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INDIAN CREEK: Don't Forget The Crash Pad

story and photos by Brandon Mathis

Getting Started

Indian Creek is located just outside Canyonlands National Park’s Needle District, north of Monticello, Utah. The bouldering can be found in Donnelly Canyon, below the famed Supercrack Buttress, and along Beef Basin Road, near the Bridger Jack Towers. Bring your curiosity, a desire to explore and plenty of water, and use caution around cryptobiotic crusts by following cattle trails. Check out Lavender Canyon, rain or shine.

Sloper sandstone denies your panicking hands. Delicate smears repel your feet behind the sound of tearing grip tape. Top-outs make your crash pad appear as a bomber's target rather than a comfortable landing. Crimpers, pinchers, rattle snakes, scorpions - this is good bouldering and it's all here at Indian Creek. Yes, Indian Creek.
Indian Creek is known for its steep walls with long, clean cracks. It draws climbers to Utah from all corners of the world to test their skill on relentless walls of challenging crack climbing. Names like Pistol Whipped, Rambo and Fringe of Death, the cliffs tempt all comers to hump loads of gear up steep approaches with the anticipation of kids on Christmas morning.
It's a rare event for climbers to head to Indian Creek just to boulder, so that's exactly what we did.
Typically regarded as something to do with raw hands after days of plugging hands into cracks and chugging up walls, bouldering here has spent much of its life in the shadows of the Wingate sandstone above, with good reason. There is no other place like it. For those with a taste for the uncommon and an open mind comes a sense of serenity among these boulders, found speckling the arroyos, often stashed deep within the canyons. Armed with crash pads, some grub and a sense of adventure, anyone willing to explore embarks on surveys of natural, cultural and climbing history. Finding the boulders can feel like unearthing buried treasure, filling you with the satisfaction of ascending something few have climbed. Wandering into areas like Lavender Canyon reveals panels of rock art and cliff dwellings that stand silent, reminding you that your weatherproof tent and down sleeping bag are far from roughing it.
Exploring the boulders off Beef Basin Road or Donnelly Canyon, climbers find problems that are as intoxicating as the cracks above them. "Its really good, bomber, bullet-hard sandstone- tons of stuff. "It's insane," remarked Ian Alliason, of Pine Needle Mountaineering in Durango. When Alliason talks about Indian Creek, his eyes widen, his enthusiasm shines. You get the feeling that he has a few projects in the works, and he wants to safeguard his secrets.
But there is something for everyone. "If you want to experience the area but don't have all the gear, you still can," he said. The boulders challenge like giant puzzles, the lines of finger cracks baffle, and the thin faces keep teeth clenched and veins rushing.
Among the more challenging problems is a block known as the Hobbit, off Beef Basin Road. Perched on a hillside laced with hues of green and orange, just scrambling to it is precarious. Once your shoes are on, the moves lift you from a cavern through an opening formed by another rock held against it. Continuing over a tilted shelf that resists holding a crash pad, the route follows an overhanging face of gravity and desperation, finishing with a sequence of heal hooks and slabby pull ups that verge the impossible. "Tired yet?" asked Jim Symans, a regional climber credited with developing the Lemon Dam crags outside Durango. He apparently enjoys watching me peel from this ominous rock. Mantling this block into the sun would be an accomplishment, out from the cold underneath into the warmth above. "No, there's no bouldering here," said Symans, mocking the naysayers. He seems to have endless energy and wants to check out the boulders up the canyon. I grumble to myself. My forearms are so pumped I can barley untie my shoes.
Indian Creek is vast and fragile on many levels. The historic Dugout Ranch and other entities own land in the area, but climbers are allowed to access cliffs across private property. They do, however, discourage bouldering on private holdings. These are important relationships and can be threatened by those who don't respect them. The BLM, the Access Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Friends of Indian Creek, the American Alpine Club and others work to protect Indian Creek's natural resources and to keep this amazing place open to climbing. "The ranch doesn't have a problem with the climbers, they just don't want to see an impact," said James Webster, of Pagan Mountaineering in Moab. Respecting their wishes is respecting the access.
At camp, stars begin to glow and walls rise into the night sky. We share a campfire, recounting our day with climbers from Spain, New York, Arizona and Colorado.

Brandon Mathis writes, rides and climbs from Durango, Colo., where he currently has as much fun as the law allows.