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Profile of Happy Hour Crag in Boulder Canyon |
Gem Lake right before it rains in Rockie Mountain National Park |
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One of the many mutli-pitch trad peaks at Lumpy Ridge in Estes Lake |
Falls Walls, next to Bridal Vail Falls in Telluride (notice the snow patch) |
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Profile of Falls Walls closer up |
Pipeline Wall, another crag next to Bridal Vail Falls |
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An undelevoped crag in Rotary Park, Ouray |
Profile of Golden Rock, one of the many walls at X-Rock in Durango |
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Lower Tier, the first crag you see at Hornsilver Campground, just outside of Vail |
One of the main walls at Gilman Canyon in Redcliffs |
Colorado is one of the few places where no matter where you go there's going to be rock climbing close by (even in Denver, there's Boulder 30 min. north). The entire state is literally covered with rock; well actually it's on top of some pretty big rocks. The majority of the time we were there, we were typically at 5,000+ ft. in elevation and sometimes as high as 11,000 while drive through some of the mountain passes. One interesting fact is that Colorado hosts the most 14,000+ ft. peaks out of any other place in the world (around 52), which are referred to as the Fourteeners. There's plenty of great alpine climbing on all of them, if you are in to that sort of thing.
On my trip I took a short tour all over the entire state, starting from Denver and then taste testing each crag as I went from city to city. Boulder was the first city we hit up and there was enough climbing there to keep us occupied for an entire year (unfortunately we were only there for half a day). In Boulder I decided to go to Boulder Canyon, a great place offering all sorts of trad, sport, and TR climbs on granite peaks that are right off the side of the road. The next place we hit up was Estes Lake, which is on the mouth of the Rockie Mountain National Park. Right inside of the park is Lumpy Ridge, another awesome place that had enough routes to keep a climber occupied for a long time. The majority of stuff there is single and multi-pitch trad climbs, but we were able to find some places to set up TR's at the super scenic Gem Lake (unfortunately we were rained on soon after :-p). That's one thing about Colorado which is really different from Cal, the best time to climb is in the morning because typically in the afternoon thunderstorms will come out of no where and start raining on you (I learned this lesson many times).
From Estes Lake we went down to the most beautiful place on our trip, Telluride. This place is an uber rich town ($5 million houses everywhere) and is surrounded by cliffs, which meant that rock climbing was nearby. The closest place I found was a crag called Falls Walls, which got its namesake being next to the scenic Bridal Vail Falls. However, the approach for this place was one of the sketchiest and steepest approaches I've ever been on, and unfortunately my bro wasn't able to make it up to the top so I wasn't able to climb :-(. It was hard standing right by the wall looking up at the routes and not being able to climb them, but I knew there was plenty more to come. As luck would have it, Ouray was the next place we went and it had the best selection of routes on the entire trip, and with an approach that made Telluride look like hiking Half Dome. This place just started being developed quite recently and had 100's of new sport routes bolted all over a canyon on the northern end of town. I got to bust out my quickdraws for the first time on this trip and was stoked to be able to do some great sport climbing on well protected routes that had a large range of difficulties. We stayed in Ouray for the longest (about 2.5 days), and we got to do over 12 climbs there.
Next we headed down to the southern most city in Colorado, Durango. This place was much different than the rest of the cities in that it was a lot more dry and had sandstone instead of granite or limestone. It also offered enough climbing for plenty of months, but we only had half a day so I decided to go to X-Rock, which had a super short approach and tons of routes that we could TR. Some of the hardest climbs we'd done on our trip were there and half of the time we were getting rained on! The last place we got to hit up for 2 days on the way up north was a beautiful city in the middle of the state, known as Vail. On the way there we took a little trip through Aspen and passed through Independence Pass. Even without any topos or beta, I could see tons of great climbs just off the side of the road! Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to stop so I was kinda bummed. In Vail I found a lot of questionable places to climb on rockclimbing.com that all had beta written by the same guy (which meant the directions sucked, and there were hardly any difficulty ratings for the faces). But this was the only info I had to use so I decided to go to Hornsilver Campground one day and Gilman Canyon the next. Both of these places were just 10 minutes north of Vail, next to a city known as Redcliff, and both ended up having some great sport climbs with relatively short approaches. I guess you can say we got lucky with our choices.
Almost every day I was in Colorado I was climbing (and sometimes
twice a day :-p). How was I able to keep going? The answer was simple: hot
springs and hot tubs! Almost every hotel we stayed at had a hot spring or
hot tub and this not only felt great, but it was also very theraupeutic
for the muscles, keeping them nice and loose and from getting sore. At every
place we climbed, I was able to gather some pretty good beta online on rockclimbing.com,
and also the majority of the towns had their own local guides which were
about 10 bucks at the local climbing stores. Therefore, it was super easy
to find each crag, which was good for me since I was on a very tight schedule
each day. Overall, I'd definitely recommend a trip to Colorado if you climb,
and I would definitely go back again and climb at all the places that I
visited. There's pretty much any type of climbing you can want there, and
some awesome rock ranging from granite, to limestone, lava composite, sandstone,
and of course for the alpine climbers: plenty of ice and snow!
Climbs I've Done:
| Approach | 20-25 min up steep hill |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | Moderate (some pine trees provide shade at base for belayers) |
Supposedly, this is a really popular crag that can be found in Boulder Canyon (we were the only ones there that day and had it all to ourselves!). To get there, head on Boulder Blvd. west out of Boulder and you'll get to Boulder Canyon. This road will go for about 30 miles following a windy river, and there will be crags all over each side. Around the 7 mile marker you'll come to Happy Hour Crag, which is a giant granite formation that can be seen on the right hand side of the road. Although the trail is very steep and somewhat hidden (we were lucky to find someone's climbing shoe sitting in a bush by the street), it's really short and only takes about 5-10 minutes. Most of the routes here can be lead trad, and there's a couple of sport routes. What's great is that it's really easy to hike around the side of the wall and at the top there's plenty of trees and boulders to use for top rope anchors. The majority of the routes are about 70 ft. high, and there's a great range of difficulty, going from 5.6 to 5.12a.
Twofers Gully (5.6**) TR - This is one of the far left routes on the wall and is directly to the right of a right-facing corner. A great warm up climb and has plenty of big ledges and knobby holds.
Twofer's (5.8***) TR - This route is directly to the right of the previous route and follows up the middle of the gully. The crux is at the top coming over the big horizontal ledge jutting out.
The Big Split (5.9 ***) TR - This route is really fun and goes between two oppositely facing corners. In order to do the crux and get over the slight overhang, you must bust out the splits and stem both corners with your legs. I came close to taking a fall at this part but managed to jam my sweaty hands in some pretty nice cracks going underneath the overhang.
| Approach | 30-50 min. up moderate hills |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | Low-Moderate (lots of pine trees for shade) |
This place is a trad climbers dream and offers some excellent multi-pitch routes for all levels. Lumpy Ridge is right outside of Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Lake and can be reached by going on a little road called McGregor Avenue off of the main highway to the park. While I was trying to find some good rocks to TR next to Batman Rock, I ended up completely going on the wrong trail and hiked two miles up to Gem Lake. Although Gem Lake was mainly a tourist site and had quite a long approach, I was able to find some great spots along the side of the lake where I could set up anchors. By scrambling up the giant fold to the left of the lake, I had access to the top of the routes and there was plenty of nice boulders and anchors to use for bomber TR anchors.
Toilet Bowl (5.7+ *) - This route is the left most route on the opposite side of the lake as you come in from the hiking trail. The name and rating were given to me by another climber who had a rope set up on the route before me. I'm not sure if it was too accurate or where he got his beta, but I thought it was a bit easier than he suggested. A good beginner or warm up route though.
Falls Walls
| Approach | 45-1 hr. up steep hills |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | High |
This place has no beta currently on rockclimbing.com, but topos and information can be found in a local guide called Telluride Rocks 2. After looking at the guide and reading "this place has it all, from four pitch 5.7 to single pitch 5.13, and everything in between!" I knew I had to hit up Falls Walls. I was planning on possibly doing the four pitch route with my brother since it was really easy (5.7, 5.1, 5.6, 5.2) and it would of had some great views at the top, but that didn't end up happening, The approach to this place can be quite long if you don't have a 4x4 vehicle, since you'll have to park your car at the bottom and hike about 2 miles uphill. With a 4x4 car, you can take Bear Creek Road west of Telluride all the way up to the top of Bridal Vail Falls. About half way up Bear Creek Road you'll come to a giant overhanging boulder that has metal cables running to the top of the waterfall. Directly to the right of this boulder is the path to Falls Walls. This trail isn't so bad for about a 1/3 of a mile, and the trickiest part is to maintain balance while walking across some flimsy trees that are lying across a large stream. After you cross the stream however, the trail gets super steep and slippery, as there is loose shale all over the path. I was able to scramble to the top of the path and up to the base of the wall, but my parents and brother had to turn back because they were too scared. This place had lava composite rock (very similar to Pinnacles) and like the guide said it had tons of single and multi pitch sport routes. The majority of the routes there seemed to be in the 5.9+ range, with 5.11's being the most common, but there were still several moderate routes in the 5.8 range that I wanted to try.
Rotary Park
| Approach | None |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | Low |
This is the very first park coming in from the north into Ouray. I mistakenly thought this was Pool Wall, so I assumed there would be plenty of sport climbs. However, I only managed to find what seemed to be a randomly placed anchor about 30 ft. up on an easy 5.3/5.4 wall, and a sport route around the corner that seemed to be unfinished. Currently, there is no beta on this place on rockclimbing.com or in the local climbing guide for Ouray.
Solo Route (5.3/5.4 *) Free Solo - This route is on the wall directly facing you from the parking lot. In order to get to the anchor on top you have to free climb on some juggy ledges, which were more like stair steps than climbing holds. Once you get to the anchor you can rap down and try some harder moves and variations on TR.
Sport Route (5.10 b) Lead - This route is around the corner to the right of the previous route. The rock formations are way different here and the route is slightly overhanging, with crimpy holds. Unfortunately, a lot of the holds are crumbly and dirty, and need to be cleaned really badly. There's a total of 3 bolts on this route and it seems to end on the third where there is a hanging biner. I couldn't find anywhere to go from there and it got a lot harder, so I decided to stop and come down. This was probably a project still in progress.
| Approach | 10-15 min. up moderately inclined hill |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | Low |
This was by far the greatest area we climbed on the trip. Unlike a lot of places we hit up before this one, it had a super easy approach and was right in the middle of the city. All you had to do was park across the street from the public hot springs (next to a miniature golf place) and then hike up a tiny hill towards a small canyon. The trail splits in three different directions, each path taking you to a different wall with plenty of routes. However, the wall we hit the most was the Alcove, which was straight on the path going inside the canyon. This place was perfect for us in many respects. Every route was newly bolted sport, so all you need is about 9 quickdraws to do everything, and they were all very well protected. The Alcove had a huge range of difficulties, going from 5.6 (a great beginner lead that my bro did his first time) to 5.13b (my favorite route name: Silent But Deadly) and also had a wide range of route lengths, going from short 7m routes to long 22m ones. Also what's great is that there's routes all over each side of canyon, which means that no matter what time of day you go climb you can find shady routes and a nice cool breeze. Out of the 13 climbs in this canyon, my bro and I hit up 8 of them (the rest of the 5 were 5.10d or higher). Another wall we hit one day was the Bay of Pigs, which was off the right trail at the fork. This wall was much different from the Alcove in that all the routes were really long (22m to 30m) and hard (5.10a - 5.13+/14). I decided to try out the easiest route on the wall and had a lot of fun. The wall offered great views of the city from the very top. Also I found an old climbing rope lying up there (but it was stuck to a bush so I couldn't pull it down).
First Time Out (5.6 **) Lead - This route goes up a giant boulder lying in the middle of the canyon. Great warm up route or a beginning lead route. I did it in my hiking shoes :-D.
Groove is in the Heart (5.10c **) Lead - This route is the second one up on the left and follows a water mark. The rock is quite slick and can be damp in the wet season. The beginning is really easy, but then it gets really ugly at the top. The crux is going from the last bolt to the anchor and reaching for a bomber hold to the right of the chains.
The Groove Tube (5.8 ***) Lead - This is one of the longer routes and is directly to the right of the previous route. The beginning starts up some easy face climbing, and then it gets trickier and more vertical half way up once you get inside a tube like rock structure. The rock can be a little dirty and loose as you climb higher, which kinda sketched me out. The crux was going from the last bolt to the anchor, as you must come out on a very exposed corner and use dirty slopers. 12 bolts total, but I was able to do it with 9 quickdraws :-p.
Past Tense (5.8 ***) Lead - This route is directly to the right of The Groover Tube. Follows up a really weird rock structure that looks like four giant layered sections on top of one another. Seemed easier than a 5.8 in my opinon.
Test Drive (5.8 *) Lead - To the right of Past Tense, this route follows up a slabby face. Requires a lot of delicate footwork.
Keep on Keepin' On (5.9 **) Lead - This route is the further one up on the right side and goes up a slab. The crux is at the beginning where the first two bolts are, and then it's all child's play.
Center Pocket (5.10a ***) Lead - This was my favorite route in The Alcove and is directly to the right of the previous route. Has a continuous amount of hard and pumpy moves. Crux is going for a huge center pocket under the third bolt (which I thought was the second bolt while climbing it! good thing I didn't fall :-p)
No Se (5.10b ***) Lead - This route is to the right of Center Pocket and follows up a corner at the beginning. The crux is mantling onto a huge, jutting out ledge to the right and then climbing onto the face above it. Requires good flexibility and balance! Really freaky and exposed when you come out onto the ledge, but also really fun.
8,9,10 (5.10a ***) Lead - This route is the 4th route to the right on the Bay of Pigs wall. I think I did a different start (on the 5.10d route to the left of it) and then traversed over once on top of the first ledge. The first two ledges (which go about 15m up) are really overhung, but allow for you to rest once on top of them. The rest of the 15m goes up steep face. However, there's a nice crack leading up the right that can be used every now and then when you are desperate for holds. You feel really exposed once you are past the second half and there are multiple cruxes that really make you think. 12 bolts total, but I was able to use 9 quickdraws to make it :-D.
| Approach | 10-15 minutes up slightly inclined hill |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | High |
X-Rock is a cool little crag on the north side of Durango. The approach here is also really short, and you just have to park behind the hospital by the Hampton Inn. This was the only place on the trip that actually had signs in the parking lot to tell you that there was climbing. It was kinda funny driving into the hospital parking lot and then seeing "X-Rock -->" parking signs. X-Rock has a bunch of small sandstone formations scattered all over the trail and each one has tons of problems. What's nice about most the routes here is that you can easily top rope them by hiking around the backside, so my bro and I decided to hit some tough routes on the second or third wall in, called Gold Wall. Upon entering X-Rock there's also some really great bouldering on this first gigantic rock you see, with enough problems here to keep a boulderer occupied all day long. The majority of the climbing at X-Rock is TR, but there's some sport and trad routes available, with a wide range of difficulties.
Gold Wall (5.10c ***) TR - This is a classic route that follows up the four bolts in the middle. At first when you look at it you're like, "There's no features!" but when you get up there you find out there's some pretty fat ledges that are far between one another. Which means lots of dynamic moves! The crux is at the top after the last good ledge and then going to the anchor. You have to use tiny crimpers and nearly non-existant foot holds to get onto the top. This route would really be tricky on lead because a lot of the holds are somewhat hidden and the moves are really stretchy. Fun route on TR though. I got rained on half way up, but managed to finish it (it wasn't easy!).
The Itch (5.9+ ***) TR - This is another classic route to the right of Gold Wall. Follows up a small left facing corner and then up a big crack with an overhanging section. The route is really unique in that each part of it is like a totally different climb. The beginning starts out with really technical moves on tiny holds, and then the middle of it is crack climbing up a really pumpy overhanging section, and then the end is easy jug climbing to the anchor. A great route overall, but I thought it was a lot harder than a 5.9.
| Approach | 20-30 minutes |
| Poison Oak | Low |
| Sun Exposure | Low |
This is a really interesting place, just south of Vail. The trail to the crag starts in the very far side of the back left campsite of Hornsilver and can be somewhat hidden. But if you find it and follow it up for about 5-10 minutes you'll come to the first wall, the Lower Tier, which has about 4 or 5 sport routes. Past this Lower Tier, if you keep following the trail up and to the left, you'll come to a really steep hill (my bro and I had to crawl on all fours to get up and down it) and at the top is another crag called the Upper Tier. According to the beta from the guy on rockclimbing.com, the routes up there are supposed to be a lot easier and in the 5.6 - 5.8 range. I saw three routes up there when we made it, and they all looked way harder! So my bro and I decided to go back down to the Lower Tier and try it out even though they were supposedly rated a lot more difficult. Not really knowing what route was the easiest, I decided to start on the one that had the lowest starting bolt (all the other routes had starting bolts like 20 ft. up!) and then continue up to the next closest bolt (which was off route on the 5.9 to the right) and then back to the 3rd bolt on the main route. I ended up climbing one of the harder routes on the wall, but it had the best protection. All the routes here are sport (with the exception of one 5.9 crack that can be done with trad gear) and go about 20m high on awesome granite rock. Although I only climbed one route here, and the beta on the website I found really sketchy, I'd have to say the majority of the routes seemed to be 5.10+.
Right Face Route (5.10c ***) Lead - All the routes in this area seem to be really new and didn't have much beta, so most don't have real names. This route is the sport route in the middle right, and has the closest starting bolt. Going from the first to second bolt can be quite sketchy and difficult (with about a good 15 ft. in between that will cause you to deck if you fall), so I climbed up and clipped the first bolt on the route to the right and then climbed back on route to clip the second bolt. The crux is at the bottom going to the second bolt. To do it you have to climb over a horizontal ledge (it looked really good but just has nasty sloppers), and then climb onto an exposed face and reach for the bomber holds on the right facing corner to clip the second bolt. A really great route, and when you're at the top you have great views of the river and valley below.
| Approach | 15-20 min. mostly across the side of rail road tracks, then up sligh hill |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | High |
This is another crag just south of Vail, in a town called Red Cliff. The directions to this place were really bad (same guy that did the beta on Hornsilver on rockclimbing.com), so when I came back to our hotel I edited them on the site after going on a wild goose chase. Most the crags here are right next to abandoned train tracks. After the first right you see on the right (a 5.11a), you'll come to a second crag that has tons of moderate sport climbs. At first my bro and I only saw a couple routes facing the tracks, but upon further inspection we noticed a lot more routes further up the hill. We decided to climb the main face called Rock Right 2 on the website (which we though had only 4 routes) but later on found that if we kept going up hill there were over 7 or 8 more sport routes. Note: all the beta on the routes on Rock Right 2 on rockclimbing.com were written by me :-D.
Beginner Route (5.7+ **) Lead - This was the first route on the right and was a great warm up. The top move after the last bolt can actually be quite tricky (this is the crux), and requires a leap of faith grab to a bomber ledge on top of a semi-overhung section. This move alone I think might have been harder than a 5.7, but overall the route was easy and fun.
Middle Route (5.10b **) Lead - This route is in the middle of the wall and is goes up a vertical steep face. The crux is going from the 4th to 5th bolt, and you have to use two tiny crimpers and nearly no foot holds in order to grab a pocket in the right crack by the 5th bolt. I got sketched out after reaching this pocket and fell back down to the 4th bolt. Lots of continuous hard moves that are really pumpy.
Left Corner Route (5.9 ***) Lead - This route follows up the left corner of the main face. This is one of the tallest routes on the wall and can be quite exposed. The crux is going from the 3rd to 4th bolt once the corner starts really jutting out and you start getting more vertical. The anchor can be kind of tricky to find, and once you are past the last bolt you must traverse up and over to the left and underneath a roof. The chains hang down right on top of the roof and you can grab it from underneath. This was my favorite route at Gilman Canyon.
Note on climb ratings: * - Good, ** - Excellent, *** - Classic
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Eric's
first climb of the trip on Twofer's Gully at Happy Hour Crag
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Eric
looking down at me
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Twofers,
Twofer's Gully, and The Big Split at Happy Hour Crag
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The
rock to the left of where we climbed at Gem Lake. I wanted to climb
this overhang, but falling would suck
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Here
I am messing around on a boulder on the path to Falls Walls. Bridal
Vail Falls is in the background
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Another
shot of me fooling around on the boulder
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Me
free soloing an easy climb to get to an anchor at Rotary Park
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Eric
sits at the anchor I set up after free soloing
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I
lead the Groove Tube at Pool Wall
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History
in the making. Eric's first lead climb on First Time Out
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Eric
goes up Gold Wall at X-Rock
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Here
I am starting The Itch at X-Rock
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I
prepare to shoot up the wall like a torpedo (actually I'm just chalking
my hands)
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Entering
the crux, this is where crack climbing technique helps
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I
finally got The Itch!
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Eric
prepares to climb the crack at Hornsilver
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Eric
uses both cracks to edge his way up
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I
lead a really great sport route at Gilman Canyon
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Profile
of the last route we climbed at Gilman Canyon
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Some
routes we didn't have time to climb further up the hill at GIlman
Canyon
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