West Ridge - part D - Xanadu to Pony Express Rock Climbing

This is the second highest section of the West Ridge. It arbitrarily extends from Xanadu to Pony Express, since these are well-known, easily identified routes. This section is the most crack-rich section of the ridge. As a result, it has a different feel than most of the rest of The West Ridge. Count on at least a 25 minutes approach.

Note, this section includes some of the loosest sections of the ridge in a section referred to as "The (sic) Construction Zone" by some.

Most routes in this section are single pitch in length. However, recent development have pushed routes into the upper stretches of a section referred to as "The Rotten Wall" by R. Rossiter in his well-received guidebooks. Some of the better lines here include: the intimidating Duh Dihedral, 5.6; the delightful Positively Fourth Street, 5.9+; Xanadu, 5.10a; the fun Hand Crack, 5.10b; the hidden gem Variation to Mail Ridge, 5.10; Sooberb, 5.10c; the fun Zip Code, 5.11b; the demanding Parallels, 5.11b s; the delicious Terminal Velocity, 5.11b/c s; the amazing Bit by Bit, 5.11c/d; the technical Foxtrot, 5.11d s; among others.

To approach this area, you park at the W end of Eldorado Canyon State Park, hike the Eldorado Canyon Trail to the Rincon Trail, boulder hop across the talus and drop down and right to this section of the ridge. It may be more enjoyable to hike up the base of the West Ridge via stream crossing at Milton Boulder or hiking from the East end of the park. Time-wise, it's probably close either way.

Most of these routes is use descents of rappelling. Walkoffs will generally be time-consuming in this section of the ridge.

Note, there is some loose rock in the area.