Justifiably described as one of the nation’s most unique climbing walls, Maple Canyon – in central Utah – is a crag unlike anything we had seen before.
Imagine that you ran across a wall that appeared to be the remnants of an old civilization; a pile of rocks glued together with an ancient cement-like glue, but now worn and crumbling. Then imagine this wall somehow came into existence naturally and is over 100 feet tall. Put a hundred of these walls together and you would have Maple Canyon.
A close-up view of the cobblestone walls we were climbing on.
An example of the highly unique cliffs at Maple Canyon.
Looking at cobblestones sticking out haphazardly, we were skeptical that the walls could support a static climber, let alone catch one in the event of a fall. We broke off quite a few rocks the first day – although the bolts did stay put – prompting us to declare it a choss-pile. The wall’s instability combined with some lackluster routes left us initially unimpressed.
However, the next day we headed out with a purpose – a list of classic climbs John had painstakingly put together. Every single climb on his list was phenomenal, and we pushed ourselves hard while getting on a slew of 11s. I even led most of an 11c (of course, had I known it was an 11c, and not an 11a, I never even would have attempted it)!
Me working on a 11c at Maple Canyon.
Prior to Maple Canyon, we also enjoyed some stellar limestone sport climbing at American Fork, near Salt Lake City. After some solid and fun climbing at both of these places, I am excited and confident about climbing again. These last five days have been a blast, and it’s clear that most of my recent frustrations have been a result of the type of climbing we were doing.
It feels good to be back in the game.
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