The Owens River Gorge

Owens River Gorge

The Owens River Gorge is a steep 10 mi (16 km) canyon on the upper Owens River in Eastern California in the United States. The canyon is located on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in southern Mono County, along with the extent of the river where it exits the Largo Valley near its source and enters the northern end of the Owens Valley. The gorge is a popular destination for climbing.

The Owens River Gorge is California's most concentrated sport-climbing area. It is really a year-round crag, although summers can be a bit hot. There are many moderate sport climbs in the sub 5.10 range, but the best gorge climbs seem to be in the 5.10-5.11 range. The climbing is on volcanic tuff and features edges, pockets, and cracks. Most of the climbing is close to vertical but there are some steep lines as well, namely at the Eldorado Roof and the Dilithium Crystal. Most climbs, whether face, crack, corner, even off-width and chimney, are fully sport bolted. There are some good trad lines, but sport climbing is why you're here. The gorge is often crowded but if you hike a little further you can usually find some solitude. The Warm-Up Wall, the Pub, the Social Platform, the China Wall, and the Dilithium Crystal are the most popular areas. Please buy Marty Lewis's "Owens River Gorge Climbs" if you are going to climb here. It's a great guide to the hundreds of climbs and you'll feel good supporting the guy who put up a huge percentage of the climbs and did a large amount of work (trails, research, bridges, talking with the LADWP that owns the gorge). It's a small price to pay for a great climbing area. You can find the 11th edition of the guidebook, HERE

This 11th edition of Owens River Gorge Climbs includes the following areas in California's Eastern Sierra:

-- Social Platform

-- Great Wall of China

-- Eldorado Roof

-- Dilithium Crystal

-- Gorgeous Towers

-- Gotham City