This route starts right of

Bull Fight

by a large pine tree. It is a short, right-facing corner to a thrutchy, crack encounter. It is barely worth doing, but it is not a bomb.

Don't Pull on the Udder

Lieback

Firing Squad

Sabrina's Choice

Just Another Cow's Climb

Nahcolite

Truffle Shuffle

Ruff Roof

Kerfluffle

Theen Crack

Sofa Prow

The Hot Donut

Just Moo It

What's Mine Is Yours

Amazonite

Cow Patty Crack

Vanadium

Tourmaline

Not So Ruff Roof

Garnet

It's All Been Dung

Couch Potato

Rhodochrosite

Salisbury Steak Crack

Little Stevie's Favorite Heifer

Molybdenum

Get Your Dieck Off My Barnyard Animals

Sofa Kingdom

Bull Fight

This is a crack, mistaken for "Hand Crack" aka

Salisbury Steak

on a quick jaunt up to the crag. Maybe it's been done before? If so, no offense intended. There is no mention of it here or in Mark Rolofson's fine

Boulder Canyon Sport & Adventure Climber's Guide, Volume II

.

As for the name, it turns out Sabrina picked this line to start the day.

This start up a right-angling crack just right of

Bull Fight

and continues to the anchors on

Don't Pull On The Udder

. You can clip the first bolt of

Bull Fight

. It winds up being more face climbing than crack, but you do jam. It has the same udder issue. It is not bad. Rappel from the bolts on

Don't Pull On The Udder

.

You can see it in this

Taken from directly below the route, where the trail comes up. 5/19/02

to the right of the bolts.

This line has this lone bolt at a tiny, hanging dihedral that makes you wonder why it's there.  Ah, it's the lieback move...doh.

Move up a bit of loose, blocky terrain to gain this tiny, hanging dihedral lieback.  Clip the bolt.  Now, for the crux move...where you try to pull aboard without barndooring off.  Wind and/or rain may make this feel 11- like it did to me.  Pass a chopped bolt (why?) and blocky terrain to gain a ledge.  Move up into a lieback crack passing a bolt without a hanger and finish at a 2 bolt anchor with chains.

There is a bolt on the overhanging side of a chunk of rock to the right.  The climbing does not naturally go there, so I think it is supposed to be a different route.

Obviously, this is not the real name of this climb.  If you have info about the climb, let me know and I can update this.  Thanks!

To the left of the cave is an obvious crack system leading up the prow to a roof.  Climb up the face, being careful of potential friable rock to a handcrack underneath the roof.  Follow out the roof to the left on good holds and jams to the top.  Walk off.

After climbing up trash to reach a ledge, start off up and right past a bolt or two to reach some right-facing flakes. These will take good gear, and I particularly found a red and green Camalot useful. The crux is stepping to the right onto some slopers for feet- off of some side pulls and is not far from protection. The moves are heads-up, and fun, but not dangerous. Finish hard right at the end to reach a 2-bolt anchor with chains.

The route is OK, but needs a little cleaning up. Probably not the best gear route to push one's grade on.

This is a direct variation to

Just Another Cow's Climb

.

This climbs better than it looks and is a reasonable route consistent in quality with most of the crag. The lower section is low angle and appears to be rather uninspiring at first, though the upper half is clean and solid, and climbs well. It is worth doing.

This route tackles the big roof.  Scramble to the base, a short face leads to the roof. Pull the roof using the seam/crack. 5.9 territory the rest of the way. If you belay from the ground (recommended), a 60 metre rope barely gets you down!

This is a reasonably good route, consistent in quality with most of the others at the crag. The bottom 15 feet are the most obvious, but interesting and reasonably good climbing continue beyond the initial crack. It may well have been climbed before, but it is unpublished and required a bit of cleaning.

Clip the first bolt or two on

Sofa Kingdom

, the sport route, next to the mine.  A finger crack leads to a small roof, pass it on the right.

This is a strange route that uses bolts and some gear on a right-angling line to catch a crusty, slippery boulder problem up high.

Start down and right of

Sofa Kingdom

and

Theen Crack

below some bolts.  Scramble up to the 1st bolt. Move up onto a slightly crumbly slab clipping a couple bolts before finding a surprising amount of grey epoxy on a flake.  Keep angling right.  Once below the crux bulge, you may clip the bolt on the route to the right in case you didn't bring any gear.  Move up and clip the bolt below the flaring crack.  Now, the difficulty suddenly increase as you get a wide hands jam in the flare.  Your feet may skate on the crumbly slab as you try to lieback the flare.  You can switch directions with a loose foot jam or continue liebacking up to the funky anchor with a bolt and bit of chains and a bolt with a coldshut.  If this is close to your limit, you may sweat these last moves not wanting to fall onto the slab below.

Above the cave that defines the crag is a corridor.  Just inside the corridor is a faint, wandering crack below a great handcrack that starts 30 feet up.  Climb the face and thin crack (suspect rock quality) to reach the handcrack.  Follow perfect hands to the top.

Rap 90' from bolt anchors on

Sofa Kingdom

just to the right.

This climb is located left of "

Get your Dieck Off My...

".  Climb easily over low-angle terrain past 2 bolts to a nice easy corner.  Place gear in the corner and follow it to the roof. This is where the fun begins. Place some small cams in a horizontal crack at roof and traverse left (easier then it looks).  Place another piece or reach up and clip the last bolt.  Make difficult moves to stand up above little roof and another (thin slab, with little for the feet or hands) to reach the anchor.  This is a fun stretch from the roof to the anchors.  I would have given this climb another star if it had more climbing like this section.

Scramble above the mine and follow 4 bolts. The rock is a little grainy and hollow sounding, hence the 4 bolts. It has surprisingly interesting moves. It climbs harder than it looks. Bring a brush.

Other than the unprotected slab to the left, this is likely the leftmost route at Mine Hole Crag. The middle section has a tricky bit to keep you on your toes.

Climb up a slab with cracks on the right wall of a small alcove to a hanging slab of sorts. Clip the 1st bolt, carefully balance your way up the crux where the holds seem to point the wrong way. Continue past 2 more bolts to easier ground and the 2 bolt anchor shared with Garnet and Tourmaline.

Cow Patty Crack is a short but fun trad route.  Go to the right side of the crag and uphill a short distance to the start of the route.

Climb a right-facing corner to a roof.  Traverse left at a horizontal crack and climb easier rock to the chain anchor.

The cruxes are halfway up the corner and moving left at the horizontal crack.

Excellent moves on good rock; too bad it's not any longer.

This is another decent bolt line 2 lines to the left of

Ruff Roof

.  The tree behind the bolts on the slab probably distinguishes it from others here.

Move up easier terrain protecting with gear from the bottom.  Once at the ledge, you can sling the tree before moving up to clip the 1st bolt.  Use the left edge of the small face to lieback and move up to a jug.  Continue up to a ledge below the final 2 bolts.  The line of least resistance stays slightly to the left of the penultimate bolt with one deadpoint before you are done.

This is a weird route that feels a bit contrived to avoid moving left at its crux. Still, the bolts on the bulge draw the eye and tickles the curiosity...which may kill cats but not humans.

You can start this just to the right of the

Garnet

route on blocky terrain. Pass a chopped bolt near a good horizontal. Move up to the bolted bulge. Now, the bottom of this Buddha belly is not as positive as you might like, which makes you try hard to avoid the easier crack to the left. If you really force it, you can make this sort of 5.10...eh. Mount the slab. Move up to a bolt and a mantel move. To your left you'll see an odd, bolt reinforced flake with a bolt through it and one just below it. Whodathunkit? Place a cam and move up to the last bolt with weird undercling type holds. The last bit is a bit precarious for balance as the hand holds get rounded. Finish at a 2 bolt anchor.

This is the first bolted line left of

Ruff Roof

and can be easily identified by the traversing nature of the first 3 bolts.

Scramble up to the first bolt which is ~20 feet of the ground (4th Class). The first bolt is located behind a tree off a ledge just right of another unnamed bolted route (that route grade is apparently debated 5.7 to 5.10). Climb through the small roof or up the tree to begin a technical traverse to the right. After 3 bolts, climb up (crux) to another ledge. Continue straight up on easier terrain to the anchor. There are some 12 foot runouts between bolts at the top.

This is the second line from the left at Mine Hole Crag. It has what appears to be a nice crack between the 1st and 2nd bolts.

Climb up somewhat funky, blocky terrain past a bolt to a crack. The terrain proves a bit more body position-dependent and weird than it looks from below. Clip a 2nd bolt, continue up. To your right you'll see an odd, bolt reinforced flake with a bolt through it and one just below it. Whodathunkit? You can clip the 3rd bolt from the route to the left quite readily. Finish at a 2 bolt anchor.

This is a nice crack climb to the right of

Cow Patty Crack

. Someone must have climbed this thing already, but I see no record of it anywhere. So, here ya go....

Climb the crack as it widens up to a funky pod. Be careful pulling on the chockstone! Exit left to the chains.

Begin as for

Sofa Kingdom

and find the first bolt near the pine tree on the left. After the 2nd bolt, place the red+green Aliens to protect a hard move past the flake. A #1 Camalot and easy climbing leads to two more bolts on the arete. There is a hard move at the 2nd bolt, then you can place a yellow Alien-size in a horizontal crack. After one more move (place a #2 Camalot to protect any followers), easy climbing leads right to the

Sofa Kingdom

anchors.

This is probably harder than

Sofa Kingdom

.

This is a short slab with an early crux just left of

What's Mine Is Yours

.  It may feel less challenging to those who excel on slabs.  This stays in the shade until late morning.

Move up just left of the mine hole.  Clip a bolt, perhaps with a locking biner, and engage the crux sequence.  Oddly, keeping both feet to the left seemed to be more stable to start.  Trust the feet, since the hand holds aren't big...thank goodness it isn't vertical.  Continue up on gradually easier terrain past 3 more bolts.  You can place an optional yellow Alien/TCU just before the 3 bolt anchor.

Beware when sitting below this route on a windy day. We got a softball-sized rock bouncing down the gully to the right heading straight for my partner. I deflected it with my hand, but it bruised it up and it's sore.

Obviously, this is not the real name of this climb.  If you have info about the climb, let me know and I can update this.  Thanks!

This is a so-so route that starts good and interesting, with 5 meters of very nice jamming. Too bad it doesn't go on like that the whole way....

Climb up the right-leaning handcrack (2"-3.5") on solid jams for 5 meters through a decent bulge, just right of the

Bull Fight

Wall. After 8 or 9 meters, sling a tree with a 4" trunk and climb up and out on some cracks with smaller gear. Finish on a 2 bolt anchor with chains, 50' from the ground.

This route starts near the middle of the crag, travels up through a tan quartz dike, and continues through bulging terrain on jugs and liebacks to gain a small ledge below a steep headwall. A long strenuous reach gains more good slopers, and then a mantel delivers you at the anchors. Felt like 11a/b. The move over the headwall is very ape-index dependent.

This is a very nice route.

This line is likely the 6th route from the left at the Mine Hole Crag.  It starts just left of mine hole itself.  It's in the shade until late morning.

Move up on flakes to a bolt, ascend the crack, clip another bolt, surmount a tiny bulge/roof, and gain the 3 bolt anchor.

Obviously, this is not the real name of this climb.  If you have info about the climb, let me know and I can update this.  Thanks!

Beware when sitting below this route on a windy day. We got a softball-sized rock bouncing down the gully to the right heading straight for my partner. I deflected it with my hand, but it bruised it up and it's sore.

This route starts just left of

Little Stevie's Favorite Heifer

, a striking route that follows a quartz dike. The route takes a little roof and charges up steep terrain past several bolts. One can step right to a chain anchor, or (much better) step left and do a short but very cool slab finale. This is a pretty good route.

30 feet to the right of the mine tunnel is a near vertical slab. The slab is fully bolted with a small belay ledge at its base.  There's a short scramble to the ledge.  With bolts every seven or so feet, the route is fully protected.  Fun slab climbing with holds just where you want them.  I found the crux to be between the 5th an 6th bolts (I think), requiring a mantle off a small ledge to a blind reach overhead, landing me, thankfully, in a 3-finger sinker pocket.  The Rolofson book says the route is a 5.10, but he may not fully recall the route.  I thought is was more on the 5.9 side.  Either way, it's worth a visit while climbing at Animal World or the Boulderado.

This route is just right of

Little Stevie's Favorite Heifer

, which goes up a tan quartz dike.  It starts by a steep lichenous face and is somewhat desperate looking on the lower half.

Clip a bolt on a slab, make a long reach up the steep face to a second bolt, then power into the steep face and clip a third bolt. Going directly past this third bolt is the obvious line, and very hard, while decent holds exist a bit to the right. The rightward way is probably mid-5.11, and passes the third bolt just left of your shoulder, before hand traversing back to the fourth bolt. Once the fourth bolt is clipped, continue on easier terrain, pass a contrived lieback and two more bolts, and gain chains that are shared with the route to the left.

This route offers only a tiny bit of hard climbing, for the visiting hardperson.

Description

Protection

Routes in Mine Hole Crag