on hand size

- No particular move it is hard, but it's whether you can do the same move over and over again

- The climbs are quite boring, it's literally the exact same thing over and over. There may be a move on there that's the crux and makes it a bit different than the same thing over and over, but the moves never coincide with the grading. Meaning, the routes seem to be based on whether an individual can make the same level of move over and over again, as to grading the hardest move on the climb. Incredible hand crack or those 10's handcracks would be a 5.8/9 if graded based on the hardest move (which majority of places do), but the endurance factor rates it differently so it turns out to be a 10. Not agreeing or disagreeing, just my observations here 

- Sending a hard route here does not "feel good", as it's just an endurance game instead of any hard moves. Therefore you have endurance of a 5.whatever climber, but go elsewhere and you won't be able to solve a flared crack issue in the same grade

- I've heard countless times that the rock has so much friction due to the fact that it's like sandpaper. This couldn't be further from the truth. Majority of climbs were polished in popular areas (as expected), and even without the polished rock the rock is literally only a tenth of the grippiness you find on granite 

- 2.5/5 

The people

-  People are great here, no issues with that. 100 % of the people I met were travelling, never met a local which is a bit unfortunate 

- Easy to find partners, go to the lot and hit someone up as they are usually looking for more cams

- People are willing to take your rope up and just setup top rope

- 5/5

The parking & Approach

- Due to the lack of information in the guidebook, I only visited supercrack buttress and blue gramma 

- There was plenty of parking in both areas on weekdays/weekends. The lot is small but it never seems to get full when I was there 

- The approach never seems to be too long, though I only went to places with relatively shorter approaches (supercrack and blue gramma)

- Even if it's long, it's not very very long as compared to some places 

- 5/5 

Camping 

- Lots of places to camp

- Biggest issue here is that when I was camping at superbowl, there was always a loud party up till 12am. I really wanted to leave. I saw a campsite with 6 vehicles on one of the non group party locations..

- Extremely easy to find parking and such anywhere, pullouts to sleep etc etc

 - 5/5

Signal

- Basically no signal within a 30/40 minute diamater of the park, that's not really an issue for me but a heads up 

- 2/5

Temperatures in November

- F*&king cold at night when the sun dips, everything is always frozen when I wake up and a -20 sleeping bag was still not cutting it

- The lack of warmth was a real killer and not worth it enough for the few hours of climbing in the day

- No motivation to cook because it was extremely windy and blowing the fires away 

- Climbing is good in the sun, without it is not possible 

- 1.5/5

Nearby Amenities

- Speaking about Moab/gearheads

- Loved the place, gearheads is great, moab has everything and the place is so fun to be in 

- Monticello is a waste of time and a very red necky area 

- 5/5

Overall

- Overall I am a bit disappointed with the area 

- The lack of information on the guidebook and lack of signal to allow me to use thecrag/MP, made it extremely difficult for travellers to undersand what's going on 

- The moves are quite boring

1.5/5

This made me chuckle. Can't wait to see the reactions to it.

How much research did you do before coming? I feel like it’s common knowledge that the area has zero cell signal (part of what makes it magical) and is literally just a canyon of 100-150ft enduro-splitters with the same moves (also what makes it fun). I don’t think anyone goes to Creek for variety in climbing style.

That said, I LOVE the Creek but also agree 1000% with everything you said hahahaah.

Edit: Comparing Creek to Squamish is ridiculous, the two places are complete opposites — even in terms of rock type, style, amenities, and climate. I go to the Creek to whack my rack of 15 #1s at the wall and socialize with friends while rolling around in the dirt, and I’d go to Squamish to actually rock climb while screaming over the traffic noise. 

Reads more like a rant than a review. Here’s a review of your review: 

Buy some earplugs for the parties. Buy better winter clothing and sleeping gear - the desert winters are incomparable to the coastal climate you’re used to. Spend a day or two just getting dialed in, find some of your projects, then go climb them. Also, easier prepped meals instead of standing outside cooking dinner for two hours. Or better yet, since it’s winter, get a trailer, van or rv to hang out in for 6 hrs at night. 

Go back to Canada eh, the desert sucks, tell all of your friends how bad of a time you had while youre back there. The locals suck here too, youre lucky you didnt meet any of us.  

In comparison Squamish is the best climbing zone ive ever been to. The climbing is 5* and so is the town!  Cant wait to move there with all of my friends!!!!

Randy Vannurden wrote:

Go back to Canada eh, the desert sucks, tell all of your friends how bad of a time you had while youre back there. The locals suck here too, youre lucky you didnt meet any of us.  

In comparison Squamish is the best climbing zone ive ever been to. The climbing is 5* and so is the town!  Cant wait to move there with all of my friends!!!!

I'm with Randy. The climbing and everything else sucks here. Please tell all your friends.

I only visited supercrack buttress and blue gramma

Do yourself a favor: go back sometime.

Long Ranger wrote:

Do yourself a favor: go back sometime.

Or not. It’s awful. 

My dude,

It sounds like you got spanked.

But also, Squamish is probably the best climbing area in NA. You have boulders and big(ish) walls, cracks and sport, easy camping, tons of amenities, and nonexistent approaches. Not to mention the ocean, wind sports, and snow sports with none of the traffic or bullshit that comes with YNP. If you compare every other destination to Squamish, you will continually be disappointed. Its an outdoor Never Never Land.

Signed, 

Everywhere else 

wait, you came to Indian creek for a few weeks and only climbed at supercrack and blue gramma?? Hahaha.

yeah the creek sucks! 

I spent a week in Ceuse with a German man who reminded us every day how much better the climbing is in Frankenjura.

Let me know if you want his number. I think you would get along. 

How can we convince all the Coloradans to feel the same way?

The Creek is totally overrated.

Charlie S wrote:

How can we convince all the Coloradans to feel the same way?

The Creek is totally overrated.

The Creek is okay I suppose, but it is no Turkey Rocks. 

At first, I was willing to believe this might just be a maladjusted Canadian, but it got more and more obvious.

 recently visited Indian Creek for a couple of weeks.

Biggest issue here is that when I was camping at superbowl

 Due to the lack of information in the guidebook, I only visited supercrack buttress and blue gramma 

Too bad you couldn't find Battle of the Bulge!

Trolling skill of this post:

- 1.5/5

Missed the whole point with ignoring grades and looking at rack in the creek.

What a great contribution from a brand new member who apparently opened an account just to post this wonderful review! Thanks so much!

My take:  I like Led Zeppelin, but I don't like Bon Jovi.

You can tell it's a troll because the OP actually liked the town of Moab

it is fairly boring climbing and requires almost zero brain power but still fun. I'll take granite over that sandstone anytime.

mountainhick wrote:

My take:  I like Led Zeppelin, but I don't like Bon Jovi.

TAKE THAT BACK BON JOVI RULES  10.5/5.

I mean, Bon Jovi is okay…I guess, but it is no Dokken. 

jokes aside, I kinda want to read more reviews of climbers comparing their home crag to other crags. Like, lmaoo the original post was kinda sad (if actually serious) but also really entertaining.