This is a thin, unprotected slab problem with a bolted top anchor for toprope use. It's good mileage for anyone who could use more Vedauwoo slab confidence and/or skill. There is an interesting and tricky bulge midway up, but the real crux felt like the top few feet where the slab gets very thin.

To access the top anchor, climb

Mr. Pickles Learns to Swim

, the 5.6 chimney in the corner left of the slab.

Flake Toprope

Christie's Ultimatum

Not Long Enough

Pandora's Box has Cracked

Goin’ Topside

Stepford Wives

The Shocker

Mr. Pickles Learns to Swim

Turd Launcher

Cosmic Quarantine

Twisted

Sweet Nothings

Vigilante Justice

Panguso Returns

The Convict

Dirty Reflection

Short Stuff

Mirror Images (aka Tuber's Birth Canal)

Nancy

Unpredictable

Malicious

Conjugal Visit

The Gates of Lodore

Befuddled

This is a straightforward and fairy well-protected chimney that's more fun than it looks and tops out on the summit of The Maze. There are good cracks inside the chimney for protection as well as a bomber #2 horizontal on the left partway up. Be forewarned: we had to tiptoe through some bird crap below an old abandoned nest halfway up the route.

To descend from the top, scramble down to the bolted anchor to climber's right of the chimney. This is the top anchor for

Flake Toprope

, an unprotected 10d slab problem.

This is a short and burly squeeze to fist stacks for 20 feet or so. The difficulty eases up substantially after pulling up onto a small ledge. It gets 12a in the guidebook, but is much easier.

Not Long Enough is a fun little crack, although as the name suggests it's quite short. It consists of mostly comfortable hands but has a tight section in the middle and a #4 topout.

Per Skip Harper: Most seem to start the climb from the top of the convenient block adjacent to the climb on the left. However, if the climb is started from the very bottom, you are faced with a great, overhanging roof. Doing it this way raises the grade to at least 5.10a.

The box cracked and created a highly varied and entertaining climb, but first  you've got to get inside the box to find it. See photo 'entrance to Hallway A'.

Locate the entrance to Hallway A (Also shown on both Figs 1 and 2), downclimb about 8 feet to the 'floor', and head eastward in the corridor.  You'll see something like the photo (minus the climber) straight ahead.  Start up towards the blue sky about 55' above, negotiating 2 consecutive small roofs, top out, and belay on gear.

The descent is from any of the anchor sets placed on top of the formation.

This short offwidth makes for a good warm-up. There is a short handcrack right next to it which offers an easy 5th Class downclimb. As of June 2020, there is some webbing and cord on the summit horn.

Climb a hand crack to where it tops out and merges with a slab.  Continue up to the 2 bolt anchor atop Christie's Ultimatum.

To quote Zach Orenczak and Rachael Lynn's

The Voo

: "Short, wide, and nasty".

Turd Launcher ascends a low angle chimney with a crack in the back.  Climb the chimney and crack to the bolted anchor.

This is another bolted chimney climb similar to "

The Convict

", but there are several more obvious face holds to supplement the wider chimney.

Tape up because a twisted mind created this one. Heinous hands (a vertical garden of sharp feldspar crystals are inside the crack), a couple of stacks plus handjams (some flared off hands) and strong abs will get you... up or down, whichever occurs first! Belay on gear or a new rap station above the route (approximately 65').

Descend using an anchor set placed near the top of the route (as seen in Figure 2), as well as the anchors atop 'The Uncertainty Principle' are easiest.

Sweet Nothings ascends a left-leaning hand crack (about 5.6) to a slabby arete.  The arete is easier if you stem out to the wall behind.  There is a bolted anchor.

Vigilante Justice is an aesthetic wide crack in a gradually widening chimney. An ascent can be made harder or easier depending on how much stemming is done versus the use of offwidth techniques in the crack itself.

This climbs up the South face of the Maze formation ending at the southern rap bolts.

P1. Climb any system up to a big, comfy ledge. This is 25 feet left of

Stepford Wives

crack on the most southern piece of rock. The direct south face is broken crack systems leading to an 'easy' offwidth section to gain the ledge. If starting from the southwest corner of The Maze, head up near a small/mid-sized aspen. Climb the easy slab, and gain a crack to get up to the ledge.

P2. Climb the short and curved slightly overhanging buldge of handcrack. This is easier than it sounds as there is a sloping ramp just left of this crack that you can stem to until about halfway up where you have to then fully commit to the crack.

There is a 2 bolt anchor up top.

The Convict is a wide chimney.  Enter from the top of a rock.  You may be able to reach the first bolt before starting, which would keep you from falling down into the chimney.  It starts as a back and foot chimney that progressively widens to wild stemming at the top.

Climb through a short, vertical hands section then into fists/OW. Where the crack widens, you can move left onto the small, featured slab for the last few feet.

If you enter the corridor from the area near Befuddled and The convict, this is the second route you reach.  If you enter from the other side, the first route you reach is Short Stuff, marked by the bolts on top and a crack on the opposite side of the wall.  Jam, stem, and chimney your way to the anchor.

Inside the corridor, there is a narrow elevator shaft with cracks in both corners of the back of the shaft. Jam and chimney your way up the shaft to where the right crack rounds outwards. Continue up and out of the shaft. You can set an anchor right above the shaft or continue to the bolts atop Befuddled. Rap from the top of

Befuddled

.

Starting from the same spot as

Sweet Nothings

, Nancy follows the left-facing, wide corner, the crack shuts to 0.5 size after twenty feet, then quickly opens back up to 5 size, over a boulder, then finishes at the

Turd Launcher

anchors.

This is a short but enjoyable climb with a couple of opportunities for good stacks.

This is located in the 'Confusion Alcove' (find C on Figures 1 and 2, also see photos). *Please note: If you're up for a fascinating multi-grade climb, this is it. The grade varies from 10c to 5.7!

Begin with a squeaky thin, hard start (crux), continue up and right through a vertical tunnel (5.9 to 5.8), and finish up the South Wing on a perfectly protected lieback (5.7) with lots of nubbins for 'feet'.

Belay and descend (approximately 60') from two ring anchors at top.

Malicious is 10c/d. As with

Twisted

, you sure don't have to look for friction to lock in your jams. There are feldspar 'teeth' inside. Unlike

Twisted

, however, Malicious is a very stout offwidth, challenging at the grade and varying only slightly in width. Take a few larger cams from #3 to #5, and there is a new rap station up top to get you down.

This is a short climb. Expect laybacking, some offwidth, fists, and hands. The crux is the offwidth moves above the horizontal to the hands that lead to the top.

This is the big crack splitting the east face (#1 on FIGURES 1 & 2), going from a body squeezing start to offwidth to hands.  It's smooth 'in there' at the start, so either wear a non-skid rubber suit or be ready to exert extra pressure against the opposing faces. Higher up, one must transition out of the fat crack and into a great hand crack.  Belay and descend (about 60 feet) from two ring anchors at the top.

Befuddled is hands to offwidth in size. I unfortunately forgot my tape gloves, so I did not climb this route. I should have taped up for

Conjugal Visit

.

Per

Todd R

: most of it (maybe all of it) is climbable with only hand and fist jams (and I have small hands.) If you're in the area, definitely climb it! It's great. Pretty sustained, but maybe only one or two true offwidth moves are necessary.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Maze (aka Amaze-ing)