Notch Peak

Adventure, friends and airtime on one of Utah's most iconic big walls

By KAVU

May 23^rd, 2017

kavu athlete - steph davis

Notch Peak is the second tallest vertical cliff face in North America—second only to El Cap in Yosemite. But it’s in the middle of nowhere in the west desert of Utah, off Highway 50, “the Loneliest Road in America,” near the Nevada border.

..... is ruggedly beautiful, and a place where you will find endless solitude, ever-changing layers of geology, bristlecone pines and uninterrupted views for miles in all directions. You’ll also find rattlesnakes and tarantulas. You won’t find water, paved roads, cell service or gas stations. When you go out there, you need to be ready to take care of yourself.

Go find your kavu adventure

The walls and the terrain of Notch are three dimensional and complicated. There are 10-pitch adventure routes up the dolomitic limestone of the north face, accessible by a three hour approach that includes sections of via ferrata to climb up to the base of the wall. You’ll never wait in line for a route, in fact you’ll never even see other climbers…expect some complicated route finding, and climbing that is very much adventure.

Notch is also one of the best wingsuit BASE jumps in the US, although it’s also one of the more serious sites thanks to its unforgiving terrain and remote location. There is a small handful of wingsuiters who make the trip out there as often as possible, and I’ve actually never seen anyone else at Notch.

the best kind of party

I like to go there with my most trusted friends: a group which just so happens to include a lot of the KAVU family :)

onward

Ian and I drove from Moab in our Sprinter—we have a rack on the back and a Yamaha TW200 specifically to take out to Notch since the Sprinter can’t make it on the gnarly 4wd dirt road to the landing area and start of the hike. We spent the night camped where the road gets rough, and were woken up the next morning by Marshall, Hartman and Scotty who’d driven over from Salt Lake. They were an hour early, and with a little bit of scrambling, we were soon ready to go!

we always try to enjoy the process

The hike to the top of Notch Peak is about 2 hours if you go mostly straight up. It’s steep, rocky and strenuous. The trail, such as it is, has been made by jumpers making the hike to the top for the last several years. And the hike itself is one of the most important parts of a wingsuit BASE jump—time to talk, laugh and enjoy being in such a beautiful place with people you love.

fly!!

At the top, we decided to jump from the north exit, because the wind conditions seemed most favorable. It’s always a little intimidating jumping from this side, because you need to make a sharp left turn to the west side, and you can’t see the terrain until you cross over the ridge to get there. We were all also in new suits, Squirrel Aura 3s, and that definitely added to the feeling of excitement and energy as we stood up top. Hartman jumped first, Scotty and Marshall jumped together, and then Ian and I finished the load. It’s always a bit of a relief when everyone lands safe, because Notch is such an intimidating place—it’s a place that demands respect. I’m thankful every time I fly there.

another kavu day and another reason to smile and laugh

We drove out together to the small town of Delta and said goodbye to Marshall, Hartman and Scotty as they headed back to Salt Lake. And then we finished up our favorite part of the trip before our drive back home: a final stop to make lunch in the Delta town park, with a short nap among big shade trees and soft green grass, and plenty of rounds of ball throwing for Cajun.