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Areas in Clear Creek Canyon
| Elevation: | 5,765 ft | 1,757 m |
| GPS: |
39.75376, -105.24005 Google Map · Climbing Area Map |
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| Page Views: | 4,557,547 total · 15,024/month | |
| Shared By: | Quinn Stevens on Dec 31, 2000 · Updates | |
| Admins: | Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac, Tyler KC |
Access Issue: Seasonal Raptor Closures
Details
Raptor Closures Effective February 1-July 31
Visit: jeffco.us/open-space/news/2…
Tunnel 1 closure
For more details visit: jeffco.us/open-space/alerts…
The two areas Jefferson County Open Space intends to close in Clear Creek Canyon, shown on the attached maps, encompass the active eagle nests. If the Clear Creek eagles continue to nest in the active nests, these areas will remain closed from February 1 through July 31. If the eagles choose different nesting sites, the closures will be adjusted accordingly to protect those eagles during their breeding season.
Currently, rock climbing areas that fall inside of the seasonal raptor closures include:
Blonde Formation
Bumbling Stock
Evil Area
Ghost Crag
Highlander
Skinny Legs
Stumbling Block
Tetanus Garden
Fault Caves
Description
Clear Creek Canyon (CCC) is aptly situated along Clear Creek, just west of Golden. The canyon is most well known for its accesible wealth of sport climbs, with some trad climbs interspersed. The rock varies here from gneiss & schist to a sandy granite, relatively solid but much different and perhaps more unique than the gray sweeps of Boulder Canyon.
While the individual areas here tend to be specialized with regard to the route type and difficulty, the canyon as a whole has a variety of ratings. Beginners should look into the High Wire Crag, Catslab - note it is apparently open, Little Eiger, Red Slab, and The Canal Zone while excellent difficult routes abound from the Primo Wall, Wall of the Nineties, Anarchy Wall, The River Wall, and New River formation. Clear Creek also offers some nice winter climbing options such as the Red Slab and the Dog House.
As always, be attentive of the traffic and remove valuables from your car.
Getting There
From Denver, head out on 6th Ave. and exit into Golden. Turn left on US 6 into the canyon. From Boulder, the best way to reach Clear Creek Canyon is to take CO Highway 93 (Broadway) straight south for about 25 minutes into Golden. Then take a right, heading west on US 6 into Clear Creek Canyon. Pullouts can be found along the highway, and most approaches are about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes tyroleans exist but cannot always be trusted.
Ropes
Note, many routes are not descendable with a single rope, be it 45m or 50m or 60m or 70m. Please, carefully lower when not certain of route length. Please!
Guidebooks
There have been at least 4-5 guidebooks including Clear Creek Canyon. Peter Hubbel put out Front Range Crags. Mark Rolofson has put out a 1995 Boulder Sport Climbing Guide, a 1999 Clear Creek Canyon Sport Climber's Guide, a more recent Clear Creek Canyon Sport Climber's Guide, and most recently, Darren Mabe has put out a Clear Creek Canyon guidebook. Most recently, Kevin Capps put out a second edition to his 2014 guidebook in 2017.
Speed Limits/Tickets
FYI, CO State Patrol has been put on notice by their head person due to too many complaints for those who drive US 6 through CCC. So, they have up to 4 patrollers ticketing speeders at a time. The speed limit is 40 mph through the entire canyon!
Tickets for 55 mph cost 4 points and $170.
Crags (downstream to upstream)
This is a work in progress...finally, eh? Thanks for your patience.
South vs. North is relative to the road.
CO 93 & US 6 intersection
large bridge / parking area
South (across CC) - The Canal Zone | The Twilight Zone
North - Labyrinth
South - East Side of Tunnel 1
Tunnel 1
North - New Hipster Rock
South - The Sports Wall
South - AAA Crag
metal bridge
South - Ghost Crag
North (MM 270) - The Blonde Formation
North (MM 270) - The Stumbling Block | Bumbling Stock
North - Postcolonial Crag | Fault Caves
North - Skinny Legs Formation
?North? (MM 268) - Bouldering (mile marker 268) | 268 Wall
Bridge - ~3.5 miles
North - The Red Slab
South - Piledriver | Rainy Day Rock | Little Eiger | Aftermath
South - The Garden Wall
North - Point Break | The New River Wall | The Highlands aka Highlander | Twitch Rock | Rapids Rock | Highwire North
South - Tetanus Cave | Evil Cave | River Wall
South - Wall of Justice | Low Spark of High Wire Crag | Low Wire | High Wire Crag | Higher Wire | Left Wire
Tunnel 2 - ~4.9 miles
metal tyrolean
South (across CC) - Punk Rock | Irok | Wanna Be Wall | The Mission Wall | Funyun Wall
South - Flood Wall | Back of the Nineties | Wall of the '90s
North - The Monkey House | Death Rock
South - Capitalist Crag | Upper Capitalist Crag | Lower Capitalist Crag
Tunnel 3 - ~5.1 miles
South - Independence Wall | Anarchy Wall
South (across CC) - Cool Thing Wall (aka Kool Krag) | New Crag
North - Elk Creek
South - Iron Buttress
North - Sex Cave (aka Pete's Wicked Cave) | Shark's Fin
North MM 264 - Rebel Wall
South - The Talon | New Economy Cliff | Bionic Crag
North - Nightworm Pinnacle | Unknown Tower AKA Crystal Dick Tower | Prestige Worldwide Wall | Real Hidden Valley | Upper Wall
North - Prohibition Pinnacle
South - A Little Piece of South Dakota
North (MM 263) - Jerky Boulder (263)
South - High Profile Wall
Mayhem Gulch mountain biking trailhead
Intersection with CO 119
South - The Fiscal Cliff | The Graveyard | The Pearly Gates | Lift 4
Tunnel 5 - ~10.5 miles
South - Cats vs. Dogs Wall | The Catslab | Bike Path Boulders (Near Catslab) | Cat Slab Boulders | Rabbit Hole | The Fish Bowl | Death Valley | Lift 4
North - Accessibility Crag | The Dog House | Other Critters | The Safari | Oz | Trump Tower | Live Action Wall | Carbage | Stoked Bowl | Creek Side
North - Mourning Glory
tyrolean
South - The Bunker | Sushi Slab
Tunnel 6 ~11.3 miles
tyrolean
North (not across the creek) - Broken Angel | Play Pen | | East Colfax
North across the creek - The Healing Center | The Conspiracy Crag | The Armory | The Witch House | The Crystal Tower | Seeing Squiggles Bloc | The Guppy | Waves Wall | Primo Wall | Nomad's Cave | Breakfast Cliff | Boulders Above Primo
South - Convenience Cliff | Project Wall | The Nest
Peak-to-Plains Trail project
More info may be obtained from: p2ptrail@publicinfoteam.com. The Plains to Peaks Trail blog can be found here.
Webcams
You may find these webcams helpful for visual peeks at conditions: cotrip.org/roadConditions.htm. Click on the camera icons along US 6.
Raptor Nest Closures
The two areas Jefferson County Open Space intends to close in Clear Creek Canyon, shown on the attached maps, encompass the active eagle nests. If the Clear Creek eagles continue to nest in the active nests, these areas will remain closed from February 1 through July 31. If the eagles choose different nesting sites, the closures will be adjusted accordingly to protect those eagles during their breeding season.
Currently, rock climbing areas that fall inside of the seasonal raptor closures include:
Blonde Formation
Bumbling Stock
Evil Area
Ghost Crag
Highlander
Merlin
New River Wall
Point Break
Rapids Rock
Skinny Legs
Stumbling Block
Tetanus Garden.
Classic Climbing Routes at Clear Creek Canyon
| Route Name | Location | Star Rating | Difficulty | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ● Guppy | Creek Side |
|
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Sport | |
| ● Playin' Hooky | Creek Side |
|
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Sport 4 pitches | |
| ● Curvaceous | Wall of the '90s |
|
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c Sport | |
| ● Hanging Judge | Wall of Justice |
|
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c Sport | |
| ● Walking With A Ghost | Canal Zone |
|
5.11b/c 6c+ 23 VIII- 24 E4 6a Sport | |
| ● Eiger Direct | Little Eiger |
|
5.11d 7a 24 VIII 25 E5 6a Sport | |
| ● Wet Dream | Wall of the '90s |
|
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport | |
| ● Dia de Los Muertos | Graveyard |
|
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport | |
| ● Slammer | Wall of Justice |
|
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b Sport | |
| ● The Reward aka Convicted Felon | Monkey House |
|
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b Sport | |
| ● The Great Escape | Wall of Justice |
|
5.12 7b+ 27 VIII+ 26 E6 6b Sport | |
| ● Fission aka Ken T'ank | Armory |
|
5.12b/c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b Sport | |
| ● Ten-Digit Dialing | Wall of the '90s |
|
5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b Sport | |
| ● Anarchitect | Anarchy Wall |
|
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b Sport | |
| ● Sonic Youth | New River Wall |
|
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c Sport |
Weather Averages
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Photos
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