trying to not die at garden of the gods

seeking opinions/ideas for where to find the balance between good routes with good protection at GOTG 

thoughts?

New Era sews up nicely, at least the first pitch. Most of the moderates seem to protect well.  Have not climbed very high grades there but GOTG certainly has some sketchy routes if you want them.  

What grades? Sport or trad?

Bob's Buttress Crack, Credibility Gap, Alligator Soup, Mighty Thor, Diesel and Dust, Anaconda p1, Rainbow Bridge, Men at Work, Grapefruit Dance. All well protected on solid stone (for the Garden)

prefer trad:: 5.fun!- mid 11s
    happy to get on anything that climbs well in range and have a good time

sport is cool too if its safely bolted (looks like some things are protected w/pins and have questionable anchors?)

many year ago when I climbed there I remember feeling like most of the routes where questionably protected...but that may be part of the adventure...a beautiful place to climb...Also some great stuff not far away in South Platte 

Luna, that soft, red rock just isn't the best rock out there to hold a hard fall. Nuts and cams in it are highly suspect. Get out of Garbage of the Gods and head to Turkey Rocks or some other S. Platte destination for trad climbing. Have you been to Parachute Rock yet? It's near Woodland Park. Also, check out Tanner Dome and Voyager.

The sport routes on the east side of South Gateway Rock are reasonably protected.  In general, if you're that concerned about iffy protection (trad or sport), I'd suggest not climbing at Garden of the Choss. :)

I hear you guys, turkey rocks is GREAT..  I haven't been to Parachute Rock, maybe I'll check it out during the week next week.  Call me stubborn, call me a choss chaser (I personally prefer eye of the choss) but I like to form the opinion for myself.  

Doug: thanks, east side.. reasonably protected

stich:  suspsect protection.. or no protection? ill take suspect protection on routes at/BELOW grade and... uh.. not fall?  

its just too pretty and outstanding of a location to never climb there at all

Ended up doing a bunch of sport routes and trad lines around new era.  Some.. 100% inadvisable to fall.  Some were great.  New era was great to the top. Worth it. 

End of an Era is one you don't want to fall on after the first bolt. If you don't clip the second, I think a groundfall is possible. Jim Donnini retrobolted the start of Alligator Soup and made it fun, whereas in the past it was a horror show. I enjoy leading that now.

yeah.. I "borrowed" a bolt from end to end to not feel so close to death on end of an era.  end to end felt like a much more enjoyable route in my opinion.

Luna Luna wrote:

Ended up doing a bunch of sport routes and trad lines around new era.  Some.. 100% inadvisable to fall.  Some were great.  New era was great to the top. Worth it. 

congrats on finding the good climbing at GoG!

Luna Luna wrote:

yeah.. I "borrowed" a bolt from end to end to not feel so close to death on end of an era.  end to end felt like a much more enjoyable route in my opinion.

Oh, I clip two or three bolts on End to End myself when I lead that. Then I go back to the arete to finish up. It turns the climbing into 5.9, but it's much safer.

Go climb Footloose 'n Fancy Free on the west side.

Rob Scrivner wrote:

Go climb Footloose 'n Fancy Free on the west side.

Seeing as how someone has actually died on that route, I don't know if I would recommend to OP. 

Glenn Schuler wrote:

Seeing as how someone has actually died on that route, I don't know if I would recommend to OP. 

If you use this rubric to choose climbs in the Garden, you aren't gonna be doing much climbing in the Garden.

Beth, If you knew some of the things Glenn has done you probably would not have made that comment.

I thin the walk off kindergarten walk is potentially more dangerous than the way up.  Another thing at gotg that is not intrinsically difficult... just downright sketchy and dangerous 

Kevinmurray wrote:

Beth, If you knew some of the things Glenn has done you probably would not have made that comment.

Sorry if my flippant comment touched a nerve, but it behooves people to realize that the Garden is a dangerous place, even for an inherently dangerous sport. It's my home crag, and I learned to climb there, but I know that it's dangerous and shitty.