Trad Climbing

A few weeks ago, my friend Kirk and I were trying to decide on an adventure. Being from Salt Lake, we had plans to go to Yosemite, but ended up not working out for the timeframe that we wanted. We did have a couple days to make something happen, so the Elephant’s Perch stood out […]

I had done a little bit of reading about Black Streak on Devil’s Castle before my friend suggested the neighboring route “Horns of Satan.” I am glad he did. The route is traditional protection, but because it is Limestone, it is mostly bolted and incredibly chossy. The harder sections are very well bolted and incredibly […]

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 […]