COLUMN: Smitten with climbing in Logan Canyon
I’m at the top of the “NCMO” climb on the Date Wall, at the mouth of Logan canyon. It’s about 8 o’clock, and the morning chill is working on my once pink fingers, reducing them to that numbing pinch as I continue reaching for the next best grab. The sun finally decides to breech the cool blue of the morning, just as I push up with my legs and tap the top.
I look down to my belayer, yelling “Take!” He immediately jumps, simultaneously pulling the rope tight, so I can straighten my legs and walk down the slick, grey side that I had just monkeyed up. As my purple Evolvs touch the pebbled ground, the feelings of success are in sway, even though the route is one of the easiest in the canyon with a rock climbing rating of 5.6.
Many of my fellow classmates are skilled in climbing difficult routes farther up the canyon, but as an individual suffering from a mild case of acrophobia — fear of heights — who hasn’t climbed in a long while, I’ll work on my faulty technique and nerves to reach those harder routes.
Date Wall is a great place to start out for college students who really want to get into the sport but don’t necessarily want to indulge at the Rock Haus — the indoor climbing gym in Logan. Though the Rock Haus is fairly inexpensive, I got to the point where I could climb a 5.10 indoor, though I found I could only scale around a 5.7 or 5.8, outside.
The rating system of rock climbing comes from the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) with the easiest being about a 5.0 and ranges up to a 5.15 — though I don’t personally know of any 5.15-rated routes. The ‘5′ in the rating is part of a 1-6 scale. The 1 signifies that the individual is walking on an even, breezy surface with very low chance of injury and 6 implies there is extreme use of equipment aid to avoid death or severe injury. Rock climbing is in the 5 category, in which the individual must be attached to a safety rope and generally needs some sort of skill in the technical moves to reach the desired position — most likely, the top of the route.
Date Wall — also a great place for dates — starts off with a 5.6 rating on “NCMO” and gradually moves up in difficulty with the 5.10a rated “Smitten.”
The hill on the west face of the rocks is not very steep, creating an easy-to-top-rope route, though lead climbing it isn’t that hard either for someone who is a fairly skilled climber. Heed my warning on these climbs though, they are graded toward the lower end of the YDS, but the limestone has been climbed so much a lot of good holds have become slick.
If you are up for some more difficult routes, head farther up the canyon past the Stokes Nature Center but just before Second Dam. This is where First and Second Practice Wall are closely located, which are both mostly top roping walls. If you see some older cars to the left, you have found the climbers.
“Beginner’s Luck” is generally the first route I go to at Second Practice Wall. After you harness up with your belayer, there’s an easy step up to head toward the white, spider-infested crack that you will most likely hug. The first three-quarters of the climb aren’t too bad, with a few technical grabs here and there, but then you come to this slight roof that has hardly anything to grab or anchor your feet into. If you’re over my impressive 5-foot-4, then you probably won’t have any issues; but being my height, this is an obstacle I have yet to overcome. This is when I tend to look down to my belay and realize the earthy green-yellows of the leaves are under my eye level, and the grey-black rocks suddenly become more ripping and death calling. Game over.
Farther up the canyon are more difficult routes. Fucoidal quartzite is located at mile marker 383.2, to the left, with routes like “Hand Me Down a Hold,” rated at 5.7, to “Man and Woman,” rated at 5.13a. If this still isn’t enough for your adrenaline rush, continue to mile marker 383.4. On the left will be the infamous “China Cave Wall,” which has some of the hardest climbs in North America. Here, you can scale above the raging Logan River on “Super Tweak” and “White Out,” both rated at 5.14b. Happy climbing!
– Allyn Bernkopf is a senior at USU, majoring in English with an emphasis in creative writing. She writes, reads and hangs out with Mother Nature. She can be reached at ally.bernkopf@aggiemail.usu.edu