The Quarry Wall is a little-known trad climbing area located just east of the main North Table Mountain cliffs. Much of the development has been done by locals Jimmy Menendez, Hank Caylor, and Wayne Crill. The cliff has a handful of short routes of all grades, and three "showcase" longer routes on the main cliff -- all of which are excellent.
Although the rock can be flaky and dirty (primarily due to lack of traffic), and the ambiance is tainted by the constant buzz of the Coors Brewing Company, the wall offers an easy approach and sheltered, south facing rock, making it a good winter destination. Also, it provides a rare opportunity to do some pretty sustained jamming close to Denver/Boulder. The rock seems to be columnar basalt.
Getting There
From Washington Avenue (Golden's Main Street), take 10th Street east. On your right you will pass the Coors complex. 10th turns into 44th, and parallels CO Hwy 58. After a mile, you'll go under CO 58; take an immediate left hand turn and follow the hairpin turn back west until it dead-ends at a T-intersection. To your left is an on ramp to 58 W, to your right is Easley Way. Park on the righthand corner at a large gravel lot.
Looking up from the parking past a few houses, you'll see the wall (and even the climb Bone Crusher) clearly. Hike towards the on ramp and follow a very good trail much further west than you think you want to go. This trail skirts underneath terraced road cuts on the slope above. Eventually the trail will wind back north between the mesas.... Keep your eyes peeled for a very well-traveled trail that splits off to the right (the junction is cairned). Follow this back east again, now above the terraces, until you are directly below the main wall.
There are three lines here: The left is Frank's Wild Years (5.11-), the middle is Silver Bullet (5.12-), and the right is Bone Crusher (5.12). Further to the right are the shorter climbs, and easy access to the top for setting up top ropes.
Bone Crusher (sometimes referred to as Bone Collector) is the line to do on the wall. It is the rightmost of the three climbs at the main wall (the one visible from the road) and offers continuously high quality, difficult climbing.Begin in a slightly loose, difficult to protect slot and work up to good gear and a rest on a ledge out right. From here some interesting moves lead up to another rest at a jug, and then the business begins: Climb u...[more]
Josh. Excellent that someone finally posted these hidden gems! Now that the cat is out of the bag, I think Bone Crusher is one of the best crack routes near Golden. Who would have thought that IC training could be so close to home! Thanks for posting them. Are you going to post the warm ups that are on the right? One is 5.9 hands/thin hands bit flared. The other one has a fist section through a tight corner. I don't remember what Jimmy called those.
The flared thin hands crack on the smaller right buttress with anchors at the top is "the short tour", the line on the far L. of this butress, fingers to fists up high is Marry Me Becky ~5.10, Menendez and Gallagher respectively. All these route were done years ago.
I concur with Darren, Bone Crusher is the standout route at the crag and one of the best splitters "around".
Does anyone know the ownership of these crags and the land beneath them? It's my understanding that they were being kept quiet because they are on private land (an old quarry), even though all the surrounding land is open space. I hope the access is safe...the climbs are unique for this area.
Dougald, that's a great question. My understanding is that the crag itself is JeffCo Open Space, but was unclear about how far down towards the road that land extended. I have been told that the School of Mines has geology classes along those lower rock bands and that it is public access left of the power lines. This is unverified and may be incorrect.
Dougald, my understanding is that this area was off limits until about 1.5-2 yrs ago when the land was purchased by Open Space, from the mine/quarry owners. This is also word of mouth, but my information is that Jimmy Menendez spoke with Open Space about this and the purchase was confirmed. I believe C. Leubben knows of the official status.
What I do know is that at this time ~ 2 yrs ago, the barbed wire fence with no-trespassing signs was taken down (still visible under the power lines) and official open space parking areas were constructed as described in the write up and also up at the end of ridge road (alternative access). It certainly would be nice to know "for sure" what the status is.
There must have been a lot of pent up demand to comment on this "secret" crag. The day of the area's initial submission may still be young, yet an impressive 17 posts have proceded this one.
I just posted some pictures I took on my first recon visit to the Quarry Wall. I have listed the pictures according to the routes I take them to be based on information gleaned from this site. If I am mistaken in which pictures are in fact of which routes, I apologize. I'm brand new to the area and exploring my new climbing home. I will happily edit the captions if any of what I posted is incorrect. That said, sick cracks!
Print a Mini-Guide - Includes Routes!
RSS Feed
