Introduction............... Site Map.................. History..................... Recom. Climbs...... New Climbs............
CENTRAL VEDA....
Fall Wall ................. Coke Bottle............. Walt's Wall............. Hassler's Hbox..... Master Blaster....... Chinatown............. Holy Saturday....... Foreign Terr.......... Jurassic Park......... Glen Dome............. Turtle Rock............. Rising Moon........... Hypertension......... Heartbreak Hot..... Crystal Freeway....... Old Easy................. MRC......................... Golden Triangle... Holdout................... Nautilus..................
Poland Hill.............. Valley Massif.......... Reynolds................
THE OUTBACK.......
Amazeing................... The Citadel............. Devil's Playground End of the Road..... H& I............................ Parade Rock........... Spelunk Spire......... West World..............
BLAIR.......................
Lower Blair............. Upper Blair.............
HAPPY JACK...........
BROWN'S Lndg....
The SNOWIES.......
Bouldering.............
CLIMBING
AT
V E D A U W O O
Rock climbers come to Vedauwoo from all parts of the world to sample some of the best wide crack climbing (called "offwidths") known. There were over 500 challenging and sometimes bloodthirsty traditional and sport climbs documented in the book entitled Heel and Toe, The Climbs of Greater Vedauwoo, by myself (Skip Harper) and Rob Kelman. Published in 1994, this guidebook was the first of its kind to employ computerized graphics at high resolution (Photoshop didn't exist!) and emphasized the illustration of real routes on real rock. Unfortunately, it is no longer available. Of course climbing at Vedauwoo has expanded considerably since Heel and Toe. Now there are over 900 climbs and new areas have evolved. Hopefully this website provides much broader coverage including all this new development. If its not here now, it will be soon.
** NOTE: Two Guidebooks currently provide coverage of the Vedauwoo Area. These are detailed in the BOOKS section of this website.
Notes on climbing here in general . . .
A painful howl echoed through the woods
"this thing is eating me alive"! I had to chuckle as I recalled
my first experience climbing at Vedauwoo. The precambrian granite is laced
with
huge feldspar crystals with scalpel like edges that can impart much more than
just friction to a climbers body parts. It has been stated that this
attribute tends to "filter out the weak, the soft and
the spineless, which leaves better company for you" (Todd
Skinner). Also be forewarned, the climbs are notoriously
stiff. Solid 5.11 leaders have been sandbagged by many routes of lesser
grade. Whatever the case, its a good idea to 'tape up' when climbing here
and, for those who can get past these things, absolutely world class climbing
experiences can be found.
Perhaps offwidths (cracks wider than your fist, yet narrower than your body
width), more than any other type of climb have formed the
basis of Vedauwoo's widespread reputation. Many
an experienced crack
climber has looked up into the gaping maw of one of these contortions (or
'perfections', depending upon your perspective) of nature and walked away.
But if wide cracks are your fare, this is the place! Here's Luebben 'handstacking'
up
Bell Crack (11b).
Other examples are Horn's
Mother (11a) on the Coke Bottle (a long, two
pitch body-rending grind) and
Trip
Master Monkey (12b) in the
Master Blaster Area. On a much more
moderate note is
Hideaway Chimney,
a choice 5.5
inside double dihedral found on the Holy Saturday Formation. So anyone can
enjoy
offwidthing
(is this possible??) if you know where to look.
*PLEASE READ THE "SITE WAIVER"
Hand
and finger cracks abound in the area, many of
which are considered superior
lines.
Friday
the 13th on the Nautilus is one such climb, an
exquisite, 3 pitch long line of the purest hand jamming found anywhere.
The first pitch is about 60 feet of superb 9+ hands, the second pitch (roof)
goes about 10b and the third pitch (roof), at 11d or so, requires a true cowboy
attitude or you'll get bucked right off!! That's where Steve Bechtel is in
the bottom photo on the home page, the third pitch! Or try the super thin
fingers of Blade Runner (11b) seen in the shot to
the right. On a lighter note, try
Strawberry
Jam
on the Crystal Freeway for the best handcrack at
5.8 in all of Vedauwoo.
A variety of face climbs have
been created by the artistic skill of local climbers who have
visualized lines
into otherwise unattainable vertical terrain.
"Fall Wall"
(10a) on
the Fall Wall formation is a moderate bolted face climb whereas
Space
Oddity (12a) is found on the Coke Bottle and offers a
superb challenge of delicate, dance-like moves up a 120' crystalline face.
North Shore (13a/b)
on Holdout will challenge the best of sports or try the more
recreational
2nd Iteration (10c)
in Jurassic Park. The shot is of Jim Ghiselli on
Braggin' About Jesus (10a)
in Blair.
Mixed
climbs sharing more than one
climbing style (ie offwidth plus considerable hand and/or finger jamming; or hands plus bolted face, etc.) are also found throughout
the area
and offer a special challenge to those proficient at only one or two
climbing forms. The one at left is
Master of Sport (12b), starting
with strenuous fingers and ending with handjamming.
Stinkzig
(5.7) on the Nautilus is another
climb in the more moderate grades, and
Boardwalk
(11b) on the Coke Bottle is one of
the harder ones. Also see
Turnaround
(10b/c) on Blair 2 in the New Climbs
Section.
GO TO . . . .
*a list of RECOMMENDED CLIMBS
* some NEW ROUTES !!
Copyright © 2002-2008 VedauwooResource All Rights Reserved