The Grandest Junction in the West

The spray I'd heard on Unaweep Canyon just outside of Grand Junction was so bad that some years ago I drove right by without even stopping. Admittedly, this is not like me but it was at a time when I'd seen almost none of the climbing in Colorado and I didn't have an adorable 9 month old limiting how far I could hike to boulders. This time when we rolled through GJ to visit my sister Heather the idea of chossy boulders a stone's throw from parking seemed appealing and worst case scenario I'd cross one more place off my list.

Maybe it was the total lack of expectations but I was fairly impressed with Unaweep. Yes, there is a lot of choss, but there is also some high quality rock to be found with a little effort and perseverance. The sheer quantity of the boulders ensured that some gems could be found and in my brief wandering (only a couple hours) I found some amazing things just waiting to be climbed. It just goes to show that spray is not to be trusted and most people are too lazy to adequately explore and assess an area.

Here are a few pics of some of the developed climbing.

The Plethora boulder was the best single boulder that I saw that had been developed. Lots of fun steep problems and unlimited variations for the board locals. This one was my favorite problem on the boulder.

Tommy on the Plethora boulder.

Lina also on the Plethora boulder

Some cool verticalish face at another area

One of the better things I found that appeared to be climbed on. Felt hard and I wonder is it's done.