Big Thompson Canyon

Jeff Slauter's route "Ninja Ladder" (14a?) is still awaiting a second ascent. It's just past Drake as you head up canyon on a blank wall just above the road on the right. Any takers?

Hi, my name is Al Simons. I have put up over 50 climbs in the Big Thompson Canyon in the last ten years and if any one would like to try some of them that would be great. They range from 5.5 to 5.12. Contact me at rockallen@msn.com

Also, a friend of mine is close to publishing a climbing and hiking guide to the Big Thompson Canyon. If you have put up routes, contact me and I'll get the info to him.

FYI, the rock guide book "Estes Park Valley" has several of my climbs in it, all with wrong names. I.e. the Cyclops Slab is a good example. It was originally called Nancy's Rock by Colorado climber and artist Jim Disney. There are more routes on the rock than the guide states, and the names are all wrong.

Also the 3 routes mentioned in the narrows of the canyon have incorrect names. Two of the routes were put up by me, and the other is an old Mark Wilford problem. There are many routes in the narrows. Hope to hear from you all.

Allen Simons

Mr. Allen

I can appreciate your consternation for developing these routes, and then seeing them published as something else. However....your tone and candor do not bely the ever humble dude you are trying to come across as. Have you ever met Mr. Gillett? He, IMHO, is a very reticent and active hardman across the Front Range. I have never known him to self aggrandize or promote that which is not true. I'm sure he nosed around for FA beta about this stuff. Like he said, if it really mattered to you his email and address are much more readily available than yours.

I have climbed a number of these routes and have not been overly impressed by any, save wilford's roadside 11 seam. These are all climbs that the world could do without. You say by your own admission that you are experimenting with bolting/developing, and your intent was to establish a crag closer to home.

Convience is never an excuse to bolt choss. In case your just coming up for air in the climbing community we have a plethora of bolting problems going on, and these routes, while predating the current controversy, just continue to propagate over bolting, and lowering the bar on what is a "good" route.

I do not intend to lambast you for your prior efforts, but would encourage you to weigh the cost of your actions in the future.

Mr. Armstrong.

I bolted Santa's and Iron John as my first and second routes ever back in '93 and '94. Not that you are my judge of what is a good route or not, and your opinion of such doesn't matter to me in the least. I find both of those routes fun and pleasurable, even though today I may choose not to bolt them. If you don't like climbing "choss" then don't do it. Second, I was merely pointing out that the names were incorrect. I read Gillett's response and am happy to have read it, and I understand the difficulty in finding the names of routes. My hope was to start a conversation with him so I could correspond about future ascents. Sorry I don't fit into your pecking order of Front Range hard men. I never claimed to be a great climber. I just have fun till people like you harass me. I'm well versed in the bolt issue. I just choose to make climbs safe if I can. Overbolting may be an issue, but it's a bigger issue when people get hurt. Besides, these are roadside climbs and the tar, steel, asphalt, and concrete the DOT smeared up the road are much worse than the 11 bolts in question.

Have a good one.

Allen - Before you get your nose too out of joint about this, consider that you just popped up out of nowhere claiming to have "put up over 50 routes in the last 10 years" in an area that has been climbed in for over thirty years that I know of. I have numerous route notes in this area from the early 70s, and I doubt that we were the first to climb many of these routes. I'm not saying that you didn't do any first ascents, just suggesting that some of the routes you think you did first may have been done before. Big Thompson Canyon was never a popular place to climb, even among the group in Fort Collins and many of those routes we did in the 70s might not have had a repeat until the 90s - who knows?

I haven't climbed there since 1976, so I may have to revisit the area and see what has happened there. Thanks for the route descriptions!

I recently climbed a crack line to the left of Lariat (5.11 *** in the Gillett guidebook). The line I climbed was probably 5.9-5.10a with some nice hand jams and a wide finish. There looked to be a finger crack variation further left. Anybody have information on these climbs or other routes in this area that aren't in the Gillet guide? I also did Lariat while I was in there, and it is a great line!

If you park 0.6 miles west of the Beige Siphon Tube (in front of the Borg Boulder), and look up east you will see several long slabs that have routes on them. At the top of these run a series of 60-70 foot climbs that go thru some heinus looking roofs. Does anyone know anything about these climbs? There are some old slings and gear stuck in cracks. They look fun but may be very difficult or old aid routes. Would love to know anything about them!!!

Hey, I was wondering a couple of things. Where can a person get a copy of the Gillett guidebook? My phone number is (970) 216-3883 or you could just post it here because there might be some other people wondering as well.

I also noticed that there is a couple of climbs just past "the Tube" on the left side straight across from the sign that talks about the bighorns. I just wondered if anyone knew who put them up or how hard they are?

Tom Jenson mentions some route Ninja Ladder in an old post on this page. I'm an old friend of Tom and Geoff's; used to boulder with Tom in Fort Collins and hung out with Geoff in the desert. I'd love to check out the Ninja Ladder, but Tom didn't put any info about how to find it.

Chad,

I don't want to sound like a jerk but what do you need a road map. I would assume that the beta would be good enough. Maybe, next time Thomas should tie a balloon to a tree at all the pulloffs to the climbs so you can find your way. It's not that big of a canyon it can't be that hard. Anyway, I don't want to sound like a prick, but it's 14a! That means it's hard as hell, so unless you like leaving bail biners, it might not be the best option. Once again, I'm trying not to sound mean I'm just being realistic, because fourteens are hard and take serious time to get the strength for, if you don't already have it. Besides, the big Thompson doesn't have the best rock on the planet and if you pulled a hold off it could seriously alter the nature of the climb. Just my 2cents.

Hey everyone, Travis again. I was still wondering of anyone knows a store that is selling Gillett's book or maybe how to get a hold of him about getting one. If any one even knows the exact name of the book it would be very helpful. I heard (through another post) that there is also another book that covered some of the canyon, specifically the Monastery. However, again there was no exact name or any info. on how to get a copy. Climb Safe, Travis

Here's the beta, Travis.
Rocky Mountain National Park: The Climber's Guide: Estes Park Valley. Published by Earthbound Sports, 2001. Amazon.com should have it, Earthbound has a website, I expect Neptune's (Boulder) has it, I know Backcountry Escape in Longmont has it, and the shops in Estes Park have it. If for whatever reason you can't find it, email me through this site.

Thanks a lot, that worked great. I got it through Barnes and Noble. Vol. 1 is the one that actually talks about the BTC for anyone who was wondering.

If I'm thinking of the same spires, I don't think they are on private property, but if you approach from the Glen Haven Road, you have to cross private property to get to them. You can approach from US Highway 34 at the Sullivan Gulch Trailhead, 2 miles up and over to get to the rocks. They do look good.

About 1 mile west of Drake on US Highway 34, right at road side is a large pink/redish formation of granite that rises for about 100 feet. It is on the north side of the highway, 3 small, brown cabins sit directly on the other side of the river/road. This formation and others close by are on private land. I recently spoke with the the land owner, a very nice guy and former rock climber named John. He likes watching people fish and kayak down his portion of the river and he likes watching others rock climb....on HIS rock. He seems very willing to share his rocks with climbers including the sets of anchors already there, but, with a few rules. First and foremost, he does not want bolts placed in the rock without asking him first. Recently there was a line put up, 17 bolts total by his count, and he would like the "bolter" to remove them or at least knock on his cabin door and talk to him. I don't think he will shoot you, again, very nice guy. I looked at this route yesterday with the landowner. Literally, there is a bolt every six feet. Having top-roped this formation myself in the past, I felt like the bolts were major overkill, particularly on a formation that has been ascended by earlier generations in bold ascent. Evidence of this are the several pitons one can still find on this formation. Please, if you bolted this line, and read this, speak with the land owner and/or remove your bolts. He did mention that maybe 2/3 less bolts might have been acceptable to him. Allen