All Locations > Colorado > Glenwood Springs > Main Elk Creek > Fortress of Solitude

East Walls/Bat Cave Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map This is our best guess at this area's location.
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Routes in East Walls/Bat Cave

L › R R › L A › Z

	Aquaman S 5.12a/b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6a
	Boy Wonder S 5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
	Boys Don’t Cry S 5.13d 8b 31 X 32 E8 7a
	Caped Crusader S 5.12d 7c 28 IX 28 E6 6b
	La Melange S 5.12- 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
	Orange Mechanique S 5.13- 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E7 6c
	Tripping the Light Fantastic S 5.14a/b 8c 33 X+ 33 E9 7b

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GPS:	39.678, -107.569 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	15,730 total · 71/month
Shared By:	Pinklebear on Apr 28, 2004
Admins:	Alvaro Arnal, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac, Tyler KC Page Updates (admin only)

Access Issue: Seasonal Raptor Closure Details

Voluntary seasonal falcon closure notice for the Fortress of Solitude from February 15- July 31. The closures are route specific. The central super routes (Daily Planet to Flex Luthor) are open. Once nesting has been determined routes may open. No new routing (noisy power drills) can happen during this time period even in the open areas of the main cave. Any routes east of the main cave remain open. Please no caching of gear on Forest Service land. The Forest Service has been very cooperative in establishing this plan; please be responsible.The specific routes to be closed are listed below with numbers from the Rifle/ Western Slope Wolverine Publishing guide book.
For the left aerie: The Sandman (not in guide) 5. Lois Lame 8. Blind Date. For the right aerie: Ironman (not in guide) Snake Woman (not in guide) 17. The Kalous Logan 18.The Fuck Up
-Bryan Gall

Access Issue: Closures from February 15- August 15 Details

The closures as of now are route specific. In the main cave of the Fortress the whole west wall, gothdrome, and east wall/ bat cave areas are closed with nesting sites above those areas. Only the central super routes (Daily Planet to Flex Luthor) are open. Once nesting has been determined routes may open. No new routing (noisy power drills) can happen during this time period even in the open area. Avoid loud noises if at all possible. Routes east of the main cave are open. Please no caching of gear on Forest Service land. The forest service has been great in working out a very climber friendly management plan please be responsible!

Description

This sector comprises the largely undeveloped right side of the Fortress, up around the corner from Metropolis and out of sight until you actually hike around and get in there (though you can catch glimpses of it from the main trail in Hadley Gulch). The walls here range from vertical to obscenely overhung, and the routes tend to be shorter, ranging from 50 to 80 feet. The rock seems to be a bit more forgiving, i.e. featured, than the stone in other areas of the Fortress, with nice white rock, blue and grey streaks, water-droppy slabs, and crack features running out giant swells. The surface has barely been scratched.

There are currently six completed lines here, ranging from 5.11c to 5.13a (ish), a couple of open projects, and one of the wildest, most gnarled ancient trees I've ever seen, in the Bat Cave itself. (It's so old that the limbs have been bleached completely white. Please don't drop *any* rocks on or near this tree if you bolt in the vicinity.)

It's a bit overgrown back here still, so you'll have to thrash a bit. Expect powerful and crimpy climbing.

Getting There

From Metropolis, continue right (east) along the base of the crag for about two to three minutes, passing a couple of very tall arete/pillars along the way. Once you round the second pillar, you'll encounter the first set of routes, set into a recessed alcove. From left to right they are: 13a, 12a, 11c R, and 12a.

Bushwack past here to the Bat Cave, another minute or two along. This is the ultra-steep cave with a mouth-shaped hueco dead center, and is capped by a roof. There is a short, bouldery 5.12d left of the cave on an overhanging black wall, an open project to its right, and a 12d climbing up to and past the mouth hueco in the Bat Cave itself. This route, Caped Crusader, seems to be the only line of weakness through the cave. The potential routes to its right and left offer downsloping, diagonalling plaques, no visible jugs, and little hope of anything under 5.14+. Still, the stone in here is basically bullet. Have at it.

Past the cave the walls get shorter and there are a couple of unfinished projects. If you continue right past here a bit more, you'll find some nice-looking walls, a project in progress, then a scramble-up to the top of the crag.