In The Shadow of Longs Peak
South St. Vrain Rock
20 June 2004
A jaunt to the south St. Vrain in search of rock to climb, starting out at Scout Rock. We parked in a wide pullout, just beyond Scout Rock at the location of a sign welcoming you to South St. Vrain Canyon.
We walked back to the rock and first checked out ‘Conered’. It’s rated at 5.9 but the first section looks easier. Overall, the route goes up a slab, into a crack and finished at a set of 2 anchors.
Next we hiked up the gulley, west, away from the road. The gully, in itself, is an interesting scramble, though today it was a pleasant waterfall the result of four days of nearly steady rain. We continue up until we felt comfortable scrambling up to the right to check out the top-rope situation. It was surprising how far back into the gulley we were but after a few minutes some of the anchors came into view. We decided we could top-rope ‘Route 166’ but would need 50’ runners to avoid the rope drag.
Continuing down toward the road, we could reach the chain for the difficult routes at the mouth.
We then turned north. Almost immediately, there is a set of bolts for a way-too-hard route. Continuing, the bolts for ‘Conered’ are inaccessible as are those for ’Kemosabe’. We continued north for a bit more and climbed back down to the road, just before the spot where the fence ends.
Back into the car, and up the road we go.
Next stop is the ‘Infirmary Slabs’. The guidebook says its 5.1 miles from the mouth of the canyon but there is a nice pullout on the left side of road at mm 28 so we continue on a bit further, then turn around, and park at mm28.
Infirmary Slabs are the ‘find’ of the day. This is indeed pleasurable climbing. At mm28, the walls are pretty sheet so walk downhill a bit to an obvious steep path. Climb up the path which will take you to the bottom of Lower Infirmary Slab. The 5.6 in the book is unbolted as far as we could tell. The 5.7 to it’s left had only 1 bolt. Neither route seems to have anchors at the top. To the left again, a 9+ has a couple of bolts and the anchors at the top are clear. And another route to the left again is another line. Turns out, there are anchors but you cannot see them from here.
To reach the anchors, continue on the trail then scramble up a rock or two where the way is exposed but not problematic.
The best is yet to come: Upper Infirmary Slab. Continue on the well beaten trail, watching out for loose rocks. Maneuver thru a slot (maybe class 3 or 4) and again follow the trail. The massif that lies ahead reminds me of the south platte or Vedavoo. There are 2 5.7 cracks that look kind of hard to me. We continued along the rock. Toward the end is a beautifully set long slab at a very moderate grade – one to return to.
We could not find another way down so retraced our steps back to the car.