Castlewood Canyon - Getting to "Realm of the Venusian Love Goddess"
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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). |
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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. |
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pretty sure it is at 39.336280, -104.748164 |
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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. |
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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. 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? |
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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/105744319A 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 |
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Emma S wrote: 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. |