Fifty Places to Rock Climb Before You Die: Climbing Experts Share the World’s Greatest Destinations

Images — *The granite spires of City of Rocks indeed recall a cluster of skyscrapers*.

Idaho

CITY OF ROCKS

For “Forty-Niners” traveling the California Trail in the mid-nineteenth century, the collection of granite spires and summits they encountered north of the Great Salt Lake were a mere curiosity; their gold lay many miles west. For sport and trad climbers alike, however, the City of Rocks is a motherlode unto itself.

“One of the draws of the area is the aesthetics,” Ben Eaton began. “You come around a bend in the road and it’s revealed to you—a mass of gray granite stones, side by side and offset, all these amazing formations against a backdrop of junipers and smaller mountains. The stones really resemble skyscrapers—they call it City of Rocks for a reason! Another draw is the variety of the climbing experiences available. There’s a good number of sport and trad climbs, and bouldering as well. It’s a good place to find routes of moderate difficulty, a lot in the 5.9 to 5.11 range. Though I grew up in southeastern Idaho, about three hours away, I didn’t know much about it until I was a more in-depth climber. I wasn’t in a position in my climbing career to drive more than an hour to climb. The first time I went, we’d just had our first baby, and we decided to get some friends together and go to the City. It was my first rock climbing road trip. The experience of rounding that bend blew me away. I didn’t know how to trad climb at first, but I tried to expand my knowledge. Now, one year I’ll be gung-ho for trad climbing, another I’ll focus on sport climbs. There’s so much there, it’s hard to get tired of it.”

City of Rocks rests in south-central Idaho, just a few miles north of the border with Utah. It was designated a National Reserve in 1988, in recognition of both the significance of its geological (some of the granite spires reach heights of six hundred feet and date back 2.5 billion years) and cultural history. Hundreds of thousands of westward emigrants passed through the region en route to Granite Pass and Nevada; many left their names in axle grease on rocks in the reserve, including Camp and Register Rock, and these reminders of the settlers’ long trek remain today. (It was a settler named James F. Wilkins who first identified the granite edifices here as “the City of Rocks.”) Long before the westward settlers passed through, the City of Rocks was the domain of the Shoshone and Bannock peoples, who hunted buffalo and collected nuts from the pinyon pines that still grow here. It’s believed that the Shoshone would ascend Bath Rock and take ritual swims in the rain-/snow-filled potholes at the top.

City of Rocks has been discovered by climbers several times. Its first incarnation was as a trad climbing spot, with many routes established by a group of Utahans known as the Steinfell Club and led by Greg Lowe, who would go on to form Lowe Alpine with his brothers. At the time, the ascents here were considered equal in difficulty to some of the toughest routes at other climbing meccas like Yosemite. The City’s second moment in the relative limelight came in the 1980s, when it was discovered by sport climbers. But its fame was fairly short-lived. As Dougald MacDonald noted in a piece in Climbing, “the best climbers moved on to newly discovered—and much steeper—sport climbs in places like Rifle, Colorado, and American Fork, Utah. What was left was an everyman’s Eden.”

With a mix of more than six hundred sport and trad routes within the Reserve, it can be hard to know where to start. Ben offered some advice. “Newcomers like to cut their teeth at two locations. One is the back side of Bath Rock, right off the main road in front of the main parking lot. It has a ton of bolted sport routes. Colossus [5.10c] is the go-to here, though it’s a bit daunting. Rollercoaster [5.8] is another popular route. Elephant Rock is another major formation that’s right off the road. It’s all trad routes here. Wheat Thin [5.7] and Rye Crisp [5.8] are two climbs people will do their first time—it’s hard to visit the City and not go on these routes. And chances are you’ll want to do them over and over again. I’m a little weak on my slab climbing, and on a few routes on Elephant Rock, I wanted to wet myself, as there’s not a lot to hold on to. I was at my mental limit, and I think that’s why that sticks in my mind. One of my favorite formations at the City is Morning Glory Spire. It creates an amazing skyline; some call it Incisor, as there’s a section of rock that sticks up like a canine tooth. Morning Glory [5.10c/d] is a test piece in that area, a 250-foot three-pitch ascent. When you top out, you’re standing on top of a big granite tooth with a 360-degree view.”

Ben Eaton’s first trip to City of Rocks came from an effort to bring friends together. Eventually these little gatherings took on a life of their own. “Each year I’d set a date for this annual friends’ climbing trip and then send a message out,” he recalled. “More and more friends came, and I decided that we could invite the general public and make it a festival. Castle Rocks [another great climbing destination, just a stone’s throw from City of Rocks] is the headquarters for the Idaho Mountain Festival, which tops out at 350 participants.”

BENJAMIN EATON is the marketing manager for Petzl America and the founder of the Idaho Mountain Festival (www.idahomountainfestival.com). He previously served as communications specialist at Liberty Mountain, advertising and digital media sales manager at Rock and Ice, and race director and grassroots ambassador for Ragnar Relay Series. Ben’s climbing adventures have taken him to Idaho and Utah, as well as most of the western states and Thailand.

If You Go

▶ Getting There: The nearest commercial airport to Almo is ninety miles distant in Twin Falls, Idaho, which is served by Delta (800-221-1212; www.delta.com). Salt Lake City is about 180 miles away and is served by most major carriers.

▶ Best Time to Visit: Spring through early fall offers the most consistent conditions. It can be hot in the summer, but you can usually find shaded areas to climb. If it doesn’t snow, late fall can be excellent.

▶ Level of Difficulty: City of Rocks boasts an abundance of intermediate climbs, but there are many routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range for less seasoned climbers . . . though note that some of the grades may seem a bit light for what they involve.

▶ Guides: Several guide services are permitted to operate at City of Rocks, including Sawtooth Mountain Guides (208-806-3063; sawtoothguides.com). City of Rocks Idaho: A Climber’s Guide (Dave Bingham) is an excellent primer.

▶ Accommodations: There are several campgrounds in the area, including City of Rocks campground (208-824-5901; www.nps.gov/ciro). The Almo Inn (208-824-5577; www.almoinn.com) offers rooms in town.