Mountain Project Logo

Castlewood Canyon - Getting to "Realm of the Venusian Love Goddess"

Original Post
Emma S · · South Denver, CO · Joined Jul 2018 · Points: 24

Trying to find Realm of the Venusian Love Goddess at Castlewood Canyon yesterday but not sure if we were at the correct downclimb.  For folks who have climbed there and used the South Entrance, how did you get there?  The "Getting There" description left us puzzled:

From the main Parking Lot at the Southern entrance, follow the lake gulch trail for several hundred yards. When the trail takes its first left turn an descends head right into the open grass field. There is a faint trail at this juncture. Continue on the open field past the powerline and cut right (NE) to the cliffs. Follow the clifftop until you recognize the signiture detached block of the area. A simple downclimb can be found just SE of the block, ending at the block. Try to minimize impact to these areas when you are doing a bushwhack approach.
Below are photos of the best downclimb we could find (right under the powerlines that span the canyon) which are mentioned in Sherwood Forest's description. Evidently, Sherwood begins at the powerlines but we're not sure where Realm begins. We hiked well past Sherwood and saw some anchor bolts but no downclimb that resembled the description quoted above.

Thanks in advance!

Sherwood Downclimb - photo

Sherwood Downclimb - screenshot

Screenshot of the furthest west we went looking for Realm's downclimb (we thought we were well past the description above).
Isaac Mauro · · Lakewood, CO · Joined Sep 2016 · Points: 0

I don't have an answer to your query, but I have also had problems finding stuff in castlewood the couple times I have been there. What is the suggested guidebook for the area? I have the Denver climbing guide, which kind of sucks, and MP is hit and miss with approach beta.

jleining · · CO · Joined Apr 2007 · Points: 32

pretty sure it is at 39.336280, -104.748164

Mike Lane · · AnCapistan · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 880

Talk about obscure. I haven't been to that crag in at least 8, maybe 10 years. It's kind of a lot of work for a little climbing.
Anyway, once you locate the Corporate Wall just under and East of the power lines, you need to basically travel along the rim West past the powerlines until you come to the next plausible wall. The stuff in between is too short or broken up ledgy. It isn't far, less than 100 yards.
I think there is a ramp that runs north and south between the 2 walls, not exactly sure where it is.
It's good to find it from above first so you can see where anchors have been set

Emma S · · South Denver, CO · Joined Jul 2018 · Points: 24
jleining wrote: pretty sure it is at 39.336280, -104.748164

This is East of the powerlines...  But, that face matches closely to the rest of the description.

Brother Numsie wrote:

Talk about obscure. I haven't been to that crag in at least 8, maybe 10 years. It's kind of a lot of work for a little climbing.
Anyway, once you locate the Corporate Wall just under and East of the power lines, you need to basically travel along the rim West past the powerlines until you come to the next plausible wall. The stuff in between is too short or broken up ledgy. It isn't far, less than 100 yards.
I think there is a ramp that runs north and south between the 2 walls, not exactly sure where it is.
It's good to find it from above first so you can see where anchors have been set

I think this is Sherwood Forest, which matches MP's geolocation for it.

Here's a shot of what I think, based on the totality of MP beta and these comments on where Realm is.  Thoughts?
Emma S · · South Denver, CO · Joined Jul 2018 · Points: 24
Isaac Mauro wrote: I don't have an answer to your query, but I have also had problems finding stuff in castlewood the couple times I have been there. What is the suggested guidebook for the area? I have the Denver climbing guide, which kind of sucks, and MP is hit and miss with approach beta.

I also have the Denver Climbing Guide but it's pretty worthless when it comes to Castlewood Canyon.  For example, it only has two routes on Grocery Store Walls and doesn't even mention Neanderthal Wall.  Tom Hanson is the bloke who developed the vast vast majority of the routes in Castlewood.  His guidebook from 1996 is probably the most complete, although it was published in 1996 and there's a delta of ~140 routes between it and the most recent MP route listing for the Canyon.

Per https://www.mountainproject.com/books/105744319
A Rock Climber's Guide to Castlewood Canyon State Park Colorado
Tom Hanson.The most complete guide to Castlewood Canyon; describes over 300 routes including 100 sport routes.

Available at the Castlewood Canyon Visitors Center or contact:
Tom Hanson
720-220-5736
Mike Lane · · AnCapistan · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 880
Emma S wrote:

This is East of the powerlines...  But, that face matches closely to the rest of the description.

I think this is Sherwood Forest, which matches MP's geolocation for it.

Here's a shot of what I think, based on the totality of MP beta and these comments on where Realm is.  Thoughts?

I had to dig unto the Denver Climbing Guide to remember this. You have Sherwood Forest correct, my description above is wrong. What you labeled as Realm Wall is actually the Corporate Wall. The ROTVLG is another 150M or so west from Sherwood Forest. The Anvil Tower is like a landmark denoting the farthest west of the routes until you turn the corner at S. Canyon Point, where some really good but short winter routes are.

I have a thin veneer of anonymity with my profile here because occasionally I troll. If you want to establish more contact for better beta, post up in the Facebook Denver Social Climbing group.

Also, the Denver Climbing Guide was supposed to be about actual sport routes only. Tom had to contain his beta to those, but if good topropes with anchors were adjacent he'd list them too. This is why the Castlewood section seems incongruous.
He's one of my best friends, but I have critiqued his lack of accurate description for directions to the walls.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Colorado
Post a Reply to "Castlewood Canyon - Getting to "Realm of the Ve…"

Log In to Reply

Join the Community

Create your FREE account today!
Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started.