Start by climbing the first four bolts of El Areto Bolto Del Diablo then continue straight up past 6 more bolts to a two bolt anchor. Heavenly crimps and pockets, combined with unwavering faith in your footwork just might get you to the pearly bent gates at the anchor.

The Reverend

Cruella de Vil

Running with the Devil

Evil Paradise

Friend of the Devil

Ojo (del Diablo)

El Areto Bolto Del Diablo

Sunday Bloody Sunday (aka Tight Little Package)

Prison, Babe

Demon Lung

Prescribed Burn

Sweet Anne Marie

Hidden Slab

Drama Queen

Black Mass

Memory Block

High on Fire

Lucifer's Hammer Drill

Panic Attack

Sympathy for the Devil

This awesome route is likely one of the best 5.10s at Diablo, on par with the Winter Wall classic Grape Ape and the best of the Early Wall, Grotto, etc.  

  Anchor your belayer to the two bolts on the right side of the gully.  

  Clip the first two bolts on easy terrain before traversing left towards the arete. The route really gets going around bolt five, with tricky moves and a bizarre mantle to get established on the arete. From here, get psyched for 50 feet of continuous, technical face climbing on small edges and pockets, using the left arete on occasion. It isn't over until you clip the anchors.

A fun route that is harder than it looks. There are two sets of anchors - getting to the first set is the crux, and the best climbing is on this first pitch. But you can easily link both without much rope drag. 

  The climb begins with a few moves on jugs, bringing you up to a tricky blank section in the wall around bolt three. Resist the temptation to go right at this point (it will be difficult to get back to the bolt line if you do) and commit to a improbable traverse out the arete on the left (crux?). From here, the route stays on or near the left arete with fun and interesting moves all the way to the first set of anchors.  

  The business is over but if you feel like more climbing, there is a short second pitch, more of an extension than anything. This is mostly 5.8 or 5.9 slabbing up and noticeably left on a ramp, with one slightly harder move right at the anchors.

Fantastic, grey, felsic basalt on this route. Climbs steep terrain through a bulge, a headwall face, and finishes with a roof. You will sing Hallelujah when you clip the chains. Its that fun.

This great climb has a little bit of everything.  It has crack climbing to laybacks to face to slab.  Might be easiest to skip the bolted belay and be careful getting to the first bolt, at most 5.6.

A neat crack line splitting the grey basalt. Good movement with lots of hidden jugs and stances keeps this corner relatively mild. But lots of enjoyable climbing on this line. Another great addition to the Diablo trad circuit. I got my old yellow Tech-Friend stuck at the bottom of this line. This was a favorite piece of mine in the 90's when I climbed often in The Valley.  It sits there still. My old Friend is now the Friend of the Devil......

Very difficult down low with little to nothing for the feet and sidepulls for your hands. Then take a nap. Again on the upper wall more featured rock but few good holds in a corner gets you to the anchor. I recomend Z-clipping at the anchor since the last bolt and the anchor are so close it is a pain to clip regularly and your waist is still below the last bolt anyway when you clip the anchor.

 Additional description from Aaron Miller the FA: Fun and tricky climbing through some unique features, this route has two separate crux sections separated by some easier terrain. The fact that the route is broken by a rest-section does not mean you can let your guard down, the top moves are challenging and excellent on beautiful rock.

 Original Online guide description from Rick Bradshaw:  At least one individual has had his eye on this piece of rock for a while. A crucial hand hold popped off on an early ascent, turning the moves past the first bolt into a bit of a boulder problem, requiring an attentive belayer. A much needed no hands rest breaks up the sustained climbing on the lower and the upper sections.The best sport route of its grade at Diablo (well, it's the only 12- sport route at Diablo --as of 2004--, but it's really good).

A really nice trad route up the beautiful crack on the left side of the wall. Can be done either by going up into the gully and traversing right into the route. There is also a more difficult to protect start that starts directly at the bottom of the crack. Belayer can anchor into bolts at the left end of the gully, way left of the crack.

This is the obvious left-leaning corner system in the center of the wall, look for a scary white plate suspended near the bottom of the corner. Dennis Jackson asked me for a name to this route and I hadn't yet come up with one for his last Falcon guidebook, so there are citations that refer to the route as "unnamed".

 I spent a fair bit of time prying on the plate with a crowbar, and then banging on it with a 4# mallet, couldn't get most of it to go. With that said, I still wouldn't put gear in it, but pulling on it should be fine (use judgement). But you can climb through it at easier than 5.8, Id think. There is good gear above and below it. My FA attempt was originally ground-up, but I was stopped at the crux section by buckets of gravel and dirt falling into my face as I tried to use the hand crack. I came down, hiked around, and rapped in from the top. I evacuated a huge amount of debris from this upper section of crack, which turned out to be fairly larger than hand size (the #4 or 5 section), and I was ultimately happy with how well it cleaned and climbed.

 There is a possibility that sections of this route had been tried in the past, but if so, they certainly didn't use the same exit. They could have aided left and finished-out via a separate, left crack system. Its plausible, but again, not likely.

 George Perkins : "This crack's crux is harder than it looks, making it another good one on the Diablo trad circuit. The flake is scary, but at least the climbing is easy at this point. Climb up to this flake, place pro behind. Above is a nice left-facing hand crack; then you'll reach an overhanging flared slot through a roof with a good hand crack in the back. This is the crux, and even with good hand jams, it's harder than it looks, but only a few moves of this tricky section. Sustained hand cracks lead to the anchor at the rim. Pro is great, after you pass the big hollow flake. "

From the belay climb straight up clipping the first 3 bolts shared with Black Mass and continue up the prow past 5 more bolts. Great rock, wild position, and interesting movement make this worth the scramble to the base.

Located at the far (south) end of the Grotto's left side are two enjoyable routes with nice position. Prescribed Burn is the left route of the two.  

  Access the base of the route via a short fourth class scramble up the small ridge below the route or hike around the ridge and back up. From the belay platform, edge out left and up to clip the first bolt in a green, lichen-covered face. Side pull your way up to the big, comfy ledge.   

  From the big ledge, climb cracks up and left past the second bolt to the big, positive horizontal crack to the third bolt. (I unclipped the second bolt from the rope because I worried, no doubt unnecessarily, that the huge block that forms the stellar horizontal crack could break away and that would be ugly).  

  Hand traverse out left towards the arete to a huge, immediate dose of exposure and figure out how to get your feet up on the horizontal crack and the fourth bolt. These moves are super cool!  Climb just right of the arete up steep rock into the very green, licheny rock for a good rest. Technical moves through the green face lead up through some fun side pulls and an angling crack. One last thin face move gets you to the nice horizontal hand ledge and then the anchors shared with Memory Block.  

  The secluded location, fine views, huge exposure and variety of moves on this route deem it worthy, in my opinion, of classic status.

This route starts at same alcove-ledge spot as "Friend of the Devil". A steep line of bolts heads up and right through fun and rewarding terrain that eventually gains the arete and shares an anchor with FOTD.

 For now, this route shares two bolts with "Prescribed Burn", but I plan to install two more bolts to keep them separate. They do sort-of share a very short section of terrain, so I didn't want to over-bolt and change the aesthetics for PB, but after climbing this a few times I think it would be fine to add the bolts and keep them completely separate. Until I add the bolts, bring at least one long draw to reduce drag for the first of 2 PB bolts encountered around the arete (doubled-up quickdraw works fine).

 Also, I plan to upgrade this route to 3-stars when retro-ed!!!  Its pretty darn good.

A looong sustained slab climb up nice smooth basalt. This route climbs the narrow slab between Sunday Bloody Sunday and Evil Paradise. Fun climbing, nice reassuring bolts, and great exposure.

Drama Queen has nice thin face climbing for 40', after 2 bolts worth of gully thrashing (shared with El Areto Bolto Del Diablo).  It was difficult to tell when to leave the crack on the right or left side of the narrow face, and when it was time to actually commit to the thin face.  Once on the face and going, the climbing was high quality with small edges and occasional pockets, in the spirit of some of the other 5.10 low angle climbs at Diablo (El Areto, Humbolt, 2-Wheel Drive, Hidden Slab). 

  This climb possibly deserves another star, or 2, but my fingers were so cold that I was having a hissy fit during my onsight (when I climb it again, I'll reconsider; and the grit/rubble will be lessened with further traffic).  (If it isn't cold,) you should do this one while you're up here to climb the soon-to-be classic El Areto (also 5.10d), which is well worth the effort of hiking up to.   

Drama Queen is fully shaded until late afternoon, and fairly sheltered from wind. 

  Vaino's website has a nice picture showing this route.

From the belay anchor make a long reach from a right hand undercling to a good edge. Climb up and trend right on to the face. A series of technical moves on stellar rock and interesting features will get you to the chains.

If you're looking for some solitude at the Grotto, this route will help you find it. Located at the far (south) end of the Grotto's left side are two enjoyable routes with nice position. Memory Block is the right route of the two.  

  Access the base of the route via a short fourth class scramble up the small ridge below the route or hike around the ridge and back up. From the belay platform, edge out left and up to clip the first bolt in a green, lichen-covered face. Side pull your way up to the big, comfy ledge.  Head up and right using some cracks to gain a nice stance on the arete. Stick to the very positive arete for four more clips before you need to figure out a way to head left across the clean face to a positive but hard to see crack. A horizontal crack/ledge and opportunities for hand jams take you to the shared anchor with Prescribed Burn.

Start at the belay ledge with two cold shuts and go straight up off the anchor, clip the first bolt and stem up to jugs to access the main face. Work your way up the steepening wall, traversing to the crack on the right after the 6th bolt. Step left at the next bolt and head up the red/orange face aiming for the prow near the top.

The beautiful blunt arete/face to the right of Sunday Bloody Sunday. I have never redpointed this route, but it is a great line on perfect rock, with a bouldery crux and mid-height and incredible exposure. A classic for those studly enough to climb the grade.

Panic attack is a really, really bad climb. But it was the first route I ever did at Diablo. It climbs the grungy wide crack/slab/dihedral between Hidden Slab and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Full of dirt and loose rocks, as water runs down the route from the mesa top when it rains. Use anchors for "Hidden Slab" to lower, or top out onto the mesa and bushwhack back down.

This is an amazing route that starts in a thin hand crack just right of Ojo. It has a power crux with fantastic movement and features, and an easier but wild topout crux, just too much fun! This route had an old rusted and wiggly piton at the base that I have cleaned so that it wouldn't get accidentally clipped. Someone had tried at one point to aid this line but likely bailed due to the hollow rock that would otherwise have been the gear and had smashed the rock trying to recover the pin(the pin wiggled but was only finally removed by a crowbar, impressive!) . Because of this, I had chosen to bolt the crack sections rather than require gear, it just wasn't safe. I think this would have been a fun mixed lead, but it didn't work out. Regardless, its nothing but fun.

This crag is at the top of the grotto. It has stunning basalt and excellent technical climbing with exposure and views. It faces generally west with a little bit of north, so a good shady spot during morning sessions.

 The Ojo sector is the first crag you will pass if taking the Mordor approach trail (preferred, see topo) and boasts an impressive collection of high quality 12- sport routes as well as a couple of worthy trad lines. It faces northwest, making it pleasantly shady for a longer period of the day than other parts of this wall. This was the crag that had the first 12- in the grotto, "Ojo", named from the iconic satellite dish feature in the middle of the eponymous route. The staging area here is comfortable, relaxing, with phenomenal views, and there is a good density of excellent climbing from that single spot, making it a little more attractive as a destination for the day.

 The Evil Paradise Sector starts above the last route on the Grotto Left Wall, "Bedeviled" from a high nook that you could hike-scramble to if you are already climbing in the Grotto. From here, you will encounter some great classics including the moderate but wildly exposed Evil Paradise, the quality trad line "Bloody Sunday", and the hard testpiece "Lucifer's Hammer Drill" as well as some more technical face climbs like "Black Mass". Most of the belay stances at this sector are less than ideal, kinda scrappy, so prepare to look around a bit before you drop your packs and/or do the 3rd/4th class traverse to the base of the route. Also, if choosing this as a destination for the day, do consider approaching this sector from the Mordor trail as it will help to reduce the already accelerated erosion at the base of this wall (unfortunate, and worsening every year probably mostly due to climbers). If not, try to stick to the talus and not the erosion gullies as you hike up. Drop your packs somewhere away from the eroding mess.

Description

Protection

Routes in Top of the Grotto (Ojo and Evil Paradise Sectors )