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South Gateway Rock

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South Gateway Rock

  
Submitted By: Andrew Gram on Aug 30, 2001
Administrators: Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst
Views: 6,287 page views

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BETA PHOTO: West side of South Gateway Rock. Climbing Credibi...


Description 

The large rock formation just north of South Gateway Rock is called North Gateway Rock. There is lots of good and very varied climbing here. The Drug Wall stays in the shade most of the time and has one easy and several hard slab routes of very high quality. There are also good easy to hard crack climbs up to 3 pitches long, and a nice toproping area.


Getting There 

Walk past South Gateway Rock frm the main parking area. North Gateway is the very large rock formation just across the paves trail.



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By Andrew Gram
Administrator
From: Denver, CO
Aug 31, 2001

Too much beer when I wrote this...

Switch North and South for the entire rock description. Thanks for correcting me Darin.

By Darin Lang
Sep 6, 2001

Remember, Andrew - the crack comes AFTER posting, not before. ;)

By Shane Zentner
From: Colorado
Apr 18, 2002

One can never have too much beer, Andrew. Your advice is well taken man.

By Stewart M. Green
May 23, 2004

In mid-May 13 Colorado Springs climbers closed off several of the social trails that access the Drug Wall base on the northeast side of South Gateway Rock. The new access trail to the cliff-base is a short path that leads to the base of Crescent Crack. Follow the cliff-base east from here to Silver Spoon and the Slice bouldering area. The deeply cut trails below Silver Spoon were filled in with brush and rocks. Do not use these old trails so they can rehabilitate.

The Colo Spgs Park & Rec Dept wants less trails to access this and other climbing areas in the Garden. The trails will be designated with city signage in the future. Look for new access trails to the west side of South Gateway, including West Point Crack and Credibility Gap, as well as marked trails to the Finger Face and Cowboy Book Crack area.

If you are interested in giving some energy back to the climbing community, please contact me to get on the mailing list for the next Garden Climber Trail Day.

By Joel Bier
Sep 9, 2004

Does anybody know anything about the climb just right of the first pitch of West Point Crack? The line ascends an overhang and then up a fairly easy jug section to another steep crimpy section before pulling a final set of flakes to the single piton anchor - 4 bolts + the piton and link anchor.

By Bosier Parsons
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Sep 24, 2008

Joel - It sounds like you're referring to the Indian Head route, which continues above the piton, hugging basically the left side of the white rock where the white rock meets the red rock. The upper portion climbs up sort of a groove, which you can see from below. The route is named after the formation of the Indian Head which is formed by the white rock, and shows the profile of an Indian looking to the north - obvious if looking from a distance. FA was done by Steve Hong, Ed Webster, and Earl Wiggins in the '70s. The climb has probably seen few ascents as the upper portion looks quite loose.

The bottom of this climb is also shared by the Pipe Route, which traverses right at the top of the first flake, belays on top of a pillar, then takes a second pitch up to the saddle in the white rock. I'll add this route description to the database.