There is a backwoodsy, subalpine, state park with multiple granite crags, some of which may never have been climbed, ranging from 50 to 450 feet in height. A park fee is required to park. The rock is mostly granite ranging from 8000-10000 ft altitude. Beautiful vistas soothe your eyes from belay perches. People have been climbing here since at least the 1950s. There are mostly traditional climbs; however, sport-ish climbs are appearing here more recently. Some approaches exceed an hour. Rocks here include: Mount Thorodin's 1st, 2nd, & 3rd buttresses; Ralston Roost; Son of Ralston; Raven Knob, Odin's Good Eye, Odin's Rib Cage, The Rainbow Bridge, Odin's Throne, and a bizarre spire named Lazy Squaw Spire. There are other intriguing looking crags visible from the road to Panorama Point. Some fixed gear is quite suspect (I pulled an angle out with only light finger pressure).
Getting There
From CO Hwy 93 just N of Golden, follow the Golden Gate Canyon road perhaps 18 miles to Golden Gate Canyon State Park. There are multiple crags in the area. The biggest are off Mt Thorodin, accessed & visible from Panorama Point, up the windy road past Kriley Pond. Lazy Squaw Spire can be accessed from the Lazy Squaw Ranch near Panorama Point. Son of Ralston & Ralston Roost can be accessed from Golden Gate Canyon Road.
Have lived in sight of Golden Gate State Park for 40 years. It is called Mt. Thorodin, not Thoridin. The name is a combination of Thor and Odin. I therefore think it much more fitting for climbers to call the granite crag system: Ragnarok Ridge rather than the awful "Reverend Ridge", the name given by the State. It also fits with the crags: there is a formation that looks exactly like "Odin's Good Eye" (near the center, below the upper formations), another I call Odin's Rib Cage (the furthest North), "The Rainbow Bridge" (the southernmost), and Odin's Throne (the 2nd crag with "Misty" et al.) I hope others agree with my designations. Thanks: I'll be up there this summer doing a few (easy) new routes. There are lots of them still left.
If anyone has more beta regarding the crags not listed here, please let me know. Is there a guidebook containing any info? I am interested in easy/moderate lines, feel free to email me if you have any suggestions.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Jul 23, 2006
Without my guidebooks, I recall this being listed in Hubbel's Colorado Crags & ?a smaller guidebook by Hubbel...perhaps the Lyon's guide? Beyond that, I can't recall seeing other published materials.
By Tim Stich From: Colorado Springs, Colorado Jul 4, 2007
Golden Gate Canyon SP
Printer Friendly View
RSS Feed
