Maple Canyon

I was in Maple Canyon over the first weekend of spring break with Pat, Sarah, and Stephanie. Shannon drove down on the Saturday we were there. We were probably the first sport climbers out there that season. The road leading up the canyon was snowed in so we had to camp at the base and hike through the snow to get to the climbing. The rock in Maple Canyon is so unique. Maple Canyon consists of cobbles held together by some sort of sedimentary conglomerate. The cobbles are rounded rocks that range from the size of golf balls to watermelon and contains different kinds of holds, which makes onsighting difficult here and endurance a must. We warmed up in the Maple Corridor on a few easy climbs. Raindrops on Lichen was an easy climb that was 5 bolts long. The water streak to the right of it was called Your Little Sister and was the best line on the wall that I did. EIS was a fun pumpy climb to the left of Raindrops on Lichen. Shannon, Pat, and I headed up to the Pipeline Wall located in the Left Fork. The Pipeline Wall is a short steep wall that has boulder problem starts to easier climbing. I climbed on one of the steep lines at the left side of the wall, and was able to figure out the moves with a few falls. The rock temperature was really cold at this time so we had to use handwarmers in our chalk bags to keep our hands from going numb. I got to the crux on my second try but was unable to pull through to finish it. On my third try I was able to finish the climb with different crux beta. I decided to stop at this route right off the road on the way down the canyon. The climb that I dubbed the River Route, since at the time I had no clue as to the name, was a steep 7 bolt climb with a cruxy finish. It sits right above a small snow melt river. I figured out the moves and gave it one try before dark. I was able to link to the 5th bolt. Shannon headed back to SLC that night, and I returned to the River Route in the morning. On my first attempt I was able to get to the sixth bolt and nearly finished the climb. I tried the climb twice more that day, but was unable to get further than a hold below my high point. I found several beta tweaks that made the route flow much better, including a kneebar and some new foot and clipping beta. The next day I was too trashed from the previous two days climbing so I warmed up and headed over to the Pipeline Wall with Pat instead of trying the River Route. I was able to do 3 new climbs and nearly a fourth that I just didn't have the energy to finish. We headed up to SLC the next day to boulder in Little Cottonwood Canyon.