Sand Gulch

BETA PHOTO: New sign in Camping area SandGulch

Description 

The approach from the campground is about 15 minutes to the first route. Routes are listed in Knapp from north to south, but as you approach from the south, it is necessary to do a little route finding. The trail takes you to Freeform wall, where you can find a cutoff trail to the Contest Wall, or continue north and find the routes. A 60m rope is good, and 10- 12 draws will get you up routes with a few to spare. There are moderate trad leads around, and some of the bolt routes will take gear if you so choose.

Eds. As per a suggestion for better reorganization, we'll reorganize this section into the Sand Gulch area with subareas of Freeform Wall and Contest Wall. Note, much of this began as a organic coalescence of information developing from a school project which became known as climbingboulder.com.

Getting There 

The Freeform trail provides access to the Sand Gulch canyon, which is oriented north - south, with the Freeform wall on the east side (facing west) and the Contest Wall just across the canyon. Obviously, this is an excellent choice for either being in the sun or avoiding it, as crossing the canyon from one wall to the other is a trivial hike or bushwhack.

The Classics

Featured Route For Sand Gulch

Regroovable 5.11b  CO : Shelf Road : ... : Contest Wall

About 1/2 way down Contest Wall (left side of Sand Gulch). The rightmost route of three on the left wall of an inside corner (Cactus Drop to left, and Little Mecca to its left). A fine route that ascends a clean face via edges and pockets. One admires the moves as one moves through interesting cruxes over small overlaps. ...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO