Gilman Canyon has always left me a bit under-whelmed as a climbing destination, however, set at the foot of the Holy Cross Wilderness as it is, Gilman is worth an exploratory trip now and then. The crags are just off the RR tracks, on the right, with most of the approach entailing a hike along the tracks. The stone is a highly featured black colored granite that produces edge and pocket climbing on largely vertical walls. Most routes are between 40 and 80 ft in length, West facing, but low in the canyon. The individual crags hold only a few routes each but they are scattered along-side the tracks for half a mile. Most approaches from the tracks are under one minute in duration, although some crags higher up the canyon have been developed. Route development has followed a more or less reluctant acceptance of bolting and as a result many of the lines will use trad gear, pins, and bolts as needed. Many of the lines are pure trad, so don't forget to bring a rack with wires and a full set of camming units. This is an alpine setting and climbing won't really take off until the middle of April, and even then it can be chancy or cold. Mid-summer of course is a good time. For simplicity, numbering begins close to the parking and follows the right fork in the tracks. An additional crag sitting left of the second set of tracks has been climbed.
Getting There
Gilman Canyon is about 20 minutes West and South of Vail and is most commonly approached from I-70, making it a 2 hour drive from Denver. West of Vail, take exit number 171 for Minturn and pick up US 24 running South to Leadville. About five miles South of Minturn you will come to the spectacular Redcliff bridge. Immeditely South of the bridge is a turn off that will take you down to the railroad tracks, Gilman Canyon, and the Eagle River. Park in a pullout at the treatment facility close by the RR tracks. [Eds. note there is signage indicating no trespassing here]
There use to be a photo copied guide available at the one and only decent climbing shop in Vail (the name of which escapes me). They charged two bucks for it but it's worth it. There are really a lot of routes in this canyon and some of them are pretty good. The Checkerboard wall is my favorite. It's located about 10 minutes of walking down the tracks and is the second west facing crag as the tracks turn north. There are about 6 bolted sport routes, all of which are fairly long, and a few of which are pretty moderate in difficuty. Further down the tracks, as they turn west again, there are some good topropes with bolted anchors, but no bolts on route. If you are in the area and jonzing for some climbing it's worth checking out. It beats playing golf with the snobs in Vail
It's been a while since the last posts regarding the map and/or guide. Is it still available? We decided to end our day climbing in Gilman yesterday. As underwhelming as it may appear, I thought the quality of the rock was very interesting. It's not like anything I've climbed in the Front Range. Some of the crags resembled Clear Creek while other formations seemed like frictiony volcanic rock. Is it all granite down there? The rock above the canyon on the road appeared to be limestone but the rock in the canyon did not strike me as such.
The rock down in the canyon is ancient Precambrian schist and gneiss, a swirly mess of stuff that climbers often refer to generically as 'granite'.
The cliffs above the road in the vicinity of the bridge are made of quartzite; above these are limestone, shale, and a whole menagerie of sedimentary choss.
Gilman was the subject of one of those hyperbolic 'check out my rad new crag' articles from Rock & Ice in 1993: "A trip to Gilman is akin to stumbling on a mini Gunks in the Wiessner era....With its unlimited climbing potential and secluded beauty, Vail rock just might be the high-country gem for you!"
Well, it's 13 years later and comparisons to the Gunks seem to have tapered off. The consensus seems to have settled at something like 'worth a visit...if you don't have to drive too far.'
None of this will matter if and when the giant trophy-home project planned for the Gilman townsite comes off. If the Vail Valley has unlimited potential for anything, it's empty 6,000 sf 'homes' for sale. Perhaps, if we grin and shuffle nicely enough, us downvalley trash will still be permitted to climb beneath the elk-antler bedsteads and Navajo blanket couches of Gilman's absentee owners and their Western fantasy mansions. We can only hope.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!! All climbs in Gilman are on private property, including the access road. Tread gently and practice LNT! Area could close to climbers in the future. On a side note, The Town of Red Cliff has the best little mountain restaurant in Colorado. Mango's is well worth a visit.
No written guide is currently available for this area at either Bag and Pack shop. The approach crosses private property, such a publication would encourage trespassing and jeopardize access for us all.
I first stumbled onto the crags and climbed in this canyon when I was living in Minturn and teaching school in Red Cliff and Vail in 1986 and 1987. Along with anyone I could recruit from the few local climbers at the time, I was able to get Noel Childs to help me clean and develop a handful of trad climbs that ranged from 5.9 to 5.11 and quite a few cool, harder top rope lines. I don't know if every route we did was an FA, but based on the necessity to clean loose rock and flakes on the obvious natural lines we guessed we might have got there first.
Gilman Canyon
Printer Friendly View
RSS Feed
