Front Slabs
Description
[Edit]These are the slabs to the south outside the mouth of the canyon. Starting from here, the first part of these slabs is the back of the Front Boulder Wall. There are some petroglyphs on this, so be conscientious and avoid them when accessing the top. Respecting the rock art and the natural stewardship of climbers contributes a good deal toward our continued climbing at Keyhole.
When this slab ends, a break in the cliff provides access to the upper reaches of the Front Slabs and is the start of the Tyrolean Trail, which goes to the top of the hill. The right side of this gully is the Three Wise Men cliff, a two-bolt, Leaper hanger route up the tallest part. The overhangs left of this make fun top ropes or bold bouldering.
The rest of the Front Slabs are easy 5th class routes and you'd be pressed to find anything harder than a 5.8 move. The whole cliff has been led, top roped, soloed, or scrambled so please don't add any anchors anywhere on this cliff. All the way to the right side are the only bolts on this face. Three old quarter inch split-pins from the 1970's, two on one route and a single on another. The bolts can be supplemented or bypassed by small modern gear. A ledge to set up top ropes 100' up can be gained by scrambling around the steep, easy right side of the cliff, cutting back left a little higher than the ledge, and making a couple easy 5.0 moves left and slightly down. Above this ledge is 30-40' of easy and fun lower angle convoluted slab lead to another larger ledge. Boulder problems from here take you the last few feet to the top where the cliff blends into the hillside.
Descent: From the top: take the Tyrolean Trail back down to the gully with Three Wise Men. From the higher larger ledge: go left and up a little to cut over to the Tyrolean Trail or right and down the steep hillside on the south. From the top rope ledge: go behind the left side of the ledge where it rises up from the cliff and down climb one of the easy 5th class routes. Or, go right and slightly up making some 5.0 moves to reach the hillside on the south.
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