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Can anyone attest to the quality of the climbing at Land of the Arches? Is the bouldering anything to get excited about? I've been away from the gorge for the last couple of years and haven't been able to make it over there.

The stuff I've seen is not super quality compared to a lot of other cliffs in the area. There is a larger waterfall/cave which is a cool walk to get to; you can walk to the edge of the waterfall and stare down, as well as scramble down to its base. It looks like pretty limited route potential in the cave, though; it's basically a ledge-ridden, chossier version of Midnight Surf. As for the bouldering, it is unique because it's a short 10-20 foot cliffband that you pass as you're walking down to the cave. Some nice lines there, but again, it did not blow me away.

Oh, and they also have a small woody with slick-as-snot holds in the quanset.

Over the next few months a small group of people that stay at LOTA are going to clean up the bouldering area. I.E. building top-outs, better trails, cleaning the choss away, and so forth. hopefully will get maybe half a dozen solid (non contrived eliminates) by the mid spring time. The little wall in the hangar is half way finished and has a few probs set, and yes i agree with Camhead they are super slick as of this Saturday.

"building top outs"? WTF?

The top of the cliff line is covered in mud and moss, so cutting out the dirt for a few feet would allow for a safe way to top out the problems. also the dirt is going to be used for the landing zone to make sure it is a flat landing surface.

dustonian wrote:"building top outs"? WTF?

Don't mind dustin, just last week I had to explain to him what bouldering was.

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to check it out next time I'm up there.

whoneedsfeet wrote:The top of the cliff line is covered in mud and moss, so cutting out the dirt for a few feet would allow for a safe way to top out the problems. also the dirt is going to be used for the landing zone to make sure it is a flat landing surface.

Ha ha sweet. You guys wanna come do some boulder-grooming in my backyard? Got a rad boulder there with some super shitty sloping landings...

PS good one Andrew.

He did essentially tell you bouldering is practice climbing right?

bentley wrote:He did essentially tell you bouldering is practice climbing right?

Yes... practice climbing. Unfortunately I am not good at practicing or climbing.