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Moab in Winter

• October 2013
• Hi Steph Climb

Hey steph this is simon from switzerland. I would love to come to moab for climbing. Is wintertime a good season for that ? Dec to Feb ? what can you suggest?
Kind regards, Simon

Yo Steph!
I read High Infatuation a few weeks ago and loved it! You’re a great writer and a great inspiration. I am planning a road trip with my girlfriend/climbing companion out west (I live in Maine) this winter (Dec 20-Jan 4). We’re no strangers to cold weather so we were thinking about spending most of our time in Moab and since you live there, I have a few questions for you.
1. Am I crazy, should I go further south, are we going to freeze to death or are we just going to be moderately chilly during the day (I know it gets cold at night in the desert, but that’s doable)?
2. What areas in Moab would you recommend for people who are relative noobies to cracks (i.e. places that are mixed face and crack, not all one or the other; for reference, both my gf and I are comfortable around 5.10a-b; basically, I love sport and want to practice on mixed sport/trad routes)?
3. Good camping sites that aren’t too far from a paved road and good climbing but aren’t completely backcountry either (I lack a 4×4, just have hatchback with a couple of mountain bikes)?
4. Anything I MUST see, routes I should climb, boulders I shalt boulder?
5. Ummmmmm anything I didn’t think of that I should have?

Also:
Here’s my vegan tempeh sandwich recipe: two slices of bread, lightly toasted, vegan mayo on one, mustard on the other, sliced tempeh (about 2/3 cm thick) covering the entire bread slice that has the mayo on it (it has to be on that one because tempeh + vegan mayo = damn good), then sliced tomatoes, red onions and a ton of lettuce; the whole thing should be at least 3 inches thick when you’re done with it, if not, add more lettuce.
– salad version: remove the bread, add balsamic vinagrette, vegan mozzarella, walnuts and dried cranberries
Thanks!
Alex

Hi Alex and Simon,
Winter is actually my favorite time for everything in Moab. It’s quiet, the winds are calm, the temps are good (IF!! it’s sunny) and the light is gorgeous. There are a few caveats though. Winter can also be a terrible time in Moab, especially when you are camping. Typically December and January are the most hit or miss months here. It could be sunny and t-shirt weather on a rock face, or there could be multi-day stretches of cloudy days with snow on the ground and on the rocks, where the high temperatures are in the 30s…or 20s. Brr.

Keep in mind too, days are short. If you are staying in a house, and the weather is sunny, you will have perfect climbing (or anything) conditions in the full sun between 10 or 11 and 2 or 3, which is a pretty short window, but a pretty fantastic one! If you are camping, you will need all that time before 11 am to thaw out, make hot things to drink and get moving. I have a lot of memories of staying in the back of my truck huddled up with my dog at Indian Creek for 15 hour stretches in winter under 2 sleeping bags and 2 blankets. If you do that, here is a trick you will thank me for forever: fill 2 Kleen Kanteens with boiling water right before bed and stick each one in a shirt or cloth bag (or use 2 Nalgene bottles and then you don’t need the shirt). One is for your feet and one is for your stomach. This will change your life 🙂 Don’t forget to put at least one jug of water inside your truck/van/tent at night too or else it will all be frozen in the morning when you want to use it–but if you slept with hot water bottles, you will have at least 2 unfrozen liters to start with. A light puffy vest is also your friend–I rarely take mine off in the winter months while climbing.

The honest truth is that a trip to Moab in winter is a gamble, similar to going to Spain in my experience, and you can either win big or be VERY cold. It might be worth spending the money to stay at a hostel, in a motel, in a bed and breakfast, in a tiny cabin, or team up with friends to rent a condo or house through VRBO.com. Take a look at discovermoab.com and tripadvisor too. Most rates really drop in the winter because it’s Moab’s nearly dead season (which is part of what makes it so great) so you could be pleasantly surprised at cost and get a lot more out of the trip.

If you are here in winter and you are blessed with sunny perfect winter days, you can climb at Potash Road (Wall Street) in the morning. It is sunny until mid-day. Then you can move over to the Ice Cream Parlor down Kane Creek Road which is sunny in the afternoon. Both places have face and crack climbs (and many that are some of both) with plenty of moderate to difficult routes with little to no approach. Another sun-soaked cliff, with harder and more pure crack climbing routes (not much there for bolts), is Abraxas Wall in Kane Creek Canyon. The Tombstone, 3 pitches either C1/2 or 5.13, sits right across from Abraxas Wall, gets full sun all afternoon and is a good winter choice for more adventure.

Most walls at Indian Creek are south facing, and winter is absolute prime climbing season at the Creek–it’s just short windows and hard to camp out in the winter season. I am not averse to driving from Moab for day trips to the Creek in winter. You can’t get going too early or stay too late anyway because days are so short so there’s not a huge advantage in camping (except reducing carbon footprint). The sunniest walls are Battle of the Bulge, Broken Tooth and Cat Wall.

Winter is the ultimate prime season for Big Bend Bouldering. For that reason alone, it’s worth coming in winter. And you can also camp right there. The route Infrared is super classic multi-pitch outing and is in full sun, right above Big Bend Boulders.

The Kor Ingalls on Castleton is also a very sunny route, just don’t start too early. For a fun outing, the small tower Owl Rock in Arches also bakes in the sun all afternoon.

Camping in Moab, you will have your pick of whatever you want in the winter. The sites on Kane Creek Road, at Big Bend and along Potash Road are nice, but what will matter the most is morning sun. You will get morning sun at the Potash camping, but not at Kane Creek. Sand Flats Road will get first and last sun, and the dirt road is fine for 2wd cars.

No matter what, bring your camera. Moab is already the most beautiful place on the planet (I’m biased), but in winter it’s insane. The lower path of the sun makes the light achingly lovely and when it does snow, it’s annoying for climbing, but a visual treat to experience white icing on the red rock. And it usually melts quick.
Steph