Gunnison

Early cast of Gunnison characters that put up some...

Description 

Gunnison is a city of about 5000 people and is located at the bottom of several valleys. Due to its location, cold air in all the valleys settles into Gunnison at night, making it one of the coldest places in Colorado if not the States.

In this area is a great variety of climbing opportunities ranging from short cragging to some of the longest rock routes in the state. In fact, the only grade VI routes in Colorado are located here.

West of the town of Gunnison is the The Black Canyon of Guninson or "The Black" as it is affectionately referred to, and is Colorado's big wall climbing destination. Land here is a combination of private, state, BLM, and federal land. Take this into consideration if you go exploring, since some locals do not take kindly to uninvited crossing of their property. Tires have been known to be slashed, cars ticketed, and climbers escorted off private land.

"The Black" is as deep as 2700 ft at its greatest depth. There are no other canyon in the country that has the same depth relative to its width as The Black and and hence it is located in the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. The visitor guide has helpful information if you are visiting it for the first time.

Getting There 

Gunnison is located on US 50 in the SW part of the state. From the east, you can drive from US 285 to US 50 over Monarch Pass (11,000ft) and drop down into the town of Gunnison. Directions from there depend upon the exact area. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison lies W of Gunnison along US 50 for the South Rim and off CO Hwy 92 for the North Rim. From the Denver Metro area it is 4 plus hours to Gunnison. From the West, you can access US 50 from Montrose via US 50 from the N and US 550 (the Million Dollar Hwy) from the S. From Montrose, it is an hour plus to Gunnison.

Map of the area

Featured Route For Gunnison

Checkerboard Wall 5.10  CO : Gunnison : The Checkerboard Wall

This route is awesome! Perfect stone, great position, spicy, thoughtful climbing, and, most of all, a ridiculously improbable looking line make for an incredible, albeit shorter, afternoon in the Black. Start: Head down the Cruise Gully. Shortly after the second rappel, the gully opens up briefly and an obvious climber's trail splits off left. Follow this for a short while (minor bushwhacking and scrambling) until it turns sharply left up to ...[more]

Add Photo Photos of Gunnison

These guys were hard core! John Pearson, J...	Scotty Gilbert, Tom Pulaski and Jimmy Newberry. Co...	John Pearson showing the 70s version of multi-task...
Talk about a motley crew. Gunnisons best and brigh...	Gilby and the Newbs. Photo courtesy of the Jim New...	Conley, Newberry and Gilbert Early hard cores who ...
A synopsis from the secretary of the WSC Climbing ...	Doug Scott. A man who really networked climbers fr...