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Elevation: 5,765 ft
GPS: 39.754, -105.24 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views: 2,596,645 total · 11,144/month
Shared By: Quinn Stevens on Dec 31, 2000 with improvements by Alan Prehmus and 3 others
Admins: Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac
Access Issue: Seasonal Raptor Closures Details

Description

Clear Creek Canyon (CCC) is aptly situated along Clear Creek, just west of Golden. The canyon is most well known for its accesible wealth of sport climbs, with some trad climbs interspersed. The rock varies here from gneiss & schist to a sandy granite, relatively solid but much different and perhaps more unique than the gray sweeps of Boulder Canyon.

While the individual areas here tend to be specialized with regard to the route type and difficulty, the canyon as a whole has a variety of ratings. Beginners should look into the High Wire Crag, Catslab - note it is apparently open, Little Eiger, Red Slab, and The Canal Zone while excellent difficult routes abound from the Primo Wall, Wall of the Nineties, Anarchy Wall, The River Wall, and New River formation. Clear Creek also offers some nice winter climbing options such as the Red Slab and the Dog House.

As always, be attentive of the traffic and remove valuables from your car.

Ice Climbing

See CO Ice & Mixed > Clear Creek Canyon - Ice.

Getting There

From Denver, head out on 6th Ave. and exit into Golden. Turn left on US 6 into the canyon. From Boulder, the best way to reach Clear Creek Canyon is to take CO Highway 93 (Broadway) straight south for about 25 minutes into Golden. Then take a right, heading west on US 6 into Clear Creek Canyon. Pullouts can be found along the highway, and most approaches are about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes tyroleans exist but cannot always be trusted.

Ropes

Note, many routes are not descendable with a single rope, be it 45m or 50m or 60m or 70m. Please, carefully lower when not certain of route length. Please!

Guidebooks

There have been at least 4-5 guidebooks including Clear Creek Canyon. Peter Hubbel put out Front Range Crags. Mark Rolofson has put out a 1995 Boulder Sport Climbing Guide, a 1999 Clear Creek Canyon Sport Climber's Guide, a more recent Clear Creek Canyon Sport Climber's Guide, and most recently, Darren Mabe has put out a Clear Creek Canyon guidebook. Most recently, Kevin Capps put out a second edition to his 2014 guidebook in 2017.

Speed Limits/Tickets

FYI, CO State Patrol has been put on notice by their head person due to too many complaints for those who drive US 6 through CCC. So, they have up to 4 patrollers ticketing speeders at a time. The speed limit is 40 mph through the entire canyon!

Tickets for 55 mph cost 4 points and $170.

Camping

There is an RV park near the mouth of the canyon.

Crags (downstream to upstream)

This is a work in progress...finally, eh? Thanks for your patience.

South vs. North is relative to the road.

CO 93 & US 6 intersection

large bridge / parking area

South (across CC) - The Canal Zone | The Twilight Zone
North - Labyrinth
South - East Side of Tunnel 1

Tunnel 1

North - New Hipster Rock
South - The Sports Wall
South - AAA Crag

metal bridge

South - Ghost Crag
North (MM 270) - The Blonde Formation
North (MM 270) - The Stumbling Block | Bumbling Stock
North - Postcolonial Crag | Fault Caves
North - Skinny Legs Formation
?North? (MM 268) - Bouldering (mile marker 268) | 268 Wall

Bridge - ~3.5 miles

North - The Red Slab
South - Piledriver | Rainy Day Rock | Little Eiger | Aftermath
South - The Garden Wall
North - Point Break | The New River Wall | The Highlands aka Highlander | Twitch Rock | Rapids Rock | Highwire North
South - Tetanus Cave | Evil Cave | River Wall
South - Wall of Justice | Low Spark of High Wire Crag | Low Wire | High Wire Crag | Higher Wire | Left Wire

Tunnel 2 - ~4.9 miles

metal tyrolean

South (across CC) - Punk Rock | Irok | Wanna Be Wall | The Mission Wall
South - Flood Wall | Back of the Nineties | Wall of the '90s
North - The Monkey House | Death Rock
South - Capitalist Crag | Upper Capitalist Crag | Lower Capitalist Crag

Tunnel 3 - ~5.1 miles

South - Independence Wall | Anarchy Wall
South (across CC) - Cool Thing Wall (aka Kool Krag) | New Crag
North - Elk Creek
South - Iron Buttress
North - Sex Cave (aka Pete's Wicked Cave) | Shark's Fin
North MM 264 - Rebel Wall
South - The Talon | New Economy Cliff | Bionic Crag
North - Nightworm Pinnacle | Unknown Tower AKA Crystal Dick Tower | Prestige Worldwide Wall | Real Hidden Valley | Upper Wall
North - Prohibition Pinnacle
South - A Little Piece of South Dakota
North (MM 263) - Jerky Boulder (263)
South - High Profile Wall

Mayhem Gulch mountain biking trailhead

Intersection with CO 119

South - The Fiscal Cliff | The Graveyard | The Pearly Gates

Tunnel 5 - ~10.5 miles

South - Cats vs. Dogs Wall | The Catslab | Bike Path Boulders (Near Catslab) | Cat Slab Boulders | Rabbit Hole | The Fish Bowl | Death Valley
North - The Dog House | Other Critters | The Safari | The Oz | Trump Tower | Live Action Wall | Carbage | Stoked Bowl | Creek Side
North - Mourning Glory

tyrolean

South - The Bunker | Sushi Slab

Tunnel 6 ~11.3 miles

tyrolean

North (not across the creek) - Broken Angel | Play Pen | | East Colfax
North across the creek - The Healing Center | The Conspiracy Crag | The Armory | The Crystal Tower | Seeing Squiggles Bloc | The Guppy | Waves Wall | Primo Wall | Nomad's Cave | Breakfast Cliff | Boulders Above Primo
South - Convenience Cliff | Project Wall

Peak-to-Plains Trail project

More info may be obtained from: p2ptrail@publicinfoteam.com. The Plains to Peaks Trail blog can be found here.

Webcams

You may find these webcams helpful for visual peeks at conditions: cotrip.org/roadConditions.htm. Click on the camera icons along US 6.

Possible map

google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=…

Raptor Nest Closures

The updated initial raptor nest anticipated closures for 2016.

The two areas Jefferson County Open Space intends to close in Clear Creek Canyon, shown on the attached maps, encompass the active eagle nests. If the Clear Creek eagles continue to nest in the active nests, these areas will remain closed from February 1 through July 31. If the eagles choose different nesting sites, the closures will be adjusted accordingly to protect those eagles during their breeding season.

Currently, rock climbing areas that fall inside of the seasonal raptor closures include:

Blonde Formation
Bumbling Stock
Evil Area
Ghost Crag
Highlander
Merlin
New River Wall
Point Break
Rapids Rock
Skinny Legs
Stumbling Block
Tetanus Garden.

1,142 Total Climbs

Route Finder - Best Climbs for YOU!

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Classic Climbing Routes at Clear Creek Canyon

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 230
● Guppy
Sport
Creek Side
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 762
● Playin' Hooky
Sport 4 pitches
Creek Side
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c
 435
● Curvaceous
Sport
Wall of the '90s
5.11b/c 6c+ 23 VIII- 24 E4 6a
 412
● Walking With A Ghost
Sport
Canal Zone
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 316
● Wet Dream
Sport
Wall of the '90s
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 96
● Solid Gold
Trad, Sport 5 pitches
Creek Side
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
 104
● Dia de Los Muertos
Sport
Graveyard
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b
 156
● Slammer
Sport
Wall of Justice
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b
 100
● Peer Review
Sport
Highlands aka Highlander
5.12 7b+ 27 VIII+ 26 E6 6b
 195
● The Great Escape
Sport
Wall of Justice
5.12b/c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b
 187
● Fission aka Ken T'ank
Sport
Armory
5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b
 302
● Ten-Digit Dialing
Sport
Wall of the '90s
5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b
 129
● Sucking My Will to Live
Sport
Primo Wall
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
 115
● Anarchitect
Sport
Anarchy Wall
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c
 101
● Sonic Youth
Sport
New River Wall
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
● Guppy Creek Side
 230
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Sport
● Playin' Hooky Creek Side
 762
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Sport 4 pitches
● Curvaceous Wall of the '90s
 435
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c Sport
● Walking With A Ghost Canal Zone
 412
5.11b/c 6c+ 23 VIII- 24 E4 6a Sport
● Wet Dream Wall of the '90s
 316
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport
● Solid Gold Creek Side
 96
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Trad, Sport 5 pitches
● Dia de Los Muertos Graveyard
 104
5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a Sport
● Slammer Wall of Justice
 156
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b Sport
● Peer Review Highlands aka Highlander
 100
5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b Sport
● The Great Escape Wall of Justice
 195
5.12 7b+ 27 VIII+ 26 E6 6b Sport
● Fission aka Ken T'ank Armory
 187
5.12b/c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b Sport
● Ten-Digit Dialing Wall of the '90s
 302
5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b Sport
● Sucking My Will to Live Primo Wall
 129
5.12c 7b+ 27 IX- 27 E6 6b Sport
● Anarchitect Anarchy Wall
 115
5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b Sport
● Sonic Youth New River Wall
 101
5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c Sport
More Classic Climbs in Clear Creek Canyon »

Weather Averages

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Photos

Brandon Patterson on "The Desiderata", March 2007.<br> <br> Photo by Adam Peters.
Brandon Patterson on "The Desiderata", March 20…
 22
Crack a Beer, at the Bumbling Stock.
Crack a Beer, at the Bumbling Stock.
 15
Jason Baker squeezing and pulling to gain the final exit (crux) moves on "Stanley Kubrick (V11)." <br> <br> Spotter: Tom.<br> <br> Photo by: Luke Childers.
Jason Baker squeezing and pulling to gain the f…
 13
Jamie G. doing his thing on the NEW Super Mario, 12+, near Catslab.
Jamie G. doing his thing on the NEW Super Mario…
 9
Evening view of Clear Creek Canyon from Beaverbrook Trail.
Evening view of Clear Creek Canyon from Beaverb…
 9
Adam Peters on "The Desiderata", March 2007.<br> <br> Photo by Darren Mabe.
Adam Peters on "The Desiderata", March 2007.…
 5
Jason Baker working one of his beautiful new project at a new wall in C.C.C.
Jason Baker working one of his beautiful new pr…
 4
New offwidth went up in the creek.
New offwidth went up in the creek.
 4
Mazzi Childers on her new favorite climb, "First Impressions-(5.9+)." The Little Eiger. Clear Creek Canyon, Colorado.
Mazzi Childers on her new favorite climb, "Firs…
 3
The 2nd Edition to the Clear Creek Canyon guidebook by Kevin Capps is now on the shelves. Find it at most gear shops or online at https://www.fixedpin.com/products/rock-climbing-clear-creek-canyon.
The 2nd Edition to the Clear Creek Canyon guide…
 2
A slide shed in New Zealand used to mitigate rockfall.
A slide shed in New Zealand used to mitigate ro…
 1
Caught here in a drilling frenzy the ever enthusiastic Jason Baker pounds in another classic C.C.C. line!!! Nice work, man!!
Caught here in a drilling frenzy the ever enthu…
 4

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