Family Top Ropes in Boulder

Hey everyone,

Im looking for some good cliffs for young kids close to Boulder. Has to be able to be top roped, although no issues with having to lead to get a top rope set up. Shorter hikes are better.

Im thinking gregory canyon. Thoughts about this?

Thanks,
Jon

Check out the Gregory Amphitheater, Flagstaff Mountain, Table Mountain, The Riveria.

There are a lot of top-ropeable climbs in Gregory Canyon area which are good quality.
Flagstaff is also good but may be a bit more involved getting TRs up. The Boulderado in BLDR CYN is good but awfully close to the road and very crowded with rock climbing schools.

Table Mountain is perfect but the hike might be too much.

boulderado, boulder canyon

The little clump of rock near the parking lot for the Dome and Elephant buttresses (right next to the bike path bridge) has top-rope anchors, no hike, and a huge flat area to hang out in. There's not a ton of variety or quality, which is why no one is ever there, but it's perfect for families.

Supremacy Rock--no approach, picnic tables and creek, various short routes variations from 5.easy on up.

Boulderado does offer a nice choice of moderates, but the base area is limited and ledge-y, or you have to hang in the parking pull out across the road--not ideal for young children.

In Eldo, Supremacy Rock and slabs, back by the picnic area, provide a nice range of top-ropes and an unbeatable fun kid-setting by the river. The polished 5.6 crack is a trusty standby. Up and left is a broken cracky groove. You can solo 30' or so of 5.2 up to a tree anchor, or past it to the ridge for rock anchors. Further up and left is a bigger smoother face, 9 or 9+ top-roped by approaching from the gully and ridge on the left. The back side, under the Web and Supremacy Crack, has several low angle 4th or easy 5th class slabs. Anchors up there are available but a little funky. Long webbing or an extra rope makes it easy to connect to trees.

Have fun!

EDIT: Ah, PR beat me to "send"

Sibylle Hechtel has a book for climbing families in Colorado:

amazon.com/Fun-Climbs-Color…

FYI Gregory is closed to climbing till 7/31. That being said it is great for TR, and can be accessed from the back.

Thanks, Stich!

Leo Paik took his three girls climbing a lot near Boulder and he'd be a good person to ask for routes that are not in my book.

Castlewood Canyon is good when when areas in the Flatirons are closed.
funclimbsaroundtheworld.com…

Jurassic park near RMNP offers good TR's when it gets too hot in Boulder.
funclimbsaroundtheworld.com…

Can I add an image tag?

Thanks so far for your help. I forgot about the raptor closures at gregory, how long does it take to walk around the back side and approach the still open pinnacles?

I dont think the Boulderado is very kid friendly being as it is.

Ill have to check out Supremacy Rock, the setting sure sounds good.

Depending on how young the kids are, I'd def stay away from Boulderado! My friends family and mine took our kids to the Riviera a couple summers ago and it was good to go. NTM is decent as well, though hot this time of year and w/o shade...we took a small tent up there.

I'm not sure how far the closings go as I've only climbed in the amp., so I'm pretty sure the 1st and 2nd are closed. When open it's probably about 5 minutes to get around back via the climbers trail.

I think the Riviera might be a good choice, especially with swimming(splashing) in B Creek downtown after.