Colorado/Utah trip planning - help?

Hey all.

I'm flying into Denver from the UK next Thursday (only for a week) and I still don't have any idea what I'm doing for the majority of my trip. Wondered if anyone with local knowledge could share some experiences/thoughts?

I'll be bringing climbing gear, but don't think I want my trip based around climbing as you tend to stay in a small area all day. What I do like the idea of, is scrambling, strenuous hiking and generally being on an epic adventure.

So Fri/Sat I'll be attending Red Rocks in the evening - so I'm probably going to head to the Flatirons one day and somewhere else the next for a spot of climbing.

Sunday-Thursday I'm so torn. When I booked the trip, I was hellbent on driving down to Zion, it looks insane. But Colorado is an absolutely beautiful state, and I feel maybe my time's better spent there. Utah looks like a great state, but I feel like I'm drawn more to the mountainous scenery of Colorado, rather than the canyons etc of Utah (with the exception of Zion).

Sorry for the vagueness - I'm really struggling with this. With only 4-5 free days, would you spend time in Colorado? I really appreciate any replies.

With only 4-5 days available, don’t go to Zion - you’ll burn two days of driving. It’s about 10 hrs from Denver. 

The timing of your trip is problematic. If you do decide to go to Utah, which isn’t a bad choice, don’t drive, fly. Driving will be a royal waste of your time.

Like TG mentioned, the higher elevations is still covered with tons of snow. So the really fun, epic scrambling and hiking is only doable if you want to bring/rent a bunch of gear for winter-like conditions. Right now I’m sitting in Denver in a t-shirt, but just last Friday I was in full long underwear, fleece layer, windshell, ski goggles, and insulated ski pants, snowshoeing my way to 4000+ meters. But if you want to deal with the hassle of packing a bunch of winter clothes, it is beautiful up there with all that snow. And it is much less crowded right now compare to summer. Photo below is from last Friday at around 4000 meters. You can see all the peaks are still covered in snow.

Matt Cooper wrote: Hey all.

I'll be bringing climbing gear, but don't think I want my trip based around climbing as you tend to stay in a small area all day. What I do like the idea of, is scrambling, strenuous hiking and generally being on an epic adventure.

So Fri/Sat I'll be attending Red Rocks in the evening - so I'm probably going to head to the Flatirons one day and somewhere else the next for a spot of climbing.

Sunday-Thursday I'm so torn. When I booked the trip, I was hellbent on driving down to Zion, it looks insane. But Colorado is an absolutely beautiful state, and I feel maybe my time's better spent there. Utah looks like a great state, but I feel like I'm drawn more to the mountainous scenery of Colorado, rather than the canyons etc of Utah (with the exception of Zion).

"climbing gear"?  You mean a full trad rack?   If so, skip the Flatirons and go to Eldorado Springs Canyon.   The other place I'd recommend is Lumpy Ridge in Rock Mountain National Park.  Good views, long routes, and plenty of scrambles, although you'll need snow shoes or skis if you want to get up high.  

As other have said, driving to Utah wastes two days.  And I'm not sure what you're doing for a partner...

Utah and CO aint that close. Especially the Denver area to Zion is faaaarrrrrr. This aint some euro transit world, this is the WILD WEST BABY!! YEE HAW!!

Luckily for you, both states have 245,890 life times worth of climbing and epic things to see/do. 

With minimal gear you could climb in CCC.

If I only had a couple of days, I would probably concentrate on sport climbing. Clear Creek Canyon has a TON of routes, and you would easily find a partner to climb with. Harness and a rack of draws. Flatirons are cool, and you could solo the first and third, just bring a rope for the rappel. Eldo is not a place I would recommend for tourists just breezing through. It is a serious place to climb, with run outs, tricky pro and route finding challenges. Getting down is often difficult (try finding the Vertigo raps)

Buck Rio wrote: With minimal gear you could climb in CCC.

If I only had a couple of days, I would probably concentrate on sport climbing. Clear Creek Canyon has a TON of routes, and you would easily find a partner to climb with. Harness and a rack of draws. Flatirons are cool, and you could solo the first and third, just bring a rope for the rappel. 

FYI, I believe the third is closed for birds. Look into that stuff before climbing in CO

Appreciate the input so far. Has given me a lot to think about. My younger brother's tagging along so he'll be climbing with me (and yes, bringing a full trad rack+60m rope).

Shame about the snow - that didn't even cross my mind. That's my ignorance after such a lackluster winter over here. I've done a fair few trips but I'm not sure I'm confident enough tackling snow alone somewhere I'm unfamiliar with. That was a stunning view you had there, aikibujin.

Flatirons are a must do for me - it isn't hard climbing but they look like great, fast fun that's easy. P1-2 on the First looks hell a runout though! You're right Mike, Third is unfortunately closed right now.

Buck - good to hear your thoughts on Eldo. Having looked at it before it did look a bit daunting in that sense - seems knowledge of the place would be pretty helpful. Especially as I will be relying on Moutain Project and not a guidebook. Clear Creek Canyon looks like a great spot and there's definitely some routes I've got my eyes on already.

If anyone has any input on Eldo then I'm all ears - it looks awesome. Or any other crags for that matter.

T G - Really dig your idea of renting a MTB, but the car won't be able to carry them. Shame as that'd be great fun.

Can anyone recommend any favourite areas to 'get off the floor' in Utah? From what I can see, a lot of it seems to be flat desert floor with huge inaccessible features randomly appearing (correct me if I'm wrong). It looks amazing, but I would love to hike/scramble some vertical feet (without it being a technical climb), and that was part of the allure of Zion. Start on the canyon floor and hike up to observation point. There are also some pretty cool looking peaks for scrambling, outside of the popular canyon area.

Again, thanks.

Utahs trail running/ scrambling is amazing my man... Zion has two wildly popular hikes "Tourist Landing" and Observation Point? not sure on that one. Wildly popular bc they are great fun. Too bad they get insane crowds at times. I stay out of Zion tbh, go to Arches and Moab, way more wilderness to explore and lose the huge crowds.

Clear Creek Canyon is an awful place to get a good "vibe" for Colorado.  Unless deafening noise from gravel trucks is your idea of wilderness.  Eldo and the Flatirons are way better.  And Lumpy would be a great choice.  

Jon Hillis wrote: I stay out of Zion tbh, go to Arches and Moab, way more wilderness to explore and lose the huge crowds.

And 5 hours closer. 

OP: remember, if you only have 4 days free, you're going to lose half of that driving to and from Zion. Even just going to Moab is going to wipe out a full day for the round trip drive.

Matt Cooper wrote: Can anyone recommend any favourite areas to 'get off the floor' in Utah? From what I can see, a lot of it seems to be flat desert floor with huge inaccessible features randomly appearing (correct me if I'm wrong).

It's not easy to give an all-encompassing answer to that as it's so dependent on where. In some places your assessment is correct - and wildly inaccurate in other areas.

Again, because of your limited time, I really recommend against your going to Utah.

Flying across an ocean and half a continent to climb in Clear Creek is like me going to Paris and eating at Mickey D’s.

Eldo is pretty,unique, dramatic...just don’t push the grades there.

FYI you can fly to Moab from DIA now if you just have to hit that John Ford country. But a car rental there is definitely gonna set you back.

If you really want to do Eldo, Bastille is easy to get down from, you just walk off the back and there is a trail. Bastille Crack is polished, so be careful getting established in the crack. Blind Faith is really good for 5.10a, Werk Supp is fun, bring big pro for the top. Wind Tower has a bunch of easy(5.6-5.10) climbs and has a walk off after the second pitch. Tagger is a really fun route, but I found the first pitch a bit spicy, with small gear.

I love Eldorado, it just has a certain chossiness to it, and getting down off of Redgarden Wall can be confusing if you aren't familiar.

Lumpy is in Estes Park, but is a fun place to climb, with 2-5 pitch routes. If you want a wild adventure, climb Kor's Crack, start early, it is a long hike in, and the start (for me) was hard to find.

Otto’s route is a pile.  4th-class ramp/gullies to weird drilled holes. It has a certain historical appeal but tough to argue for the quality of the climbing. It is, however, on the co plateau and in that sense is like u-taw with better beer. 

If he's been climbing trad in the UK, I'm sure he will do fine in Eldo. Just use common sense and don't push your grade or choose anything with a sketchy rating as the first climb you do there.

What trad grade are you climbing? I’ll give you some recommendations for good trad routes in The Flattys, Eldorado and Lumpy.
Mal

Malcolm Daly wrote: What trad grade are you climbing? I’ll give you some recommendations for good trad routes in The Flattys, Eldorado and Lumpy.
Mal

Kinda hard to tell as I've never climbed under YDS before, but probably going to limit it to 5.8-5.9 as my second isn't a particularly strong climber. That is, assuming the conversion tables from UK Trad grade to YDS are actually correct?

On Lumpy Ridge:
Batman and Robin>Hand Over Hand 5.6-5.7
Pear Buttress 5.8
Mainliner 5.9

Eldorado
Werks Up P1-5.8 P2-5.9
Touch and Go 5.8
Ruper 5.8
Icarus/Daedalus 5.7
Rewritten 5.7
Reggae 5.8
1st Flatiron
East Face 
Bakers Way
Fandango
The Spy !!!
Climb Safe,Mal

Malcolm Daly wrote: On Lumpy Ridge:
Batman and Robin>Hand Over Hand 5.6-5.7
Pear Buttress 5.8
Mainliner 5.9

Eldorado
Werks Up P1-5.8 P2-5.9
Touch and Go 5.8
Ruper 5.8
Icarus/Daedalus 5.7
Rewritten 5.7
Reggae 5.8
1st Flatiron
East Face 
Bakers Way
Fandango
The Spy !!!

Climb Safe,Mal 

2 of the 3 listed routes for lumpy are closed.

Malcolm Daly wrote: On Lumpy Ridge:
Batman and Robin>Hand Over Hand 5.6-5.7
Pear Buttress 5.8
Mainliner 5.9

Eldorado
Werks Up P1-5.8 P2-5.9
Touch and Go 5.8
Ruper 5.8
Icarus/Daedalus 5.7
Rewritten 5.7
Reggae 5.8
1st Flatiron
East Face 
Bakers Way
Fandango
The Spy !!!

Climb Safe,Mal

Mal, the descent from anywhere on Redgarden can be tricky. Finding the rappels is not straightforward, and can involve un-roped class 4 scrambling

Anything on Lumpe Tower I prefer the walk off, climbers left and then down, there is a trail of sorts. Tower one, I have always used the Vertigo raps, but they are hard to find for a tourist.

from the MP description:

It would be wise to plan your descents before you leave the ground since none are completely obvious.  Many of the lines that go to the top can be descended with at least 4 methods.  1) You can rappel the Swanson Arete or Dirty Deed rappels with double ropes.  2) You can downscramble the East Slabs Descent (plan - to be fleshed out with its own separate description)  low 4th class- note this is exposed, lengthy, and particularly slippery when wet.  You may wind up a long way from your gear and comfortable shoes.  Also, the last bit can be challenging in the spring with a wet slab finish or funky downclimb down a chimney. 3) you can rappel the Chockstone Chimney rappels which take you to the top of the Upper Ramp or Meadows.  Here, you can rappel the Vertigo rappels (60m or 2 ropes) or carefully descend the Upper Meadows to the rappels below The Naked Edge.  4) You perform the lengthy traverse W or left off the top going to the top of Redgarden Wall around Hot Spur and into the 3rd class+ gully.

For a person with limited time that wants maximum vertical, I would not climb RG wall, even though it has some of the best routes I have ever climbed. That eliminates some really good climbs (Rewritten, Icarus, Ruper, Touch and Go).

Werk Supp is on Bastille and Reggae is on Wind Tower, two really easy places to find and get down from. They both have classic lines that are well protected (with gear). I would concentrate on finding lines you want to do on those formations.  

First Flatiron is open, Mal made many good recommendations, they are easy to find, get down from.

Flatiron raptor nesting closure:  ​City of Boulder​​​
Lefthand Canyon Palisades, at the intersection of Lefthand Canyon Drive and Olde Stage Road (Buckingham Picnic area remains open).

• Mount Sanitas Summit, south of the Mt. Sanitas East Ridge Trail, east of Mt. Sanitas Trail (both trails remain open).
• May’s Point cliff, May’s Point Trail will remain open.
• Flagstaff Mountain, the north side of Flagstaff Mountain. The Boy Scout Trail remains open.
• Third Flatiron, including Queen Anne’s Head, W.C Fields Pinnacle, 1911 Gully and the Ghetto, the East Bench & West Bench, the East & West Ironing Boards, The Fin, Green Thumb and Jaws.
• Skunk Canyon, including Ridges 2, 3 and 4, the Aechean Pronouncement, the Dreadnaught, the North Ridge and the entirety of Sacred Cliffs.
• Bear Creek Spire and Der Freischutz, including Frankenstein's Castle, The Bubble, Der Freischutz, Southern Dinosaur Egg, Northern Dinosaur Egg, north of Bear Canyon Trail (the designated Bear Canyon hiking trail remains open). 
• The Back Porch and The Box.
• Fern Canyon, north of the Fern Canyon Trail, including the Nebel Horn Ridge, East Ridge, the Goose and the Goose Eggs (the designated Fern Canyon hiking trail remains open).
• Shadow Canyon, the Matron and the Wings: The Maiden remains open and accessible from the east; Shadow Canyon Trail remains open.
• The entire Mickey Mouse wall, including South Tower, North Tower, Central Tower, Ship's Prow, Wall of Shiva's Dance, The Gargoyle, the East Face and Cryptic Crags.