Moab Rock climbing
Climb the world famous wingate sandstone walls of moab,ut.
moab rock climbing Overview
Join San Juan Expeditions in the capital of adventure — Moab, Utah. With an endless amount of Wingate Sandstone walls boasting varnished faces and splitter cracks, Utah climbing is in a league of its own. Between the iconic Castle Valley and it’s awe inspiring desert towers to the road side convenience of Wall Street and everything in between, you won’t be disappointed with the recreational terrain.
Most popular in the fall and early winter months as the blazing temperature surrenders to a comfortable 60 degrees, climbers from all over the world venture to Moab to scale desert cracks like nowhere else in the world. With opportunities to climb single pitch, multi-pitch, or even desert tower terrain let us show you the ropes (pun intended) in one of the most unique and memorable climbing destinations on the planet.
*If you are interested in climbing a DESERT TOWER, please contact us so we can get more information on your climbing experience and help you select the perfect tower for you.
Difficulty
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Location
Moab rock Climbing Destinations
Indian Creek
Do you want to hone your crack climbing skills? Come join us in the land of splitter cracks and Wingate sandstone to dial techniques from off-width to finger crack climbing. Camping and climbing in ‘The Creek’ over several days is a quintessential American rock climbing experience not to be missed. Whether you are looking to refine a specific skill or build a solid foundation to continue on to bigger objectives, a foray in Indian Creek is a must for any level of crack climber. With no cell reception, your days will be filled with running laps on perfect desert cracks and swapping climbing stories around the campfire at night. Once you emerge from ‘The Creek’ you will have indulged in a much-needed technology detox and improved a meaningful skill that will open up all sorts of climbing doors all over the west.
Moab
Moab is a rock climbing mecca. Climbers travel from around the world to ascend the sandstone cliffs and towers. There is nowhere else on earth with a landscape similar to Moab’s. San Juan Expeditions offers guided climbing in classic areas such as Castle Valley, The Fisher Towers, Wall Street, Indian Creek, and Kane Springs Canyon. The best seasons for rock climbing around Moab are Spring (March-May) and Fall (September-November).
Castle Valley
Littered with desert towers, including the world-famous Castleton Tower where the canyon gets its name, Castle Valley is a true playground for the intermediate to advanced climber looking to summit a desert tower. San Juan Expeditions guides climbs up many of these towers. Castleton Tower – the most popular route, the Kor – Ingalls (5.9) is one of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America. This tower sits in solitaire and from the summit has a view overlooking hundreds of miles of desert and sky. Fine Jade (5.11a) on The Rectory is another desert classic! This route follows a beautiful crack system up the tower’s south face for an impressive four pitches. Similar to Castleton, the view from the summit is unmatched. Sister Superior – This tower sits approximately one mile north of Castleton and The Rectory and provides one of the canyon country’s finest routes, Jah Man (5.10). This route provides short pitches with short cruxes and easy rappels. Fisher Towers– Our route of choice in the Fisher Tower is Stolen Chimney (5.8 A0 or 5.11a) on Ancient Art. If you have never climbed a tower before this is the one for you! Four wonderful pitches get you over 500 feet off the deck and to the famous diving board and corkscrew summit!
Wall Street
This climbing destination is unique in its access and convenience. Literally feet off the river road, Wall Street is an awesome option for those looking to maximize climbing and minimize approach time. With predominantly single pitch routes, this destination is a great way to get a variety of different flavors of climbing in without venturing too high off the ground.
Where You Will Stay
There are many hotels in Moab, almost too many to pick from and a simple google search will render you with more options than you need. But, if you book early enough, and have a desire to “rough it” we encourage our guests to enjoy the great outdoors by camping. With tons of awesome camp sites to pick from and a large footprint of BLM land, your options are mostly limited by your imagination.
What is Included in the cost?
– AMGA certified & trained guide
– Federal land usage surcharge (USFS/BLM)
– Rock climbing equipment (helmet, harness, and shoes)
– Guide gratuity
– Food and snacks for the day
– Personal clothing/gear
* If you need to rent equipment locally visit our friends at Backcountry Experience. If you are coming from the Front Range reach out our partners at Cripple Creek Backcountry.
Course Gallery
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past clients feedback
We went out with Aidan today and had the best time. He catered the climb to our groups abilities and at the end, had each of us do something we thought we couldn’t but he knew we could. Great time and honestly the best outside climbing experience I’ve ever had.
Perfect day! Our climbing guide Aidan managed to find the perfect routes for our level (pretty beginner). It was everything we had hoped for and the whole family had so much fun. Aidan was really lovely and a great guide. 100% recommend San Juan Expeditions
cancellation
Please familiarize yourself with our Booking & Cancellation Policies.
preparation
Climbers should be in good physical condition, and confident/comfortable being outside and on the rock for most of the day.