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The Thumb isn’t the greatest climb in Little Cottonwood, but it is an aesthetic feature within the canyon. With 10 or 11 pitches of 5.7, it sounded like an awesome adventure to Kirk, Wes and me. We met at the Gate parking at 6am and began hiking to the base shortly after. By 7am, we […]

The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range is one of the gnarliest areas I have ever been too. The exposure of the rock makes 3rd class climbing feel like 5th. One of my first mountain climbing adventures was in this range and it forever changed my outlook on life. Since that first experience, I had only returned […]

My girlfriend and I took a week long New Years trip down to Vegas this year to soak up some warmer weather and get a few climbs in while the snow continued to dump in Salt Lake. We wanted to do a variety of climbing, but were especially excited about getting on a few classic […]

I think this climb is considered one of the Little Cottonwood classics, but I am not sure. Regardless, it was a really fun route. It is located in the Gate Buttress within the Schoolroom area. To get to the climb, you follow a trail through the bouldering area and out onto a large boulder field. […]

Rock Climbing without a Knife, Are you Crazy? Seriously, think about it. You are stuck 2000 feet up a blank face and you are dangling from the rope. Maybe you’ve been impaled by a large tree branch and you can’t keep moving, but if you just keep hanging there, the weight of your body will […]

Sundial Peak and Lake Blanche are a classic hiking destination for many people in the Salt Lake Valley. It’s a short, 20 minute drive and a rewarding 2 hour hike to the lake, but the views are spectacular. It is easily in the top 3 most esthetic hiking destinations in the Wasatch. Having said that, Sundial […]

Brain Full of Spiders is a pretty fun, 4 pitch route just west of Provo, Utah in Rock Canyon. The route is bolted, rated 5.9+ and a perfect combination of difficulty for my girlfriend Kim and I. She had never led anything on a multipitch route and the upper pitches are easier with a fair […]

I love this route. I think it is my favorite 5.8 in little cottonwood. It is stiff and scary. The route starts on a steep, sustained face for about 50 feet. It is every size. Perfect hands to fist. Fingers and face climbing. It as a good variety. You pull over the face onto a big […]

This climb was a somewhat intimidating onsite for me. It’s long and 5.9. Usually, I try not to onsite 5.9 in little cottonwood because I still feel new enough to trad climbing that I don’t want to get myself in over my head too much, but I decided to give it a try anyways. I’m glad […]

We began hiking up Jacob’s Ladder trail just as the sun started lighting the horizon and the stars faded into the dull grey. The low-light, black and white landscape slowly filled with color as the brightness of the day began to warm the cool fall air. Step by step, Kirk and I lugged our climbing gear, food, and water […]