Shelf Road Suggestions

Planning on heading to Shelf for the 2nd time since I started sport climbing last spring. When I first visited I climbed at The Bank (Pretty Boy Floyd, Poncho & the 3 Perverts) and Cactus Cliff (Ian's Climb & Alexi's Climb).

I was hoping to get some suggestions on some areas or other routes in the 5.7 - 5.9 range. I've lead a handful of 10's, so if there are any high rated 10's you love, I'm open to hearing about those as well. Thanks in advance for the tips, can't wait to get back to Canon City! 

Cactus cliff i think is the most concentrated area of climbs in that range. Oscar de la cholla and La cholla Jackson were both pretty enjoyable to me. Dihedrus is pretty good. If you can push to 11s that opens up a lot more really good routes.

Thanks, Mike! Cactus Cliff seems to have a ton of options, open to hearing more about somefavorites.

Couple of nice low-end 10s are Black Man’s Burden and Wadsworth Boulevard. Third Stage is another good 10-, but the bolting on that one is a little sporty. 

Spiney Ridge, just past the end of Cactus has 3 routes in that range.  One is a corner that's fun.  Just past those routes is Toxxxic Entertainment which is a super fun 10a.  

Awesome, adding these to my to dos! Thanks again. 

Menses Prow and The Piggy Bank are the best places to go for 5.9 and below. Sunny all day. I recommend:

Menses: First Blood [8], Lamont’s Period [8], Period Epic [9], Prima Nocta [8], Baroque Period [8], Period Piece [7+]. They are all right next to each other.

Plenty of good climbs left at the Piggy Bank for you: Sty in the Sky [9], Crab Nation [10a], Apple Cracks [7], Pink Torpedo [9+], jasonbecker.com [10-], Lefty [9-], Pig City Nights [8], Stranger in Moscow [9], The Don Show [9], B & C [9], Shady Character [10a], Pinon Slalom [9], The Brothel [8], Ladies Night in Buffalo [8+], Heretic [8], Alcohollica [8+].

The Far Side also has plenty of climbs in that range, and is much less crowded. I'd highly recommend it even though it might be slightly less high quality than the other places. Still plenty fun and generally very well bolted. Sunny in the morning, shady in the afternoon.

The best two areas for that are the Bank and Cactus cliff. Here are my 3+ star climbs in that range.

• The Bank
  • 5.10-
    • JasonBecker.com
    • Shady Character
    • New Comer
    • Knot Too Many Roaches
  • 5.9
    • Tired Arms Recovery Program
    • Tough Shed
    • Pinon Slalom
    • Kicker
    • Sty in the Sky
  • 5.7
    • Burnt Toast
• Cactus Cliff
  • 5.10-
    • High Heeled Titty Twister
    • Half Breed
    • Banana Split
  • 5.9
    • Oscar de la Cholla
    • Too much beef and not enough meet
    • The Raven
  • 5.8
    • La Cholla Jackson

Third Stage is 10 b/c, less than vertical on very sharp stone, and quite run out. That being said, it's a  ̶g̶r̶a̶t̶e̶  great line. Blackman's Burden is also pretty run out. Sarah's list is excellent. My experience at Shelf is that a lot of 10s were put up by very good climbers, so the bolting is conservative, as in let's conserve bolts, as opposed to "let's make this safe for less experienced climbers". Before you leave the ground on any climb there, be sure you assess the run outs and make sure they are tolerable for you.

on edit, Jon's is excellent too.

Awesome reviews! Thanks again. Damn, is it Friday yet? 

Actually, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this, but 2150 wall has a bunch of lines 9 to 10-, that are so well bolted that it is annoying. The route 2150 is excellent, though 10+ish.  It had a bolt added, and is no longer dangerous.

Menses Prow is great, there's also a climb called block party that's super fun on the other side of the canyon from menses