A fun short route that has a brief crux, 5.11 climbing to the third bolt gets you to a v4ish boulder problem, continue on to easy slab with terrible rope drag,

Crisis of Confidence

Poptop

Misunderstood

Cryptic

Gigantic

Treet

Treehugger

Big Dave's

Hematoma

The Up Game

No Talent Ass Clown

Footloose

Definite Maybe

The Return

I Love Guardian Angels

Cannonball

I Love Twins

Rusty

5.5 Trad

Sands of Rhyme

Guardian Angel

5.7 climbing up to the roof gets you to a "rest" (lol). From here reach way out to a jug at the end of the roof and pull the V4/5 boulder problem to establish yourself on the face above.

Short climb with first bolt at roof's edge.  After pulling roof follow seam and up past last bolt on face to cold shuts.

A burly start up the corner on fist jams quickly narrows to fingers. Keep going all the way up the corner until you're under the big roof (watch out for loose rock here). 

  Swing out the roof, finding footing on the short face below when possible. Marvel at the wiggly foot jib, hopefully find the good handholds, and sling the abundant protection really long to prevent rope drag. 

  Once through the roof, continue up the corner above to a small tree. From here, a short trip up and to the right will take you to the cold shut anchors for the sport climb Cannonball.

Short and sequency, this tough 10 definitely has its cryptic moments.  Fortunately, the crux is well protected by the third bolt. 

  Starting at an orange wall below a prominent roof, edqe your way up the face past three bolts to anchors below the roof. 

No distinct crux.  Nice 5.7 climbing the whole way.  The upper part is the better part of the climb with interesting knob like holds and exciting exposure for Leda.

Jam your way up the crack until you are in the corner beneath the roof. A hand traverse to the right and an awkward mantle gets you a nice stance on the triangular ledge. From here, step left and onto the arete above the roof, and head to the top. 

  We topped out to the right of the smaller dead tree hanging down from the top. Tiny pro in horizontals and lots of small, dirty holds made this last section feel more like 5.9. Were it to clean up a bit, it would probably feel easier.

You probably won't actually hug it, but the tree at the base forms a natural ladder that is the start of this fun route. 

  Look for a tree growing right into the cliff and use the "steps" to move up on and onto the face.  Casual climbing past closely-spaced bolts leads up and left to the top.

Great climbing!  Big Dave's is like a harder version of its neighbor, The Return, with an exciting roof pull.  Soft for the grade but still a must-do for Lower Leda. 

  A short face climb leads to a spacious ledge.  From the ledge, move up to a small roof and surmount it on good holds.  Continue up to a steep face with a crimpy and balancy sequence to the top.

A small-hold boulder problem after a no hands rest. extension of Crypric

Nice line with a strenuous roof crux. 

  Starting below a bulging overhang, pull the bulge and head up and left toward a roof above a wall of orange rock.  Negotiate the tricky roof, then continue up on easier ground to the top.

Sustained and balancy climbing the whole way, NTAC is loads of fun.  Stiff for the grade. 

  Climb up and over a bulge, then head up and right on steeper ground.  Delicate face climbing leads to the top.

Basically a 5.9 with a 5.11 start; rumor is that holds have broken off that made the start more doable. 

  Starting at a low overhang, find a tenuous sidepull or two, mentally cross your fingers and throw for a real handhold about 5' beyond your reach.  The climbing eases off considerably and continues up the face to the anchors.

Though it's not a particularly stout 5.9, Definite Maybe does provide some fun challenges along the way, and nice arete climbing. 

  Starting below an outside corner, climb the left face (easier) and delicately transition onto the right face to the first bolt, or go straight up the right face over a bulge (harder).  Continue up the arete through some balancy moves, trending right and up to the anchors.

A great route for the grade, with excellent climbing from top to bottom. 

  Climb the vertical face with a balancy move or two past a bolt and up to a spacious ledge.  Power through an overhanging corner section (crux) on nice but reachy holds; face climbing on slightly easier ground leads to the top.

Same start as I Love Twins, but instead of transitioning onto Gigantic (right), go left and finish on Guardian Angel to add a more exciting finish.

Fun crack climbing reminiscent of T-Wall, I Love Twins is worth bringing your trad rack to this mostly sport crag. 

  Starting in a blocky corner, follow the corner crack up through a moderate overhang with great holds.  Transition right onto the face shared with Gigantic and continue to the top.

Crux for me is right off the ground.  Hard start with easier climbing above.  Best part of the route is the lower part. Upper part is ledgy and easier.  Stick clip is a good idea if you aren't comfortable with the start.

No real crux.  Route is dirty.  Not really worth the time unless you're breaking into leading.  Rap off tree at top or walk down.  Not sure of name.  Found route on Dr. Topo.

A nice mixed route, Sands of Rhyme is a good change of pace from the predominant sport routes at Lower Leda.  Good protection and nice climbing. 

  Starting at a sizeable flake, work up the flake to a shallow overhang and a bolt about 25' up.  Work up onto the face and continue past another bolt or two to anchors at the top.

With two distinct cruxes and good climbing between them, Guardian Angel is a fun challenge.  The route gets its name from an incident in which a climber took a ground fall from the top and escaped serious injury.  NOTE:  the first ascent was likely done on gear and later retrobolted, so feel free to break out your rack and skip the bolts if you're a trad leader. 

  Starting just left of a left-facing corner, climb the face on easy ground to a small roof.  Pull the roof (crux) on good holds and continue up the face.  A thin crimpy section near the finish provides a second technical crux.

Though it shares the name of the better known Leda (aka Upper Leda) and is in the same general neighborhood, Lower Leda is a completely separate climbing area.  Because the cliffline that's worth climbing is relatively short, Lower Leda has only about 25 routes, most of them bolted sport lines.  This small volume is made up for by the high quality of the routes on good sandstone.  There's also a good range of grades, with a couple of casual 5.5 trad lines; nice sport moderates like The Return (5.8+) and Guardian Angel (5.9+); and challenging 5.12s like Crisis of Confidence.

  Lower Leda is a great alternative destination when the main Leda cliff is crowded.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Lower Leda