Scramble up & left 20' to a short, water polished dihedral with a small bush at the bottom of it. Climb up & over a funky overhang with big jugs and get stood up on the ledge over the lip (crux). Be sure to put in a directional piece here before traversing left across the ledge. Continue up the zig-zagging splitter finger crack towards a small dead tree on the left side of the prow. Finish straight up the exposed upper section to the anchors.

There is a direct start with two bolts that goes at .12c (FA Mark Anderson). It currently has a quick link on the second bolt.

Fractured Fairytale

Gator Boy

Crocodile Tears

Stegosaur

Stegamite

The Penetrators

The Braille Trail

The Spark

May Divorce Be With You

Rumba de Roberto

Smausser Traverse Thing...

[Redacted]

Gay Blade

Reptile

Dragonfly

Pat Me'groinagin

Zorro

Game of Drones

Thunderstruck

Chocolate Thunder

New Vector

The Shadow

Sampler Plate

The Legacy

Reptile Tears

Approximately 100' to the right of the Reptile Butress is another... well, big brown buttress! You can't miss this one, 8 bolts take you up the left side of a brown prow.

This is in the middle of the Brown Wall. It is thin face.

This route climbs the inside corner finger crack just right of

REPTILE

. Hard, continuous stemming on the bottom gives way to the very steep, arching upper section.  This pitch is full tilt real 5.11+.

Pitch 1. Begin just left of a wide slot. If you climb the slot, it's probably 5.7ish. According to the guidebook, climbing the chickenheads next to the slot is more like 5.10a.

Pitch 2. Climb the upper headwall via a seam with a bolt next to it. Use the anchor on

The Braille Trail

to descend.

So there's a toprope junkshow already on

Reptile

or you want to show a new leader how to stitch it up? Hop on this for a fun quickie! Really a detached block that sloughed off of the Brown wall, this heavily featured slab is a pleasant angle reminiscent of a granite Flatiron. New leaders can be on their feet to sling the many chickenheads, plug nuts between fat dinner plates, and there's even some cracks to jam up top!

This makes a good solo to warm up or cool down on with positive holds throughout and the hardest bit down low. If you solo'd it, there's a 4th Class chimney to the climber's right to scuddle down, but downclimbing the pitch is far more pleasant.

The Penetrators climbs thin face just left of

Bust 'er

.

The Spark is a face climbing testpiece on a beautiful swath of Thunder Ridge granite. The route has a much more distinct crux section than its neighbor (

Game of Drones

), knocking its quality rating by a star, but the climbing is still brilliant!

This was Thunder's hardest route when first climbed, a title it held for a few weeks. It was my foray into route development at Thunder and sparked an infatuation that I hope grows into an enduring love affair.

Start behind the tree, scrambling up some ledges and possibly place a cam, then fire up the faint, left-facing dihedral. Get a good shake at a ledge at the 3rd bolt, reach up and clip the fourth, then fire into the crux sequence involving some long reaches on rounded edges - be ready for some super powerful crimping!

Persist through a couple more bolts, then the angle eases on the well-featured slab which you'll follow (placing gear) the shared anchor on the top of the wall.

This was an epic to bolt on the FA as I dealt with a jammed bolt and failing battery that left me running it out great distances. I returned and added bolts later after making the FFA.

This route climbs the now- new direct start for 3 bolts onto a ledge then up a right-facing corner until you break onto the face out left and into a split finger section.

Climb face holds or a thin crack up to a left-angling finger crack. Pull over the bulge, and follow the crack past a dead tree to its end.

Ah yes, the Smausser Traverse Thing.  Great fun indeed. Begin by climbing the first 30 of the

The Braille Trail

, passing 2 bolts and a gnat or two, until it deposits you on top of the giant flake.  Follow the bolts that traverse right until you end at the anchor for

The Penetrators

, and

The Shadow

.

Don't forget to protect your second after the last bolt!

Bust 'er was the first set of bolts drilled at Thunder.   Climb face moves up to a " pork chop" shape plate, pull hard here to get to the crack above. (crux) Mid -to- hard 5.11.  Around corner left of Brown Wall.

Per

Glenn Schuler

: this is the bolted line that takes the left side of the obvious arete (

Zorro

climbs the right side of this same arete on natural gear).

Reptile climbs the chocolate colored section of slightly overhanging plates to the ledge midway up the wall. It has really good gear on PERFECT stone.  It is easy to see why this was the very first pitch done at Thunder.

This route follows a series of quality flakes and corners with fun jamming that nicely compliments the other classic face climbing pitches of the Brown Wall. Begin by jamming a right-facing corner into an offwidth (or bypassing the wideness with some fun face moves) and onto a good ledge. From here, jam up a low-angled right-facing narrow corner to a ledge with a two bolt anchor (slung with tat and a rap ring). This has very enjoyable climbing, and the gear is solid the entire way.

On the far right of the cliff - climb past 1 bolt to cracks above.

This is on the left side of Brown Wall. Protect with small wires climbing up to and through Z-shaped cracks.

This is a face climber's dreaming, climbing an impeccable swath of stone up Thunder's tallest wall. The climbing is continuous for the first fifty feet or so with a gradually building pump. Bring your tight shoes, strong fingers, and great footwork!

The route starts just left of the large, charred ponderosa and heads up a clean, intimidating face. The first few bolts will ease you into what becomes sustained difficult, thin face climbing for 4 bolts or so. The climbing is well-protected through the crux face climbing. After fifty feet or so, the route merges into the

Schmausser Traverse

at a prominent flake, clipping its last bolt, and joining it to the lip of the wall. Lower from nice long chains with fixed biners (they aren't booty, please leave them in place).

P1 - A mix of 3 bolts and natural gear take you through a left leaning crack system to a two bolt belay stance. (.12)

P2 - Follow the wild, left arching roof system out the biggest part of the overhang above. (.13)

This route can also be led in one long pitch with a 70 meter.

Twin cracks after the roof that lead you up the slab to the anchors. You can see that the starting dihedral was a little slimy that day, but surprisingly it had no affect on the climb. By the way, I just made up the name of this climb - I'll change it when it's officially named.

This is really a variation to

Crocodile Tears

. Start on that route, then once in the dihedral above the ledge, traverse right onto the face (past a bolt) to enter the "open book" feature. Continue up that with some very interesting face climbing to gain the slab above. A couple tricky slab moves take you to the roof, where some bold moves will take you over the lip, onto the juggy face above. Follow

Crocodile Tears

for the last 20 feet or so to its anchors.

Originally, the "open book" feature (which is the heart of this route) was part of "Kevin's Mega Project". That route was re-routed into a more direct line to create The Legacy, but that left this really cool open book feature un-accessible. Therefore, we decided to add this variation to open up some really cool climbing.

There are a couple possible ways to start the route, but all would require placing some gear. We hope you like it!

The Legacy takes a commanding line straight through the proudest wall at Thunder Ridge. The climbing is varied with equal parts crack, face, slab, and roof climbing, but the crux will test your face climbing acumen.

Begin up the shallow dihedral, jamming, or liebacking. Get a breather on the ledge, then enter the crux, which is gaining the face above the 1st bolt and making your way left towards a blunt prow. The first move off the ledge (getting established on the face) was the hardest for me, but taller folks may find it easier. Nevertheless, several more desperate crimping moves will be required. At the 3rd bolt, head straight up the blunt prow on more technical, continuous face climbing, eventually reaching a no-hands rest on the slab above.

Continue up the slab, making a few tenuous moves high above your bolts to reach the roof. The roof is easier than it looks, with generally juggy holds on nice chickenheads. Enjoy the view!

This should be one of the hardest routes in the South Platte and one of the best face climbs anywhere!

Reptile Tears climbs

Reptile

to the ledge then climbs the very steep headwall above. This is THE VERY BEST 100 foot pitch at Thunder Ridge!

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Brown Wall