Cactus Cliffs
Approach: As of late April 2010, the road to the parking area at the base of Catcus Cliffs is closed to public traffic. Climbers must park at The Bank day use area.
From The Bank parking area, walk down the road that is to the right when entering the lot. Take the first trail on the right and head down to the wash staying to the left where the trail T's. Then cross the wash and head back up hill, staying right where the sign points toward the Cactus Cliff area. Where the path meets the closed road, head left uphill a couple of hundred yards.
From the BLM sign, head along the path a few feet and head up a set of stairs on the left. Where the path continues to the right, find a path heading off to the left. This path comes out a bit right before the pock-marked right-facing corner that is Crynoid Corner (5.7).
All routes described below should be short enough for a 60m rope (we used a 70m but had plenty of extra rope), and they all have bolted anchors, too.
Slicer (5.10b) - Sport - Seven bolts: To the left of the top of the path, find the pock-marked right-facing corner that is Crynoid Corner (5.7). Slicer clears the roof that is just around to the left of the corner, then follows the face up to a ledge and continues straight up to the anchors.
Crynoid Corner (5.7) - Sport - Nine bolts: To the left of the top of the path, find the pock-marked right-facing corner that is just right of a small, low roof. Climb the corner and crack (can layback on either side if need be) to the anchors on the left.
Three-quarter Ton (5.10c) - Sport - Eleven bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find a block that is resting against the cliff about six feet above the path (the block is on top of another, more sturdy-looking boulder). The leaning block has a bolt on it about 12 feet up. Climb up to the bolt on the block, then trend right and follow the bolts up the face. The crux is gaining the anchors (some people hit the bushy corner on the left and traverse back right).
The Alignment (5.10c) - Sport - Seven bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find a block leaning against the cliff (that makes up the start of 3/4 Ton (5.10c)) and walk 20 feet right to a crack that arches right about 20 feet up. Climb that crack, following the arc, then climb the dihedral (the part just after the pumpy arc being the crux) straight up to the anchors.
Black Man's Burden (5.10b) - Sport - Nine bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find a block leaning against the cliff (that makes up the start of 3/4 Ton (5.10c)) and walk 30 feet right to a shallow right-facing corner with a couple of roofs. Follow the corner right, then head left over the small roof to a flake. Climb that, step right to a ledge, and head straight up the face to the anchor.
Banana Split (5.10a) - Sport - Seven bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find polished rock beneath a small, white roof and left of a ledge that is about eight feet above the path. Step on a boulder to the crack that is left of the white roof. Follow the bolts are left of the large left-facing corner.
The Killer Toupee (5.10b) - Sport - Eleven bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find an obvious left-facing corner that is right of a right-facing flake. There is a crack splitting the upper part of the left-facing corner. Start on ledges in between the flake and the corner. Clip the first two bolts, then walk right on a ledge to the base of the crack on the face of the corner. Climb the crack, sometimes stemming on the corner behind you, and the crack systems above to the top.
Axis of Evil (5.10.d) - Sport - Nine bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find the massive right-facing corner that is about 10 feet right of a roof that is 10 feet off the ground (roof is in between two corners). Climb the crack to the right of the corner to a ledge. Then climb the face right of the small arrete. When you're one bolt from the top, don't go right toward Super Suka (5.12a/b). Instead, either find the improbably sequence straight up to the anchors, or stay left and climb the easier-than-it-seems squeeze chimney before it becomes easier to traverse back right (that bolt straight ahead can be clipped with a little bit of a stretch from the chimney).
Glass Babies (5.10c) - Sport - Ten bolts: To the right of the top of the path, find a small buttress with a small roof that is about two feet off the ground and is about 20 feet right of a massive right-facing corner, just right of a V-book notch. Then move right a few feet and find the base of a left-angling crack (might have a small tree growing out of the blocks at the start). Follow the crack all the way to the top.
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