Multi-pitch Cragging in Mill Creek

I’m in Moab right now for a work trip, and we have the afternoon’s free to get some cragging in. Yesterday we hit up the roadside choss of Potash road. Kind of fun and different to have to blow sand off every hold…

Today we upped the ante and got the tour of a mulitpitch route in Mill Creek. I had climbed here once before on the shorter stuff near the Wicked Crag, and I’d heard rumors of the longer stuff down canyon. It used to be that Mill Creek was the super secret crag that no one talked about. You’d see a stunning photo in Climbing and it would just say “somewhere in Utah.” Over the last couple of years, it seems the locals have relented and it’s not so secret. Still, it’s not all that easy to find good info about the routes (over 300) and it has a feeling of adventure.

Thankfully we were there with a friend who put up many of these longer lines, so we found our route pretty easy and knew what we were getting into (mostly) as we made the two double rope raps into the canyon. The first pitch was a long thuggy corner that ended with difficult face moves protected by a bolt. The next pitch linked interesting features via bouldery moves protected with bolts and gear. The third pitch was the biz, a big roof leading into a chimney. Once it became clear I didn’t have the desire to dig deep and try to send this burly pitch, I started pulling on gear like a French guy on crack. The last was excellent face climbing leading into a nice thin hands splitter on rock that was straight out of Black Velvet Canyon.

These long routes are still pretty off the radar, though an upcoming article in Climbing might change that. There are no moderates, however, so I doubt it’ll become hugely popular. The climbing was excellent and the setting top notch, ask around and go check it out for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.