- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
EUGENE · BASALT
Skinner Butte (The Columns) climbing conditions
Good — dry and climbable
Right now
Assessment
7-day forecast
Scroll through each day — hourly detail is shown inline.
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Good friction range for basalt
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
- Basalt holds friction well when dry
About Skinner Butte (The Columns)
Skinner Butte — locally known as The Columns — is Eugene's downtown crack-climbing school, 30 seconds from parking at 2nd and Lincoln in Skinner Butte Park. Thirty-seven basalt column routes average 47 feet, mostly trad and top-rope with bolted anchors, spanning 5.6 to 5.13b. Classics include the burly Big O (5.11d), The Prow (5.10a), and Left Y (5.9). The columns catch afternoon-to-evening sun and get crowded with the after-work crew — perfect for a two-hour session between the office and the pub. The Willamette Valley damp keeps the base of the columns muddy through winter, but the routes themselves drain quickly. May through October is best. Historic climbing since the 1940s; the columns were exposed by quarrying between 1893 and the 1930s.
- Region
- Eugene
- Rock type
- basalt
- Aspect
- west-facing
- Altitude
- 479 ft
- Exposure
- low
- Seepage
- medium