Observations of an outsider climbing the Front Range...

So my week-long trip to Estes Park went well. Not perfect, but we had several days with more than 700 feet of climbing. Climbed 3 days in Lumpy, two days in CCC and 1 day in Eldo...one day we did Mt Ida in the park (non-climbing). Got rained off for a short day at Lumpy as well.

It had been 2008 since my last visit.

Some of the things I noticed were great, some not so great and some were just plain weird. In no particular order

• Twin Owls parking lot is now closed, approach time about doubled to The Book area
• Chappaqua parking lot is always full, no matter the time of day you happen by
• there is always construction going on in Eldo, don't know how the residents put up with it. Hasn't changed in 10 years.
• If you climb during the week, there are NO PEOPLE in either Lumpy or Eldo??? What is up with that? We had the Book to ourselves for the whole day on Tuesday. Thursday we did the Yellow Spur and we only saw four other groups of climbers...Grandmother's Challenge and I think Rewritten. One soloist on what appeared to be Hair City on the Bastille and then two groups lined up for YS.
• We climbed in Golden twice, once at tunnel 5, once at tunnel two (Creekside?)  There were a ton of people...I mean waiting in line for a route, tripping over people. This was on a Monday and Friday. The routes were OK, but nothing compared to the routes we did in Eldo and Lumpy. Strangest thing I ever saw. Its like they didn't know there were other places to climb. We were climbing there as a rest day  LOL.
• BoCan has a lot of homeless people hanging around in the pullovers, I didn't dare leave the car to climb, drove to Golden.  
• I really like Estes Park Brewery and Left Hand Brewing.
• Waking up early and having some Peet's coffee and watching the sun light up Longs Peak and the diamond is a special kind of treat I could watch every day.
• I really need more finger sized cams
• 70 meter ropes are the way to go

I'm not all that familiar with CO areas (been to Lumpy / Eldo couple of times years ago; never climbed in Golden) but it sort of sounds like the "if-it's-more-than-15min-walk, or we actually have to walk in the woods on a climber's path not a trail, then-there's mostly-no-one-there-effect".

Funny you mention the homeless in BoCan and not wanting to leave your car. I have heard of way more people getting their car broken into in Clear Creek Canyon than BoCan. And yes, Eldo is where it's at on weekdays!

Buck Rio wrote: Waking up early and having some Peet's coffee and watching the sun light up Longs Peak and the diamond is a special kind of treat I could watch every day.

that's exactly how i ended up in CO...though mine was the flatirons...

Eldo & Lumpy are trad areas, while Clear Creek in Golden is primarily sport – I think that explains the difference in crowds more than the approaches or anything else.

Clear Creek is an afterwork or before work place for a lot of people in Denver where the other two places you mentioned would not be possible.
 It's also full of moderate sport.

And no Robert that is not the case. Because both locations buck climbed are signed and maintained trails. Creekside is a climbers trail.

Edit to add: There's two sport multipitch 5.8s at creekside, I've never seen a line for anything but those. 

Mike wrote:
Edit to add: There's two sport multipitch 5.8s at creekside, I've never seen a line for anything but those.

FYI - i don' think Buck was actually at creek side. creek side is by tunnel 6. he was at tunnel 2, so likely wall of the 90s, mission wall etc...

We did a link up of two different routes called Playing Hooky. I thought it was on tunnel five, but that was my first time there.

Monday we did an area called Cat slabs and High Wire.

Buck Rio wrote: We did a link up of two different routes called Playing Hooky. I thought it was on tunnel two, but that was my first time there.

ah ok.  so you were at creek side (tunnel 6). you're correct, this is a super popular area any day of the week (playin hooky is probably the most popular route in the canyon).

Since I was driving, my navigator was more familiar with the names of the areas and what routes he wanted to climb....I am a traddie, and was just climbing there as a break from Lumpy. I know we climbed Cat Slabs, High Wire and Playing Hooky. We also stopped at the first pull off area and climbed two routes but it was such a zoo we had to leave....some of the worst belay techniques I have ever seen...and people complaining about RUNOUTS?????  There is a bolt every 4 feet.  There is a cement wall there.

T G wrote: Eldo seems to go through a yearly cycle where it's super crowded early in the season– even during the week– but then the crowds die down by late summer and into autumn. It's often too hot to climb past 10am in the summer, but I've never understood why crowds don't pick up again in the fall. Pretty nice that way. 

Climbing in Eldo is magical and spooky. It is the first place I climbed outside of Minnesota, Calypso or Wind Ridge IIRC. Lots of loose rock, tricky pro and loud river. Perfect for me.

I think most people like the IDEA of trad climbing, but find they don't like DOING it much and are glad when its over. Then they go back to CCC.

Buck Rio wrote:We also stopped at the first pull off area and climbed two routes but it was such a zoo we had to leave....some of the worst belay techniques I have ever seen...and people complaining about RUNOUTS?????  There is a bolt every 4 feet.  There is a cement wall there.

That was Canal Zone.

 In Clear Creek you went to the four busiest places on the planet. That’s because the climber factories require climbers to go there when they first get their outdoor card.   There are several climber factories nearby including one only five minutes away.  These climbers must spend endless days fumbling around, group top roping gang bangs, tripping over dogs, and hearing crying babies.  If they complain about runouts they are sent back to the gym to do 1000 top ropes. If they can manage these crags successfully, they are allowed to post up offering beer for a trad mentor. 

"I really like Estes Park Brewery" bleh...  Did you try Rock Cut?

"climber factories".

hahahaha.

Bob . wrote: "I really like Estes Park Brewery" bleh...  Did you try Rock Cut?

Or any other brewery? EP brewery is kind of horrible compared to everything else that you could drink in Colorado.

It’s kind of hilarious how people are critiquing your vacation - apparently you visited the wrong crags and drank the wrong beer! That’s very Colorado right there. It has changed a lot in the past 10 years - CCC has seen huge increases in traffic. I think the homeless people in BoCan are pretty harmless for the most part. Glad you enjoyed your trip - sounds like you got some great climbing in! 

Yeah, I had a pretty similar experience when I visited over the summer.  Did not get the big deal about CCC...big crowds and meh climbing, but I didn’t get on a ton before we got rained out.  Boulder Canyon was actually really cool, though...and no homeless people when I was there.  Have been to Eldo before but didn’t make it this trip, but we did get to Lumpy, which was fantastic.  How someone could live in Boulder and not get into trad climbing is beyond me.

Kate Sedrowski wrote: Eldo & Lumpy are trad areas, while Clear Creek in Golden is primarily sport – I think that explains the difference in crowds more than the approaches or anything else.

+1

ErikaNW wrote: It’s kind of hilarious how people are critiquing your vacation - apparently you visited the wrong crags and drank the wrong beer! That’s very Colorado right there.

Yeah, Buck. You screwed up big time. You should really work on that for your next trip.

The new parking at lumpy ads .6 miles each way...

As noted canal zone, high wire, cat slab, and creekside are probably some of the busiest climbing areas in the country. If you can climb 11+ though there is no wait for routes.

Estes Park brewery and Peet's coffee though...

Sounds like you had a good time. Yellow spur is a great route.