2010 will be the 75th anniversary of the first rock climb in the Gunks: The Old Route at Millbrook, FA by Fritz Weissner, 1935.

This got me thinking: What was the first rock climb in Eldorado?

As near as I can tell from the guides, the Bastille Crack may have that designation. Jim Erickson placed the first ascent in the early 1950s by US Army climbers; Rossiter says the year was 1954. After that there are several routes first climbed in 1956, the most challenging being the Redgarden Route.

As Bruce Hildebrand notes: Clearly, with the ascents on the Maiden and steep/overhanging faces of the Third Flatiron (Northwest Passage), high angle rock climbing in the Boulder area was alive and well in the late 40's and early 50's.

The first guides to the Boulder area by Dave Dornan (1960 and 1964) unfortunately do not provide any information about the first ascentionists or the dates of first ascents.

Does anyone have any information on any climbing routes in Eldorado prior to the Bastille Crack?

Surely there must be a few Marmots left who could provide some information on the routes they were doing in the era before guidebooks. This historic data should not be lost.

Given that the East Face (Standard) of the 3rd Flatiron was climbed in 1906, it seems likely that some easy (unroped?) climbs were done in Eldo before 1950. I'm sure the Wind Tower, Bastille, and Whale's Tail must have been climbed from the easy sides during this time.

Placing Ivy Baldwin's cable between the Bastille and Wind Tower must have been no easy feat, and certainly involved climbing of some sort. Is there any record of how this was accomplished? How would you pull a cable tight that must have weighed a few thousand pounds?

Chronology of world grade development in Rock Climbing

Climbers are famous for indulging in revisionist history. Any area pioneer can tell you that when a guidebook is eventually published to an area that they have been climbing at for years, it will inevitably include new names and FA info for lines that had been done years before by people who are not listed in the new guide.
This revisionist history is illustrated by the modern day ethnocentric accounts of recording the first ascents of various grades.
We like to think that climbing is a sport that was invented by modern man, who was able to free himself from hunting and scavenging with his new found free time to pursue climbing as a recreational activity.
This is far from the truth. The truth is that man has been climbing for tens of thousands of years, and at a surprisingly stout grade.
Below is a more realistic record of when routes of various difficulty, were first ascended.
We have kept the record simple by only including ascents by hominids who no longer possess a tail.


1st 5.0 10000 BC by Unk, leader of Neanderthal tribe in Verdon, France
1st 5.1 9998 BC by Guk, who was Unk’s younger more talented brother
1st 5.2 9998 BC by Guk’s wife, who went out looking for Guk, thinking he
was having an affair with Unk’s wife.
1st 5.3 1998 AD by Tom Hanson at Castlewood Canyon. Yes, it’s true.
Up until 1998 no one had ever done a 5.3 Somehow, this grade was passed over in pursuit of more ambitious objectives.
1st 5.4 Who cares?
1st 5.5 142 BC by Moses. He cranked a few hard moves between the burning
bush and receiving the tablets.
1st 5.6 325 BC by Fred Becky
1st 5.7 918 AD by an Arapaho warrior of Cozyhang on The Dome in Boulder Canyon
1st 5.8 1007 AD by Tlichit Twofeathers from the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho.
Tlichit’s ascent was to the summit of The Grand Teton to collect eagle
feathers. He built an “enclosure” on the upper saddle to spend the night
on his descent.
1st 5.9 682 AD by Babajoe Samarandanandadevi in northern India..
This pivotal climb was centuries ahead of its time. Babajoe was
scared up the route by a hungry tiger.
1st 5.10 682 AD also by Babajoe. His friend did not believe he has climbed a 5.9,
So he took his friend back to the rock to prove he could. He broke off a
crucial foothold, making the route more difficult, but continued and
made it to the top
1st 5.11 1102 AD by Clive Cloddington. He scaled a heinous line on The White
Cliffs of Dover. He was also the first to use chalk to aid his ascent.
1st 5.12 1923 by film star Harold Lloyd. Harold pulled off a 5.12 dyno while buildering on a New York skyscraper. The move was acknowledged to be solid 12c when Spider Dan repeated it in 1986
1st 5.13 Undone. A 5.13 has never been done. 5.13a/b is really 5.12c/d and
5.13c/d is really 5.14a/b
1st 5.14 International records unclear. Reportedly, the first 5.14 in the U.S. was by J.B. Tribout on To Bolt or Not to Be at Smith Rocks, but Bob Horan likely did it a long time before that.
1st 5.15 Erroneously claimed by Chris Sharma on Realization. New findings show
that it was really a cleverly staged hoax by NASA, filmed in a studio.
1st 5.16 2005 by unknown climber. Yeah, it was already done two years ago by
some guy who no one ever heard of. He did not report his ascent.

Ha ha Tom! Surely you must have too much time on your hands.

Interesting question, there sure is a lot of history in Eldo. Many of us could write a book on our own climbing history of Eldo. I would think the Bastille and Wind Tower would have had most of the early FA's.

Drrrrrrr. You beat me to it Steve!

Oh, I picked up an extra shift at work, which I needed after spending too much time in El Rito last week, so no Rockn' Jammin' for me this week. Sorry.

that's crap, bob d was pegging routes well before the arapaho.

Who ever hung Ivy's wire did a very exposed and technical erection.
Ivy must have toped out on the Windtower and the Bastille 100's of times between 1906-1948 He walked his wire 89 times.His last 5.11 traverse was on his 82nd birthday.It's totally conceivable that a daredevil-acrobat such as Ivy might have explored some alternative approaches to access his wire. He probably soloed many of the more prominent lines and never posted them feeling that they were merely his insignificant spontaneous whims.

Oooooooooh, Olaf just pulled the "Ivy Baldwin Card". Gonna be hard to beat that one. The Bastille section is no big whoop. But stretching that cable to the Wind Tower involved some climbing no doubt. By someone.

By the By, Google Ivy Baldwin and figure out why there isn't a GIANT book on this dude.

There are many of us that remember the wire when it was in place.
What an inspiration it was! It represented a tremendous dynamic energy that flows through the canyon to this day!

In the 5th Edition of High Over Boulder (Ament, McCarthy) I found this:

'In 1925, Charles Morris, poet/philosopher from Chicago, along with an unknown friend, is said to have climbed Shirt Tail Peak - high above Eldorado Canyon to the northwest. Morris reported that the ascent went "straight up the face" and that devices he called "pitons" were placed during the ascent. The name of the rock was derived when they posted a wooden stick at the top and tied a shirt to it.'

It doesn't mention the source of this information, but if true would be hard to beat as the "first recorded technical climb in Eldorado". I wouldn't think they climbed Gambit in 1925, I wonder what "straight up the face" means? There is not much face on Shirttail Pk. to the east.

Coulda been the Mountaineer's Route...a stretch to call this the "face", but hell...it was the 1920's!

Thanks for the Shirt Tail story George. I wonder if Pat has any additional details.

On an Ivy related note, this is one of my favorite photos. Ivy is on walking the wire with the old Crags Hotel in the background. I think that the Crags burned in 08, if so, this picture must have been taken between 1904 and 08.

www.mountainproject.com/images/66/77/106306677_medium_cee9d3>>>

I have a copy of High Over Boulder as well, but I believe it's the first edition, 1970. Funny - I picked it up as well after seeing this thread. A little before my time in Eldo, for sure. I can't find the story George posted. It does state the Mountaineers route FA was in 1965. There is, however, an interview with Fowler, where he talks about the history of the canyon. Not much climbing mentioned. He does talk about Ivy starting his thing there in the early 20's, how they got the wire up there, and that there were a lot of these wooden observation platforms and shelters all over to watch Ivy, including one right on top of the Bastille with a staiway leading to it. He was even considering a tram from the Rotwand to the top of the Bastille. Fortunately, it sounds like maintaining everything was a bit of a cash sink for him, and he was making better money with the pool and selling water, so thereby the process of the land becoming a state park.

Here is a link to some really good Ivy Baldwin pictures.

images.google.com/images?q=ivy+baldwin&q=source%3Alife

Robert,thanks for sharing the link to Ivy Bauldwin's wire walking images in South Boulder Canyon . He must have had a few wires set because that one isn't the famous Bastille-Windtower that I remember.

The photos are mostly from Ivy's last wire walk, done in 1948 on his 82nd birthday. Many sources mistakingly suggest his final walk was from the high wire but it was not (his last high wire walk was in 1929). Instead, these photos show the "low wire" from Rotwand to South Rotwand installed by Jack Fowler specifically for this one event.

I'm including a tribute to Ivy in the upcoming new Eldorado guide I'm now finishing, with many more historical tidbits about this remarkable man.

Cheers, Steve

Steve, Thanks for clearing the wire question for me.
This is off the subject but you mentioned Mr.Fowler and that stirred up a pleasant memory.
I spent many hours hanging out with Jack"old man" Fowler back when he owned "Eldorado". He collected $.50 from every one with no exceptions and no credit. Buc Taylor and I would frequently stay in the camp ground at Supremacy Slab on the weekends. Mr.Fowler would drop by to collect the camp fees in the late afternoon. He would often stay a while talk story with us. He seemed to really like Buc alot.Buc was always kidding him about the three of us going into town and chasing some galls around. It always made Mr.Fowler laugh when he did.