Teddy Bear Cove, Rock climbing

YDS

5.1 5.3 5.5 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10a 5.10c 5.11a 5.11c 5.12a 5.12c

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Seasonality

Summary

Basalt

Teddy Bear Cove gets it’s name from the profile of the area as viewed from Google Earth maps.

Description

Teddy Bear Cove (TBC) is a new climbing area with very few ascents. Routes here have been engineered to be safe and clean which includes TR’ing, planned clips, and cleaning of loose rocks (sometimes big blocks). However, routes can still be somewhat dirty and/or still have loose rock. Routes at TBC can be more dangerous than other climbing areas including the nearby and similar Massacre Rocks State Park. While new ½” hardware is installed and obvious loose blocks are removed, it’s possible fixed hardware could fail and rocks or even large blocks could dislodge over time and maim or kill the climber or belayer. Use of helmets by both climber and belayer is strongly encouraged.

Access issues

Most of the climbing is on Idaho State Land including The Nose, Send Town, JR’s Place, Headwall, Juniper Wall, and the Pit. Powerline Crag and the Sandbox are on BLM land.

Approach

Set your odometer at the American Falls Dam and turn onto Lamb Westin Road. Right away at 0.2 miles turn left onto Borah Rd. At 1.8 miles, turn left onto Lake Channel Road. Follow Lake Channel Road until 11.0 miles (from the dam). Here Lake Channel Road takes a large turn to the left. Instead of following the pavement to the left continue straight on a gravel road until it ends in another 0.2 miles. Turn right onto Quigley Road.

Immediately after turning right and passing over a cattle guard, turn left on a dirt road under some power lines. You can access The Nose, Powerline Crag, and the Sandbox from this road. This road is a little sandy but low clearance vehicles should be able to park at Powerline Crag. It’s a short walk across the valley to the Sandbox.

For Send Town, JR’s Place, Headwall and The Pit, continue on Quigley road another 0.2 miles to a large pullout on the left. Park here if you have a low clearance vehicle otherwise follow any of the braided road options a short distance to the rim above the Pit. It’s also possible to continue on dirt roads to the Sandbox.

Ethic

Teddy Bear Cove is a sport climbing crag and nearly every route is safely bolted so that the only gear needed is a rope and draws. All routes are less than 30 meters in height and most routes are outfitted with convenient sport anchors consisting of a steel carabiner and a steel open cold shut. If you intend to top rope with a big group please use your own draws. Many splitter cracks are bolted. If you want to climb trad routes, bring your pro and skip the bolts. Please don’t chop the bolts after your trad ascent. If you see a new trad line you want to get an FA on, it is strongly recommended to clean the route first as loose blocks to some extend (more or less) have been present on the 100+ routes established at TBC.

History

History timeline chart

More than 100 routes were developed in 2016. Prior to this development, there were only 3 or 4 historic routes in the entire area – probably established in the mid 90’s.