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Twin Owls
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Routes Sorted
L to R R to L Alpha
Alignment of the Misaligned 
Anaconda 
Arm and Hammer 
Autumn Mist 
Black Lichen Streak 
Bowels of the Owls, The 
Caught in the Slaughterhouse 
Cavity, The 
Central Chimney 
Conan's Gonads (Conad's) 
Condones 
Copperhead 
Coyote 
Crack of Fear 
East Ridge 
Fist Fight 
Hungry Man 
Jamesia Jam 
King Cobra 
One of Life's Little Problems 
Organ Pipes 
Parachute Pants 
Peaches and Cream 
Pin Route 
Rather Fight Than Switch 
Rattler 
Senseless Meaning 
Sunset Arete 
Thimbleberry Jam 
Thin Crack 
Tiger's Tooth 
Tighter Squeeze 
Tilted Mitten 
TR Flake-Right side start of W. Owl Direct 
True American Pinch 
Twister 
Viper 
West Chimney 
West Owl Direct aka Silly Putty 
Wolf's Tooth 
Unsorted Routes:

Twin Owls 


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Lat, Long: 40.4029, -105.5188 Map
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Administrators: Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson
Submitted By: Charles Vernon on Jun 4, 2002

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Aspen glory.

Description 

Probably the best-named rock I've ever seen, Twin Owls is known for a collection of hard and often wide crack climbs, and is flanked by an fine assortment of satellite crags. Some notable routes include the legendary Crack of Fear (5.10d, very OW), Wolf's Tooth (5.8), Peaches and Cream (5.11+), East Ridge (5.8), and the Pin Route (5.4). Popular subsidiary cliffs include Rock One, Lower Owls, Hen and Chicken, and Gollum's Arch Rock, all of which are included below. Descent: find the saddle between the "Owls", and look for the "Bowels of the Owls", a deep chimney with some good-sized chocktones in it. Downclimb this (4th-5th class), or set up a rappel nearby. Don't get benighted on top. Subsidiary cliffs generally have self-explanatory descents.

Check the closures before heading here.


Getting There 

From the new parking lot, head towards Lumpy Ridge on the left trail 0.7 miles, go right following the signs to Twin Owls. For the lower Twin Owls, take the first fork left. For the upper Twin Owls, continue right past the Lower Twin Owls trail split up about another 200 yards to the next split. Go left up towards Hen & Chickens, Roosting Ramp, and the Bowels of the Owls area. ~30 minutes to approach.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Twin Owls:
Pin Route   5.5     Trad, 3 pitches, 300 feet   
Organ Pipes   5.6     Trad, 2 pitches, 250 feet, Grade II   
Central Chimney   5.7+     Trad, 4 pitches, 400 feet, Grade II   
East Ridge   5.8     Trad, 2 pitches, Grade II   
Wolf's Tooth   5.8     Trad, 3 pitches, Grade II   
Conan's Gonads (Conad's)   5.9     Trad, 1 pitch   
Tiger's Tooth   5.9+     Trad, 2 pitches   
Rather Fight Than Switch   5.10a     Trad, 1 pitch   
Jamesia Jam   5.10c     Trad, 1 pitch, 75 feet   
Crack of Fear   5.10d     Trad, 3 pitches, Grade II   
West Owl Direct aka Silly Putty   5.12a C2 R     Trad, Aid   
Anaconda   5.13c     Trad   
Browse More Classics in Twin Owls

Featured Route For Twin Owls
Don't be misled by what appears to be a chimney--you can face climb or stem most of this.

Tiger's Tooth 5.9+  CO : Lumpy Ridge : Twin Owls
See Wolf's Tooth for basic location. This is the route that climbs the crack between the right side of the detached pillar and the main buttress of the Owl (Wolf's Tooth climbs the left side).This is an excellent route, with very sustained climbing on the crack section of pitch one. The bottom is somewhat overhanging hand/fist crack, which opens to offwidth after about 25 feet. The offwidth continues to widen until it becomes a squeeze chimney after about 60 feet. S...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO


Photos of Twin Owls Slideshow Add Photo

BETA PHOTO
Twin Owls at sunset.

BETA PHOTO: Twin Owls at sunset.

Gary on summit of Twin Owls

BETA PHOTO: Gary on summit of Twin Owls

Twin Owls. <br />Photo by Blitzo.

Twin Owls.
Photo by Blitzo.


The Twin Owls at Lumpy Ridge as seen from afar. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2002.

The Twin Owls at Lumpy Ridge as seen from afar. Ph...

The Owl area.  <br />Photo: Dave Fiorucci

The Owl area.
Photo: Dave Fiorucci


Twin Owls. <br />Photo by Blitzo.

Twin Owls.
Photo by Blitzo.


Twin Owls summit.

Twin Owls summit.

Twin Owls in May.

Twin Owls in May.


Comments on Twin Owls Add Comment
Show which comments
By Gary Schmidt
From: Boulder, CO
Sep 3, 2005

I have always found the descriptions to the descent of the "[Bowels] of the [Owls]" somewhat confusing . Basically you head down what seems to start out to be straightforward easy class 4 down climb from the low point grassy area between the two summits. When u cliff out look to your left for rap slings around a boulder. You will be peering down what looks like a vertical cave about 25 feet deep. You can downclimb it but the walls are a little slick and quite often wet. You will probably want to lower any packs/ropes etc. down the well first as it is quite narrow. Once you make it safely down the well, you are basically down to terra firma. There is a great trail down the eastern side (You can also hike down the western side) which eventually joins the [Gem Lake] trail.

By Danny
Oct 24, 2005

Comment on the descent. If you are going up for the first time be sure you know where the Bowls are b/c if you descend in the wrong chimney it will be bad. My first time up there I accidentally descended the Central Chimney thinking it was the Bowels-honest mistake. Anyway this turned out to be a mini epic that could have resulted in much worse than the slings and rings I ended up leaving.

By Chris Zeller
From: Boulder, CO
Aug 2, 2009

The Bowels decent is straightforward but avoid the chimney cave. There is a great rap station (2 slings + 2 biners) hiding under a large block descender's right and just before the cave on the Bowels of the Owls decent. Basically instead of stepping left around a ledge to get to the cave, go straight to where it cliffs out and look under the large flat block.

This rap is clean and does not require going in the chimney as I have heard reported elsewhere. There is an anchent bolt stub on this block so apparently its not a new idea.

This is much easier than spelunking in the cave. 50 m rope is fine.