(1) Weather Wall, Yellow Wall, & all the crags north of Twin Sisters are CLOSED. (2) No trash cans. (3) Highlining temporary ban in place for CIRO and CRSP
(1) The area, crags, and routes just north of the Twin Sisters are on private land and the landowner recently posted no trespassing notices at the gated road/trail to the area. Any access of these areas and routes is trespassing. The area was closed by the landowner due to trespassing, illegal camping, fires & trash, and disregard of owner's privacy.
Please be respectful of the land owner's wishes and do not climb or hike here until further notice. This includes White Lightning, Skinner Roof, Weather Wall, Yellow Wall, Larry's Annihilation, Needle Rock, Mississippi Fred's, and Secret Tom's. Park officials and CRAG are working to regain access to this valuable climbing resource. Be patient and check back for updates.
(2) No trash cans anywhere in City of Rocks:
urlzs.com/c4eZH (3) HIGHLINING IS PROHIBITED
By the authority of the park manager, Highlining at City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park is temporarily prohibited as of August 28, 2019.
The park(s) is reviewing highlining activities. Here are Google Drive links to the closure and the updated Code of Regulations for CIRO.
drive.google.com/open?id=1y… and
drive.google.com/open?id=1Y…
Sl, ut
Draper, UT
Los Alamos, NM
Los Alamos, NM
Longmont, CO
Salt Lake City, Utah
Twin Falls Id
Hagerman, Id
Salt Lake City, UT.
Fort Collins, CO
The one thing I wanted to comment on is that, compared to similar routes in California, this route felt around 5.4 or 5.5 first pitch, 4th class second pitch, 5.0 to 5.2 third pitch. I don't care much about the rating, just wanted to warn people to watch out when climbing similar climbs elsewhere - since they won't have anywhere near as many bolts. Dec 21, 2006
Las Vegas
Yellowstone National Park
Be sure to bring a beer or two for the summit, hang out and enjoy the view. We solo'd past a party who was kind enough to let us by, when they arrived we joined ropes and did a single rap to the gully.
The bolts, though plentiful, are well camo'd, so not such an eyesore as new shiny hangers might have been. This would be a great route for someone's first multi-pitch lead, or something to take a confident beginner up. The anchors are at good comfortable locations, never so far from one another that you can't be in voice contact with your second.
I gave it 4*'s, I'll climb it again sometime for certain! Jun 14, 2008
C-Dub Hts, UT
Honestly, I enjoyed this more than Steinfells. Just my $0.02. May 31, 2009
santa clara, utah
I wish I would have brought my approach shoes to the top, because when we rappelled down, there is a bit of a hike back around the corner to the start where our other gear was.
The route is not hard, but if you've never done a multi-pitch route, this is a great place to do it. It is really quite satisfying to get to the top. The rappel is quite invigorating too, as there is a long section of 'free' rappelling away from the face. Oct 16, 2009
Indian Creek, UT
Logan, Utah
Salt Lake City, Ut
Lakewood, CO
Pitch 2 - 5.2 or 5.3, 175 feet and 15 bolts
Pitch 3 - 5.3 or 5.4, 75 feet and 11 bolts
Pitch 4 - 5.2 or 5.3, 150 feet and 9 bolts
These are estimates for the climb from our group. Fun climb, many many bolts have spinning hangers.
If you do not like friction, do not despair foot holds and hand holds the entire route. A great first multi-pitch lead. Jul 2, 2012
Menifee, CA
On the hike down the gully, toward the end, tend to your right around a tree and down some slab and it will drop you right back where you started. If you follow the main trail to the left, you'll have to do some hiking back up the hill.
The approach hike was longer and steeper than I was expecting, not horrible, just more than I was expecting. Had me breathing hard, and required a few rest breaks.
I'll say it again, really fun climb. All you 5.12 climbers will probably be a little bored, but for us mortals, it doesn't get much more enjoyable than this climb. Aug 2, 2012
I'm not sure what people are talking about with a free-hanging rappel. I rappeled from chains 10 feet right of the final belay and I recall two very straight forward single rope rappels. Don't rap from the final belay chains, at least off to the right, as the rope won't pull. Sep 24, 2012
Gilbert, AZ
The approach was a bit of a hike, I think I used more energy hiking up to the climb than the actual climb itself. Lots of bolts, super safe. The first pitch had the hardest moves, only part where it was 5.7. We had 14 quick draws but there were more bolts per pitch, we ended up skipping some and reaching back and unclipping from the next one when they were super close. We had a 70 m rope and were able to climb the 3rd and 4th pitch together with about a meter of rope left and still had 5 quick draws left over (not bolting bolting in each time). 2 rappels, the first one has a free rappel. You have to hike down the hill between the two giant rocks and it kills your toes. I would carry a pair of shoes if I did it again. May 3, 2014
The rappel is not commensurate with the climbing difficulty though and might be a little intimidating. The rap anchor is the one on the climbers right as you arrive at the summit. I clipped a draw to the other one and went straight there so we would be ready to setup the rap right away. It looks like a long way but a 70 reaches the gully just fine. If you have a shorter rope, there are chains on a ledge below the drop off from the summit. You cannot see them from the summit but you will end up at them just fine as you touch down on the ledge. Oct 12, 2014
Oakridge, OR
A great way to avoid the sun if you start early. Jun 2, 2015
Driggs, ID
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
The Land of Ooo
Boulder, CO
Great route, awesome views, definitely a great starter. May 30, 2017
Bozeman
Ogden, UT
SALT LAKE CITY
The movement itself wasn't particularly memorable, but it's a great casual outing. I actually thought the second pitch had the coolest movement despite being the easiest pitch.
Rappel beta: This will be obvious to veteran climbers, but the length of the rappel chains points you in the direction you want to go (I.e when they're both pulled taught, that's the direction you're meant to go). Since this wasn't obvious to my partner and the rappel is blind / significantly more intimidating than the climbing, I figured I'd pass it on. Jun 2, 2018
Denver, CO
Logan, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Cupertino, CA
June 2023 edit. Did the route again. With a 70m, it is much more efficient to rap all the way to the gulley and ignore the 2nd rap chains. We did the 2nd rap (for practice for our newer climber). Another team behind rapped to gulley. We weren't very far below them in the gulley, so it didn't buy us much. I think the 2nd rap is only there for those with one 60m rope. Sep 21, 2021
British Columbia
We climbed on double 60s which allowed us to make a long rap into the gully, which is a very easy walk down once in the base. Worth doing. Jun 1, 2022
Lower Hutt, NZ
SLC
Portland, OR
Idaho
All belay stations have chains and were solid as of 8/30/23. Once you start up the route with anything less than 80m rope, or a couple of 60m ropes, there is no easy way to bail. Partner and I used a single 70M and were fine on the climb and rap down. Jay Anderson post from 9/5/21 nicely sums up the rappel chain location and rappel experience. To recap: Once you are at the top of the 4th route at the belay station, look to your right about 10-15 feet and you will see the rap chains. After getting belayed over to the rap chains, a single 70M rope and rap will get you to the gully below.
Always check the weather before you head out to climb in the City or Castle. They have notorious afternoon lightening, rain, and snow storms. You will get hammered on this route if you are caught out in bad weather. Plan accordingly.
Lastly, as many have said before, the approach and return hike feels harder than the actual climbing. ;) Plan on 35+/- minute approach, each way, from parking lot to start of route. Aug 30, 2023
Victor, ID
Cambridge, MA