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| West Slabs Route   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Utah, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 40.65700°N / 111.77°W Route Type: Technical Rock Climb Time Required: Half a day Difficulty: III 5.5 Grade: III
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| Page By: colbyjw Created/Edited: Mar 20, 2003 / Mar 20, 2008 Object ID: 157862 Hits: 3040  Loading... Page Score: 87.22% - 5 Votes  Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
ApproachFrom Wasatch Blvd., turn east onto Oakview Dr. (4275 South). This road is immediatly north of a pedestrian overpass that crosses Wasatch Blvd. Follow Oakview Dr. uphill and make a right turn on Jupiter Dr. (3735 East). Follow Jupiter Drive south and and turn left on Adonis Drive (4505 South). Drive a short distance to Thousand Oaks Drive (4500 South) and turn right. Continue up Thousand Oaks Drive, continuing past a sharp left turn, to a cul-de-sac above two water tanks, and park.
Fom the parking, start up the dirt trail towards the approach gully following some switchbacks. At the bottom edge of the gully, the trail will eventually dissappear and become a 2nd class approach through the lower part of the gully which will have some third class sections.
Route DescriptionThis route, although easy, is really fun. The lower pitches "make" this route, but the upper pitches have their share of interesting sections as well.
The route can probably be climbed anywhere on the wall and still remain 5.5, but it is best to just start at the lowest part on the wall and weave your way up following the path of least resistance.
A prominant land mark on this route is a giant ledge roughly 350 ft high up the wall with a 2 bolt anchor. This should be easily recognized to to the fact it is the largest ledge, and had the only bolts we encountered on the climb.
Length = 900 feet (give or take)
Descent:
This is the descent listed in "Rockclimbing Utah's Wasatch Range" by the Ruckmans.
"The west ridge of the North Face is the best descent route. A few moves of exposed scrambling are involved near the top of the ridge. After reaching the shoulder below the West Ridge, either descend down the gully to the west of the ascent gully, or scramble east following the base of the slabs, to reach the start of the climb. from here, continue back down the ascent gully.
It is also possible to continue along the ridge from the top of the climb to the north summit, and descend via the Kamp's ridge descent. A considerable amount of scrambling is involved this way, not to mention an additional trek through the neighborhood to get back to your car. "
My friend and I descended down the gully to the west of the approach, but that had horrible bushwacking and a nice trip through the city to try and locate are car. Best of luck on finding a descent down!
References:
"Rock climbing Utah's Wasatch Range" by Stuart and Bret Ruckman
"Wasatch Quartzite" (out of print) by John Gottman
History tidbit provided by mtn runr regarding the West slabs and John Gottman: The out-of-print book WASATCH QUARTZITE that you site was written by John Gottman and published by the Wasatch Mountain Club in 1979. John Gottman was killed in a climbing accident (cornice collapse) in New Zealand (I think) many years ago. There is supposed to be a memorial plaque commemorating his life somewhere on the West Slabs.
Essential GearProtection on this route can be pretty marginal. Fortunately, the climbing is easy. Make sure you take advantage of every possible spot for protection, because there are many places on the route that can have 50 foot runouts. But the harder sections are well protected.
Miscellaneous InfoIf you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
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