On November 6th, 2025, Bobbi Clemmer and I scored a quick lap on the unique Lotta Balls in First Creek Canyon. The namesake pitch was perhaps the most bizarre I’ve climbed anywhere.
Bobbi and I binged on Red Rocks climbing in November, so I’m going to keep the reports on shorter outings brief. That said. Lotta Balls was exceptionally unique and definitely deserving of a write up. The namesake pitch offered the most bizarre 50 feet of climbing I’ve encountered. Alex Honnold wrote in a recent Instagram post he thought the crux was sandbagged and should be rated 5.9. In a rare and bold move, I’m going to counter the free-solo GOAT with emphatic resistance. Both Bobbi and I thought the guidebook given 5.8+ grade was soft. That said, Alex was obviously ropeless, and had I no cord I’d have shit my pants. The “balls” on the Lotta Balls pitch, present on many routes in First Creek Canyon, are called Moqui Marbles. These strange spherical protrusions, some no larger than a Candy Corn, are formed when groundwater rich in iron percolates through a permissive rock, in this case sandstone. The Lotta Balls pitch is nearly featureless save for these Moqui Marbles. As a 180 pound man tip-toeing and two finger pinching up a ladder of these black nodules, none larger than a baby carrot, I worried constantly one would sheer. Well, none did. And if you eschew trepidation and commit fully to the Tic Tac dance, the work is pretty straightforward.
The rest of Lotta Balls is a classic moderate Red Rocks jug haul on spectacular black varnish. We brought a light double rack of cams, but easily could’ve gotten by with less. We raged to the summit in about 90 minutes without simul-climbing, and were back at the car in roughly four hours. This was a yet another novel, pleasant and carefree front country outing in a place laced with novel, pleasant and carefree front country outings – a vertical geology lesson, and a great rock climb
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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.
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