Good climbs for little kids (Front Range)

I have a 3 year old that I'm trying to introduce to roped climbing. He scrambles well without a rope and with a spotter, but he's a little nervous when getting vertical. I took him to N. Table Mountain last weekend and he just hung on the rope mostly. Not a lot of vertical progress - the route was too hard for him because of his height and reach.

I'm looking for a slabby climb that I can send him up that is pretty easy, 5.0-5.4 range. I think starting out on a slab and learning to trust the rope and harness and learning to walk back down the route while lowering will help his confidence. I might choose a place where I can simul-belay him and my wife up at the same time. Anyone have any suggestions?

I was thinking the First Flatironette would be good, but I wasn't sure how hard getting to the top and the walk-off would be. I might just have to go up there and check it out.

mark
The alamo ? thats pretty slabby. used to have monster bolt up top.

Supremacy Slab in Eldo is excellent, both sides of the rock work well.

Set up after lunch time if it's cool out cause it gets shade in the am

JIm~

Supremacy is great-west facing easier than north facing slabs, and there's a nice walk-off just S. of the west facing slabs. 20 second approach to base, bathroom nearby. E. side of the Whale's Tail in Eldo works very nicely for simul-belaying. Stairway to Heaven in the Flatirons is good, but longer-save for when he's got more endurance for the approach. Started my daughter when she was 4 (12 years back), & for five years ran a small climbing wall where our clientele was 60% kids. Keep in mind that to a 3 year old there's just as much fun to hanging on the rope or swinging as to climbing, and he may enjoy it only up to a certain height: 6', 10', whatever, off the deck. Have patience-most five & six year old kids are great climbers.

East Face/Babyhorn on the trail to Mallory Cave is a perfect size for toddlers. The first step is high and they might need a boost, but then it's only 20 feet of 5.0 slab to the top. There is a single, low quality bolt on the top, which is not ideal. The safest way I suppose would be to clip the bolt but then belay from the other side, or from the top.

My kids have always enjoyed swinging from ropes at the gym more than climbing! But lately I've found they like to boulder more than roped climb. I'd suggest taking your kids to the Spot in Boulder. I've seen some 3 year olds climbing to the top of the boulders (seems pretty highball since they're only 3' tall)! Plus the slackline is great fun for kids.

At 3 years of age, it's pretty tough to find climbs that adults find "climbs" that kids will enjoy. Most of the stuff, IMHE, for 3 year olds is in the 3rd-4th class range. Best to consider things that most adult folks won't climb. Super-easy boulders may be best. You can find all sorts of these things just wandering around in Colorado - Eldo, Flatirons, BC, Lumpy, etc. Even the 4th class, E Face of Babyhorn is pretty tough for a 3 year old (most will need a boost to start). 5.2 is pretty dang hard for a 3 year old. Find an old bit of rope, get a good kid's harness (I like the Trango), find some tiny shoes (Baby Ninjas size 28 is the smallest I found). Then, think small. Belaying from above is encouraging if you have 2 adults. One big issue is rope drag on TR. Tiny ones can get stuck on high friction rock due to their miniscule weight.

I take my sons to the Garden of the Gods. I set up top ropes on the S. Face of Kindergarten Rock. The routes are pretty easy, I'd say 5.4-5.6. After we go there, we hit the penny arcades in Manitou Springs. It makes for a pretty fun day. I guess that may be a bit far for you to travel though?

If anyone ever needs a partner to climb with kids, my sons and I (ages 7 & 11) are always getting out on Saturdays.

Whales Tail - East Slabs is a great place for roped climbing with kids. Short approach, relatively flat belay spots, variety of routes to the obvious ledge 90 or so feet up. Kind of a long way for a little person, but with an adult in tow a few feet behind, it has worked out great.

Everyone, thanks so much for bothering to reply! I've gotten a lot of good suggestions, I'm going to try to get out this weekend and maybe hit Flagstaff as a test run. Again, I appreciate all the input!

Another spot that I have tried with my 5 and 7 year olds is Nip and Tuck crag up Boulder Canyon. Short approach and pretty easy to top rope the low 5th-class corner on the slab right of the 5.9 finger crack. Might not work so well with a 3-year old though. I'm finding that they become much more receptive to climbing and hiking after age 5. Good Luck!

One thing to be aware of when roping a little one up a slab; if there is too much rope friction it can be difficult to lower them. They don't weigh enough. Attatch a tag line to the back of thier harness so you can pull her back down. 3 is really too young, also.

Mike Lane wrote: 3 is really too young, also.

Someone should have told that to Mike Caldwell...

The Boulderado in Boulder Canyon is a nice place to take kids. The only sketchy part is the approach, which usually involves a stroll/crossing of 119. It has a few short, easy climbs which would probably be suited to your needs.

Jason Haas wrote: Someone should have told that to Mike Caldwell...

Too young to have expectations when you get them out but I say never too young to get the kids outside. With a 3 year old your day of climbing may turn into a day full of building forts, playing with bugs and wiping boogers while they hang from the rope no higher than 5 feet up. As long as they're safe and having fun, they're never too young IMO.

Tracy Roach wrote: Too young to have expectations when you get them out but I say never too young to get the kids outside.

Thank you. I agree! My son loves hiking, scrambling and generally being outdoors, and his hiking skill is very good for his age - mostly because we've always tried to be outside as much as possible. You can't expect too much, and you always have to be prepared to turn back on your hike/take down your rope/quit skiing for the day when they get tired or cranky. If he doesn't want to do something, I never force him (I might try a gentle bribe). I leave it up to him, and lately he's been asking me to go climbing. Pics of our recent hikes:

flickr.com/photos/mark_cush…

I'm going to try Flagstaff this weekend, we'll see how he does up there. I'll report back.

A couple of years ago I wrote an article for another site based on my own experiences. It may be of some use to others with climbing kiddos.

rockclimbing.com/articles/?…

Have fun!!

Took my kid to Red Rocks park, near Garden of the gods, and he loved it. He was there at 2 yrs, and 3 yrs. I have been eyeballing a roadside slab on flagstaff mountain to take him on.

Took my kid to Red Rocks park, near Garden of the gods, and he loved it. He was there at 2 yrs, and 3 yrs. I have been eyeballing a roadside slab on flagstaff mountain to take him on.

Good article, Tracy. I raised my 2 kids, now adolescents, in outdoors rec activities. It was simply the natural thing to do. I think the key is leading kids to experiences that are within their (not necesarily the parent's) reach and always being observant, ready to follow their moods and endurance, and having a good back-up plan to keep from overwhelming them. I feel like we (it helps tremendously to be a parental team) carried our kids, sometimes physically, but always emotionally, all over the place, alert to ways to ease the burden for them and up the fun quotient.

Being skiers from the early age of telemarking, we couldn't face the restriction of resort only. So our kids grew up on telemark gear, at first homemade, and now are strong and proficient enough to ski some great backcountry routes. Nor could we face that mainstream pasttime of sitting in the park watching soccer (no offense meant if this is right for you). But we always had pretty wonderful alternative activites to offer, so our kids were content.

The payoff has really come in the last 2 years, with our kids now joining us in planning those wonderful activities and destinations, now at adult levels. We weren't climbers initially; one of our kids introduced us and encourage us to add it to family activities. We thought it was our "parental responsibility" to learn together, since teaching safety in the mountains has just been a constant. What a surprise and delight to find we love it, and love learning new stuff!

Anyway...the topic hit on an area that has been a focus...and I couldn't resist the chance to encourage parents to work to make it work, because it's clearly not always easy. But it's healthy living that can create a family that loves doing things together.

If you get up north, go to the Horsetooth Reservoir in Ft Collins. There is an area called the Torture Chamber. It is a long ridge line that gets no higher than 20ft (with some sections around 15ft). I take my son there for top roping and getting use to the rope too. The rock is solid and has lots of jugs and big foot placement. There are no bolts so you'll need to build your top rope anchor, but it is a great place for beginners (not to high, big jugs, no approach).

I thought I'd post back and let you guys know what I found. My wife and I went up to Flagstaff last weekend and drove around for a while before finding the right areas to set up a toprope on! I wish we had a topo of the area - it would have been helpful to find the right areas. We ended up setting up a toprope on a very slabby climb and my son had some fun on it, but probably only 25 minutes worth! I'll continue to take him out a bit at a time, but I'll try to combine everything with a picnic and hiking, I don't think a dedicated climbing outing is appropriate for him this year.

Pics are available on Flickr, tagged with "climbing":

flickr.com/photos/mark_cush…