Best place to learn cracknique around the front range?

So the first crack climb I ever touched was Pear Buttress at lumpy ridge and although I was able to get up it, it wasn't pretty and included a pretty good fall. Last week I went and did Turkey Foot at South Platte and it completely beat me down.

Is there anywhere good to go that gets winter sun within a 2 hour drive from boulder that has a decent amount of pure crack climbs in the 5.7-5.9 range? Somewhere I can do a lot of laps on some easier stuff to really work on technique?

Would Turkey Perch in S. Platte fit the bill? Anywhere else?

There are a few single pitch cracks near the Twin Owls out at Lumpy - such as "Yosemite Crack" and "Rooster Tail", along with another in a corner whose name escapes me. Next to Pear Buttress is "Femp" whose second pitch is a full 60m hand crack (it was a total beatdown for me after doing Loose Ends to Pear Buttress that day).

Down in Boulder Canyon is Cob Rock which has one or two cracks on it that were pretty enjoyable.

Like you, I'd really like to know of some better places to practice crack technique around the Front Range, as I plan on hitting Indian Creek during spring break.

Also found this little thread that might be of some help.

mountainproject.com/v/bould…

the quarry

awesome thanks

Chris Plesko wrote:the quarry

North Table proper also has quite a few crack climbs, especially in the 5.8 range. Sunny too. Check out

mountainproject.com/v/john-…

mountainproject.com/v/big-d…

Robert Buswold wrote:There are a few single pitch cracks near the Twin Owls out at Lumpy - such as "Yosemite Crack" and "Rooster Tail", along with another in a corner whose name escapes me.

Cackle Crack. fun corner. Probably a bit cold up there for my liking right now but you never know I guess.

1. As has been suggested, Turkey Rocks although it is > 2 hours from Boulder. Specifically Turkey Perch to run laps on 5.7 to 5.9.

2. Sunshine Face (Cathedral Spires) in the S Platte has a wide range of cracks, both long and short, to choose from and it is south facing. There is a rapture closure beginning March 1st . Probably climbable today and tomorrow.

3. Top of the World in the S Platte. A bit obscure and you’ll want a Mt. bike to approach, but there are a bunch of short cracks of all character.

4. My crack machines. They need some love.

5. Vedawoo! Barely within your 2 hr window.

In my opinion supplement your outdoor crack training with a little indoor crack training on something like this...

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Very easy to build and you'll have a wide range of sizes at your finger tips. Mine is in my garage as you can see, but I know many people that have built theirs outside.

Kent Pease wrote:5. Vedawoo! Barely within your 2 hr window.

Haven't spent much time there in winter, have you?

There are a few people on this site who have climbed at Vedauwoo during every month of the year, myself included. At the time, they lived 20 minutes away. The winter consistently adds between 30 and 60 minutes to most approaches, some it adds 2-3 hours. The road simply is not plowed even all the way to the Nautilus parking lot. Furthermore, while 40 degrees might be warm enough for some of you, that's 40 degrees before you factor in the windchill, and for most of the winter, we've got sustained winds from 15-25 mph. People who climb here all year get away with it by having a VERY short drive to get here, so bad conditions don't kill your whole day. But it is really, REALLY not worth the drive from Boulder during the winter. Lumpy is closer, faces south, and provides similar rock and climbing to Vedauwoo.

Kent Pease wrote: There is a rapture closure beginning March 1st .

Uh oh.

check out the South Platte area and do the center route on Cynical Pinnacle at some point.
otherwise check out the cracks in the BRC some snowy day.

Take laps on the bastile crack in eldo. Everything from fingers to fists to chimneying. And as u get more comfy u can do the superhero lead and link the first 3 pitches

I've done all the moderates at Cobb and I've done the bastille a couple times. My problem is they aren't strictly crack so I end up cheating a bit. Center route looks really good but might be a bit over my head. Looks like aside from some of the stuff at lumpy I have to wait for warmer weather at vedauwoo.

the quarry is good any time the sun is out! Easy cracks at 5.8 and some good 10's too. you can TR pretty much everything if you're not up to leading straight off.

The Quarry Wall at north table mountain has a bunch of good 5.9-5.11 climbs where you really have to use crack technique. Easy to setup topropes for laps.

Second the suggestion of Turkey Perch: good stuff if slightly flared. 5.7, 5.8, 5.9. Mind the length of the pitches.
Top of the World may be closed due to the Hayman fire. Last time I drove by that approach road, it was blocked and in bad shape. But talk to the SPlatte Ranger Office; they can tell you definitively.
Lumpy might be climbable in March. Beware the descents, which are all on the north sides and can be nasty even if the climbing faces are totally manageable.
An indoor option is the climbing wall at Westminster's City Park Rec Center at 105th & Sheridan. It's real rock - sandstone - and the two cracks there will teach you a helluva lot. I spent lots of nights there when they first opened in November 1986. The next summer, I went to Yosemite and found the ratings easy. Westy is a great teacher, and nobody knows about it!

JLP wrote:You're not going to learn much about crack climbing on the Front Range. Go to the desert.

Ya, South Platte... Pikes Peak..... no cracks to speak of 'round here.

JLP wrote:You're not going to learn much about crack climbing on the Front Range. Go to the desert.

I disagree. The desert is the place to go to perfect your crack technique, and work at moving into the upper grades. But for a crack newbie? Not such a good idea. The desert is too steep, too pure, too demanding, and just too hard for the new crack climber; it isn't a pleasant place to start. You can start there, but the first days and weeks will be a proper beatdown. Plus, the OP asked for 5.7-5.9; the good crack lines in the desert are usually not in this range. It is better to start one's crack climbing on some less than vertical granite; this provides a gentler, "training wheels", introduction to jamming. Once you get some jams figured out in this environment, you can ten take a trip to the desert and have a much more productive first trip.

JLP wrote: There is no crack climbing below 5.9, especially on granite. You are most likely face climbing with a crack nearby. Not knowing how to crack climb will be unpleasant at first. Use tape. Consider some Hand Jammies. While there are plenty of good cracks around the Front Range, they are few and far between, and usually impure - ie, face climbing. The few that actually require real jamming skills are generally hard 10 and up.

Have you climbed Pear Buttress or Femp at Lumpy???