Low angle corner with a bolt. Good, mellow lead.

Skraps

Indian Creek Cement Company

Flat Line

Sparkling Zygote

Unknown

Rowdy

Spark It Up Sparky

Sparkling Gefilte Fish

Jesus Gave Me Beta

Jupiter Crack

Jump Start

Spark Wallberg

Stiff Line

Zebras and Moonbeams

What a Fool Believes

Heel Hook Mastery

Scenic Line

Low Spark

Sparkling Spurs

Sparks of the Tempest

Unknown 5.10

Tom Thumb

Divide and Conquer

The Hawk

Airwolf

Unknown 5.10+

Sparkling Spurs (1st Anchors)

Ici c`est bienne

Old Sparky

Unknown OW

The LGS (Last Great Splitter)

All That Remains

Sparkle Pony Express

Spark Plug

Sparkling Schloob

Sparkling Prom Date

Slings and Arrows

Go Sparky Go

Generic Spark

Sparkling Schnitzel

After walking past this little ditty for a few years, I finally decided to put an anchor on it last year. The fact that it is so short had deterred me from bothering, but after I looked more closely, I surmised that the route would be difficult from the first move to the last, all thriller-no filler, as it were. I guessed correctly.

After aiding and installing the anchor, I made a lame attempt to TR it before dark, and left for the season. By the time I returned to Sparks, I had my eye on another new line, The LGS, so when my friend Peewee Ouellet came up to belay me on that, I offered up what became Zebras and Moonbeams to him knowing it would be a while before I could do it. Peewee, who was in fine form at the time, sent it in short order and rated it .13-.

Basque climber Joseba Larreategi made the 2nd ascent, myself the 3rd.

A pithy overhanging start leads to sustained, dwindling finger jams up an overhanging plaque of rock. Some very cool kneebar beta was ferreted out by Peewee. Probably essential.

STEEP, wide crack climbing out of a cave. Bouldery start- technical, inverted lip encounter- fun squeeze finish. Make your day at Sparks wall a full course meal by adding this insane pitch to the menu

Fun climb! Awkward start through blocky choss into amazing #1's. Angle eases up top into awesome fingers on very cool featured rock.

Can be TR'ed from Stiff Line.

Jam up the splitter on the face along with the splitter in the corner. Where the splitter on the face gets wide it is perfect hands in the corner. A great warm-up.

This route has no plaque and isn't in Blooms guidebook but its fun and climbs great quality rock.  They crack is wavy and angles in to the left and is mostly fingers with some thin hands and hands in the middle.  Clipping the anchors is probably the crux.

Big hands and hand holds on a flake/flare to good hands in a corner. The crack widens to fist then a brief squeeze slot. Finish on some more big hands. An airy step right at the top will get you to the anchors.

The anchors are shared with the overhanging fist/OW crack to the right.

This climb is vaguely reminiscent of Think Pink or Spaghetti Western, except that it is shorter and wider. Jam and layback up the gently overhanging corner with a nice rest just over halfway up. Fire it to the top on good laybacking.

The Bloom guide lists this as 5.11- but the plaque says 5.10+ and that felt about right.

A good climb with no particular cruxy move... but certainly a hand-size dependent climb. Climb up a short warm-up pitch to bolted anchors and lower off from brand new bolts and chains.  A good route overall that gets sun from first light until near dusk in the winter.

Full value offwidth that starts as hands and quickly steepens up and moves to fists. A small horizontal provides some relief as the climb progresses over a roof and rock-solid handstacks. The flare provides a nice stance for the right leg. A glory ledge/jug ends the crux moves. The finish up to the anchors remains off-fists but the angle is much friendlier.

The route can be a little sandy in spots and has some flaky rock at the top. A helmet for the belayer is a good idea.

2 bolts protect 5.11 moves through Chinle trad pro is available but is more pscyhological than legit, first few ascent parties did it w/out the bolts but was made safe at the request/approval of SH. then a slowly widening hands crack to the left fork which widens from new #5 camalots to #6 camalots

Starts with a boulder problem roof (technical crux), to a good rest and locker fingers. A right facing corner forms with a mix of fingers and hands. Finish with steep ring locks to a good ledge. Good route with interesting moves and good rests.

This route starts in a large right facing corner above an obvious large broken pillar leaning against the wall. Climb easy terrain up the inside of the pillar to the base of the corner. Climb variable off fingers in a corner to a large roof. Climb the .75 strenuous roof (crux). Rest a hand jam halfway through and the punch it out continue up more .75 crack. The crack eases up to hand and eventually a #4 camalot roof. Make sure to knot your rope ends as this is a 35m meter pitch!

Walk another 50ft right past Scenic Line, walk under a small roof and the route is in the Right facing Dihedral. Climb up through a few jams before the corner narrows down and gets into splitter tight hands and off fingers! Punch it when it gets a bit tough and you'll be on top of a good ledge to clip the chains from. Thought this route was a bit harder than the 10+ to the left.. enjoy!

This Yacht Rock inspired route is a short but burly tips lieback corner. Difficulty is very finger size dependent, but it's somewhere in the 11+ to 12 range. It is stacks more difficult to lead and than TR, as usual, so don't get too uppity about the grade after your partner puts the rope up and you flash it on the dull end. There is a somewhat unnecessary bolt that I placed to get past some subsequently cleaned choss, and it's a little bit of a reachy clip. Sorry. I left it because empty holes are ugly and it is nice to have for the overhanging finishing moves instead of yet another itty-bitty cam cam.

2 stars because the route is short, but its good fun and nice rock.

This is a fun traverse only a few feet off the ground, but beware the slope behind you could be deadly so a spotter is recommended. I did the climb from right to left, which I think is the best because it puts the roof crux at the end and makes it much more challenging. The move I did to finish it was height dependent, but I am sure shorter climbers will find a way.

Depending on your handsize, this will either be a joyful tight hands corner or an endurance lieback.  Fear not, there are ledges to rest on!

A great climb with a few different cruxes, but the difficulty is largely associated with its length.

P1: (5.11, 155')  Start up very moderate terrain on the front of a huge, solid stack of flakes, climbing about 8-10 meters to the top of this to intercept a splitter 2" crack. Place a few pieces of 2" gear as you blast through the opening thin-hands crux and then past a section that will take a 2.5" friend or a red camalot, back to 2" and then continue to a few good stances and a rest before it gets thin again Place one or more 1.5" pieces and crack through a thin spot in the crack with an offset, a possible crux, depending on strength and hand-size.  The offset is facing the right way for a lie-back at least.  Be sure to save a 1.5" and 2" piece for later though... at the bulge.

After the previous thin section, continue on wide hands in a heavily featured crack with some fists (pro up to 3.5 camalot or a #4 could work here or there, but is not required). COntinue to a bulge at about 100' up, the right edge of the roof seen from the road and clearly seen in Bloom's photograph of the crag. This is a crux as well. Protect with smaller gear you saved and pull up into the bulge on less secure footing and flaring jams. If you didn't save small pro (I didn't) you can jam a 2.5" cam in your only good hand-jam and really fight for it to a true bottleneck a foot higher.  Once though this section, the cruxes are over and the rest is just endurance.  Climb ever higher for a total of 155' to a good ledge and get up on that to reach a bolt and ring anchor.

P2: (5.10, 75') The mental crux, with softer rock and a section of poor gear topped out with a less than ideal anchor. Not a requisite for a classic experience, but OK for desert rats who want to "finish the climb." You might want to have your partner send up a wide piece on your tag line... and a bolt kit or at least a rap hanger and some lock-tite if you plan to do the second pitch.  Climb up the left facing corner on mostly good jams (2.5-3") with one or two smaller pieces (1.5" and 2") past the wide spot you can see 50' above (#3.5 camalot) and continue for 25 feet more out of sight through wide climbing. A very large cam or big pro could protect this easy climbing on softer rock... tread lightly. The belayer can stay huddled to the right under a bulge at the belay to dodge anything turned loose from above.  Climb to the crappy anchors and replace some junk washers with hangers, then tighten the spinning nuts.  A good seat on so-so rock is available a the top of the pitch from which to do this.  Sorry, I don't own a drill...

TO descend, rap with a single line back to the first belay, then off the ledge at the first belay on double ropes to the ground, 155' below.

EVEN IF the anchors at the top of P2 were good enough, I am not sure that two 70M ropes would get you down all the way.

Since the beginning of this route is so easy, however, I am pretty sure you could climb the thing from the ground to the top of P2 as a single pitch if you cared to.  But then the new crux would be carrying the rack...

A very long finger and tight hands splitter through a roof. Punch through a steep, bouldery finger start (crux 1). The hanging flake (at 30') seems very solid for jamming and pro. Tight hands and hands lead to a first anchor. 5.11. Tackle a bulge through .75 camalots (crux 2). Get a rest in the chimney. Then swing out a stacking splitter (.75-.5 camalots, crux 3) to a daunting but mellow move over a block(.4 protects). Finish by mantling the ledge (#2 protects).

Slightly broken start gives way to great hands in a corner then tight hands over a roof. It'd be harder but it's got thank god finger jams exactly where you need them

Fairly sustained w/ no obvious crux, points to ponder include: figuring out what technique to use in the dihedral, passing a small overhanging pod, then fighting the pump for the last 1/3 of climb

Tight hands to finger crack in left facing dihedral for 30 feet goes to a slightly overhanging move to gain ledge and anchors

A broken corner to a block roof kinda like Pente. Switch cracks to good hands in a corner. Layback the wideness to the anchor.

Classic gem of the creek featuring a stunning prow feature that gently overhangs towards the top. Fun refrigerator hugging gets you too the top, make sure to bring adequate padding and a cool head (possibly a rope for descending) for this rig. If you don't have a rope, compress down the back side of the boulder. World class Boulder in a world class setting. If you find yourself at the creek with pads, this thing is a must.

Tight hands start (which we found to be very sandy and slippery). Grows to fists. The guidebook gives it three starts, but we didn't love it. Perhaps it isn't always this dirty.

Pull a a powerful crux right of the ground to get established in the corner.  Small gear to start .3 Camalot and widening quickly to .5 camalot.  Get a rest in the initial easy layback and power thru the next roof.  Jam the splitter thin hands / ring locks crack thru one small pod and easier ground up to the anchors.

Corner on tips followed by a liebaking roof and finishes with a straight in finger splitter

Great hard fingers that go into multiple tight hands roofs. Great all the way!!

Start in super manky soft rock and then traverse left into the flake. OW a super sharp flake to the top.

The Story: This line is obvious and directly in the middle of all the established routes on the wall near the trail terminus, but had not been climbed presumably because of two obvious death blocks about 40' off the ground: big and scary enough looking not to attempt to lead up to, and around. Last spring (2014) I climbed to the top of the cliff and threw off an 80m rope and rapped down hoping to create a two pitch route to the top. The upper rock was not so good, and the big roof, while climbable, has two GIANT blocks perched in it, so I settled for an anchor 80 or so feet off the ground just below the roof and at the end of the sweetest part of the splitter. I cleaned the big blocks 40' up very easily, gleefully watching them roll down the talus with no harm to anybody. I scrubbed and knocked off a few more crumbly and sketchy bits. Voila, a truly classic climb was revealed.

Thin climbing on finger pods lead to a bouldery flair about 20' off the ground: very sequential and not obvious. Then fun moves in a small crack switch finds a pedestal and no hands rest. A thin lieback hits a slightly overhanging jagged splitter. Finish on a sharp, pure .5 to .75 camalot splitter to handjams at the anchor. Though the start protects with Purple Metolius sized pieces, pods and weird flared jams make finger size not such an issue unless you are cursed with true sausages for dedos. First 30' are the crux, then 5.11+ to the chains.

Start in a corner with a #.5 Camalot-sized crack. At the base is white, broken rock where rock has fallen away somewhat recently. Jam and lieback the left-facing corner moving through the various sizes, topping out on the pillar and clipping the anchor on the face.

OW and 3 mantels takes you to the top of the pillar where the anchor for Zebras and Moonbeams is located. Climb the aesthetic crack .75-3 to a ledge.

A fun moderate on mostly good, dark varnished rock. A steep lieback start leads into a nice corner that widens from tight hands to wide hands. Rock at the top a little sandy, and it hasn't seen much traffic, so we all pulled some chunks off here and there. Anchor is a rap hanger and a wired nut bolted to the wall, with leaver 'biners.

Can either do direct start through the bushes or do a slightly less direct up the block at the bottom and traverse left into the crack proper. It widens from #3 Camalots to #6 Camalots and then pinches back down at the top by the anchors. As far as I know this is the shortest route to the rim, this requires the party to climb easy 5.5ish terrain past the anchors for about 5 ft. Might be one chock stone that's a wee bit loose down lower although easily avoided and not easily shifted otherwise solid rock quality and pretty moderate OW climbing.

Pull the initial roof with some sandy rock on good jams to wide jams but with face features. The rock is great after this. Above, a wide, #4 Camalot-sized crack is made easy with ample face features and a second crack inside the large crack. A second crack appears on the right above, offering nice jams and good stemming between the two. Finish on a final, slabby section with thin crack climbing in a corner with great face features.

This climb is reminiscent of Red Rocks, with great face features and varied climbing - not your typical Indian Creek jamfest.

If you liked Way Rambo, here is another climb for you, or if you wanted a good primer for that, here it is. This is the obvious climb on the outside wall of a large left-facing corner. The crack starts mellow down low on good hands and gets harder for a spot that is wide and has a loose flake back in it which is tempting to grab. (#4 camalot optional here.) From a good jam above the wide spot (#3 friend) the climb starts into a 15 foot crux sequence with thin hands in an offset, and then culminating in cool moves on a nearly horizontal, offset, finger-crack.  The last moves I will leave as a surprise.

This is a power route.  It would be a classic if it were not for the brief interruption of good rock in the middle with the wide spot and bad flake.  If cleaned, it might deserve "classic" status.

Hand crack on the far left side of Sparks wall that somewhat resembles a mini Generic Crack. Short, but long enough for some enjoyable hand jamming with one short OW move at the top.

This route is a good route if you like off-width.  It has a relatively short but well protected OW crux, solid rock, and interesting climbing. The high crux just before the final bulge is mitigated by some sloping mantles and feet on the right side in the right-facing corner. Yet these are bad enough that the route still earns its grade of 5.11- so although it gets partial shade, you are unlikely to get cold while leading it.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Sparks Wall