Portland Creek Mixed Crag
5 new mixed lines provide the easiest access in Ouray to getting your scratchy scratchy on!
With a slow start to the winter season in Ouray, Steven Van Sickle and I grabbed drills and started working on new lines. We were looking for all-natural lines and boy did we strike gold! Steven and I bolted Rollin Down Rodeo and Calm Like a Bomb together, and I bolted the other three lines on my own.
Route Locations:
All routes are located underneath the Portland Creek Bridge. You can park within 50ft of the bridge. There’s a bonus WI3 ice climb there too!
Accessing the Routes:
To lead the routes, rap off the Portland Creek Falls anchor (one 60m rope), which you can walk to. They’re located above the falls on the climber’s righthand wall. To set up top ropes or rope-solos, fix a line off the bridge. All routes have chain or quick-link anchors 3-6 meters below the lip of the wall and can be rigged however you’d like.
Getting Back Out:
All can be lead past the low anchors, belay off the bridge. Some routes have extra bolts above the low anchors to help with this. Also, you can lead out Portland Creek Falls (WI3-).
Gear:
All routes are fully bolted.
Route Breakdown:
1) Roll Right (M6): located on the climber’s left-hand wall when looking at Portland Creek falls. This is the easiest line of the 5. It often forms with ice. BONUS: the toprope line coming straight down from this route begins on Portland Creek Falls and up moderate mixed (M4-5).
2) Rollin Down Rodeo (M7): the rightmost of the other four lines, labeled “1” in the topo photo. The first half is the crux, but the upper half is scratchy, insecure, and easy to pop-off on.
3) Calm Like a Bomb (M8-): the next line left, labeled “2” in the topo photo. Harder than Rodeo with terrible feet at the start and a couple crux moves. The last three bolts are the redpoint crux: the moves aren’t hard, but boy are they thin!
4) Pistol Grip Pump (M8): labeled “3” in the topo photo, this line can be taken to the extra low anchors or linked into Calm Like a Bomb to go to the top (there’s a traverse bolt). There are crux moves throughout, and the start is hard.
5) Killing in the Name (M9): finally, “4” in the topo photo, Killing is much harder than any of the others. The feet are better than the other routes, but the moves are larger. There’s a distinct crux getting through the lower bulge, a great rest, and the roof at the top is the true crux.
I hope you get as much enjoyment from these routes as we did developing the lines. If you climb them, tag us on Instagram and Facebook and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear how it went. Climb on!