This route starts with hands and then moves to a nasty offwidth.  The route does not compare to its neighbors but it makes for a good warm-up and pleasant practice of your offwidth skills before jumping on the SC Memorial.

Cowch Potato

Karin's Corner

Steve Carruthers Memorial

Have a Cow

Thumbstacks, Ribeyes, and Sundresses

Angus Herder

Twin Cam

The Milk Box

Needs Pineapple

Sample the Sausage

Sacred Cow

Deal With It

The Styminger

Calm as a Hindu Cow

Coco's Boathouse

Tungo

Vegetarian Corner

Surf and Turf

Fatted Calf

Out To Pasture

This is route #6 in the Bloom 2nd edition, described as "cool stemming and varied jamming".  Bloom gives this thing three stars, and potentially it could be a great route, but it was a bit unnerving to climb as it was very sandy, had some loose stuff throughout (my buddy exploded a block when he stood on it following the pitch), and small gear at the crux (green alien).  It does not climb like a typical creek route.  It felt much more like climbing in Eldo.  There was a big, scary layback flake up high which, at the time, felt pretty terrifying to pull on...

I'm calling it PG-13 simply because it felt pretty heads up the whole time, but what do I know?

This long corner gives you plenty of time to savor.  The climb doesn't have many tough sections but it doesn't really let up either.  Hong's distinctive anchors can be seen at the top of this pitch.

AKA:

SC Memorial

, This is a spectacular climb.  Your rope will be stretched getting to the anchors and your thumbs will be pumped senseless.  The crack begins with hands but quickly moves to cupped hands for infinity.

Have a Cow is the beautiful zig-zagged to left-leaning splitter crack looming above the approach trail.

Climb through some broken rock with adequate tight-hand to finger-sized protection and out a cool tight hands roof. High and low options exist for moving right to the splitter. Once in the main crack, it quickly widens to fists then off-fist, out a roof and continues with the size that most folks can't get a knee in for most the way, making it an exhausting battle to bump stacks. A few awesome holds keeps the climbing rewarding to the final flare that guards the anchor. Great route!

Bloom's guidebook gives the route 5.11 while the plaque says 5.11-.

These are three of my favorite things.

This route was established a number of years ago but never received a bolted anchor.  MDJ suggested not to bolt it so as to not clog up Twin Cam.  Although at the time that notion seemed ludacris, Injun Crik has become an overwhelmed landscape and in retrospect it does seem prudent.  Please don't bolt an anchor on this crack and leave it as a warmup for those wishing to climb Twin Cam.  Thin hand sized pieces can be lowered off where the rock deteriorates at the top of the thin hands crack.  Clean them when lowering off Twin Cam.

We looked up at this splitter and couldnt believe it hadnt been climbed and quickly racked up for some splitter questing. Climb up a few tiered ramps to get to the base of a short right facing corner starting with .75 layback that changes quickly to fingers. This transitions into a variety pack of big to small hands and a short thin section before reaching the immaculate changing corners finger crack starting at about 120 feet / 40m!!  Climb this fingy crack starting at baggy fingers all the way down to tips just before the chains where a pleasant surprise awaits you! ;)

Bring 2 ropes or a beal escaper to get off! This thing is long!

Awesome route! A little harder than Sacred Cow and it has some sandy jams for sure. The crux is a strange roof section midway up the pitch, after that the climbing is 5.11+

A mirror image of Comic Relief at Scarface, the Milk Box scares you with sand and wide stemming and then punishes with a hard pull at the lip of the roof.  Sustained fingers in the corner finish out a tough little route.

Starts with fingers in a left facing corner to a ledge where you can rest before the upper section. Grunt up a wide section with jams in a crack inside the wide crack to a fingers finish. Quite sandy as of November 2016.

This is an awesome changing corner to splitter; in the same aesthetic league as Broken Brain or The Optimator.  The plaque at the base gives it a 13a, which it would be if you have really big hands.  For us average hands folk, I believe it is around 12c for endurance.  Even more so than most Indian Creek routes, there are really no hard moves on this route.

(more detailed beta) The route pretty much goes like this: big fingers in shallow stem-box, then perfect hands in a left-facing corner through a small roof, then a jug rest below a very strenuous tight hands changing corners roof.  This may be the technical crux of the route.  This puts you below an awesome headwall and its slightly offset, forty-foot ringlocks splitter (wide green camalots, maybe tight 2 friends at places).  This is the endurance crux.  If you have small hands, this may be a thin hands section, but either way, it is still very enduro.  Gun it for the salvation hand jam, and the anchors 15 feet above that.  WOO!

This route climbs a gorgeous and unique-looking splitter on the right side of sacred cow.  Looks for a perfect splitter opening from fingers to fists with 'racetrack' grooves along each side of the crack.  Things get spicy right off the ground with some stemming and face moves to a bolt.  After clipping the bolt traverse right to gain the splitter.  Pull some fingers to thin hands moves, then get ready for some wide crack action as it opens up to an awesome 50+ foot run of splitter fists.  There is a 2 or 3 bolt anchor.

I put up this route last September 2009, days after Daryn Smith's (Stymingersfink) death. I never knew him away from my computer but he left an impression.

First pitch, 5.9, 130'. It looks crappy but is very solid and a lot more fun than you'd guess by looking at it.

Second Pitch 5.10, 70'. looks 5.12 from the ground and is just good fun. It's actually 5.10. If you've got small fists, the start will feel 5.11.

Climb back into a cool easy chimney and choose your own adventure as there are 2 cracks to chose from: wide or skinny to a cool roof move on fingers.

This is a long, mostly hands route. Start in a corner hidden behind a huge pillar. Step across an easy move on a bit of crummy rock to a splitter. Follow up past a bolt by some stacked nuggets in the crack (easy and more solid than they look). Follow a long #2 splitter that dwindles to a .75 or two and the anchor. 40m.

Despite the couple of slightly chunky sections, this has one of the better, longer perfect hands (#2 Camalots) sections around. I couldn't believe it hadn't been climbed before. I'd give four stars but for the short dirty sections. Perhaps it will clean up. I did clean everything I thought was dangerous.

Did not climb, but documenting because this is not in the Bloom guidebook. I just put 5.10 because it seemed like a good starting point and it did not look too hard - but I did not climb it that day.

Looks like chimney to left facing corner.  Looks hands, maybe wide hands.  Anchor on left wall where corner begins to open up to a wider angle (see photo).

Varied right facing corner. Starts thin hands to good hands, to a wide crack up high.

Surf and Turf aka Vaca Desesperada involves some tricky mantels to access a gradually widening splitter.

Climb past tricky moves and many bolts to access the flare below the splitter. Swim up and climb fingers until your feet reach the top of the flare.

Off-fingers locks with bad feet lead to finger stacks and eventually thin hands.

Placing gear is challenging along with the guarantee that everyone will find a bad size.

Finish the climb with crisp glorious #1 camalots which widen to hands at the anchor.

One of the shortest climbs on this wall but packed with quality.  Climb a short step and then up the perfect hands that pinch down at the anchors.  The crux lies at the top.

This aesthetic route will test your power as well as your endurance, starting with a techy yet burly boulder problem, and ending with loads of excellent fingers and off fingers crack climbing. Stop reading here if you don't want the spraydown.

The route begins on a ledge to the right of the crack. Your belayer should be standing down and left of the ledge 20ft below you. Traverse broken jugs leftward under the roof on relatively easy moves. If you stick clipped, you're safe. If not, you're looking at a horrendous groundfall where you inevitably become talus food.

The bolt can be clipped from an undercling below the roof before the business begins and protects the boulder crux on the thin, offset seam. Shallow locks and sidepulls with creative footwork on the lip of the roof will get you over the roof and past the hardest moves on the route. In theory.

Move into splitter fingers as the crack begins widening, going through a few changing corners on off-fingers. Just when things are getting desperate you arrive at a stance and can get some juice back. Which is good because the enduro crux looms above. Plug some gear and enter the BEAUTIFUL offset fingers splitter, which slowly narrows to tips. Rock gods might be able to stop and place gear, but most mere mortals will probably just "buy the ticket", if you know what I mean. Right before the crack pinches to nothingness, some pods miraculously appear and allow for the best clipping stance one could reasonably ask for on this type of affair. Clip the anchor and lower back to the ledge where it all began with a 70m rope.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Sacred Cow Wall