The Monastery, The Third Tier of Mt.Clark.

300 to 500 feet high, and about a mile long. The Third Tier of Mt.Clark is hardly developed. The showcase area is the Monastery (pictured here) where there are 34 routes including Jumbo Pumping Hate and Tusk. This is some of the best limestone in the USA. Randy Leavitt deserves more than a medal for his vision and effort in developing this monumental cliff. If you see him at the very least say thank you. Once you've graduated from Owens River Gorge, Mt.Williamson, and New Jack City, this is the place where you get your sport climbing doctorate.

We asked Randy if he could explain how he found Clark Mountain and what he felt like when you first went up there.

"I had scoped Clark Mountain from the freeway (with a telescope) for years. After climbing on the limestone at VRG, I felt Clark was probably worth a closer look. I scoped it out from commercial planes, when I would make routine trips to Salt Lake City. I purchased topo maps and finally made a trip to Clark when I was on my way to Charleston with Rudy Hofmeister. We first found a smaller crag on the north side. We hiked to it and thought it was okay. On our way back to I-15, I glanced in my rear view mirror to see the main section of Clark (tiers 1-3). I nearly sh**, because it was so much better than what we had just seen. Rudy and I scrambled and hiked to the first and second tiers (this initial hike took over four hours to get to the second tier because we didn't go the most efficient way). Finally, I went to the base of the third tier and couldn't believe how vast and featured it was."

Over the next four years, Randy, helped by Jorge Vissar, Ed Worsman, and Glen Svenson established over 80 routes on the four areas of Clark Mountain. They kept their activities quiet for sometime, enjoying the solitude and the excitement of climbing on such an amazing cliff. Word did get out, an article written (by Dave Pegg), and now Randy has written a guide to Mt.Clark which is in the Vegas Rocks guidebook.

Rockfax: 85 routes
5.8 -1
5.9 -2
5.10 -10
5.11 -17
5.12 -36
5.13 -17
5.14 -2