Help me send the Freerider

I’ve decided I want to give the Freerider a solid ground up free effort in the spring of 2026 and have started building out a rough training plan for it. I live in Colorado Springs and am looking for routes across the front range that would be good trainers for the route as a whole or for specific pitches (ex. The monster off width or enduro corners.) I’m also open to any specific training protocols or skill developments that people would recommend! 

Please chime in with your advice and help me not get thrashed on this goal lol. 

You’re close to the south platte if you’re short on granite climbing experience and wanna get on some similarly textured rock to scope it out. It’s also chock full of boulders of varying type and difficulty for training slab to OW, gear, and whatnot. Also nobody’s ever fuckin’ there.

If you can send .12- in the creek, the Freerider should be easy.

Crack of Fear in Lumpy

Zay in Monterey wrote:

Have you been up El Cap yet?

Not yet, I’ve climbed a few other walls, and am planning a trip to the valley in Oct before going for the Freerider. Probably will do 1 or 2 other routes on El Cap first. 

Ethan Drakewrote:

You’re close to the south platte if you’re short on granite climbing experience and wanna get on some similarly textured rock to scope it out. It’s also chock full of boulders of varying type and difficulty for training slab to OW, gear, and whatnot. Also nobody’s ever fuckin’ there.

Great! I climb here a lot already and have been told it’s a great training ground. 

Try the Teflon, not the boulder.

Practice downclimbing thin left-facing corners.

You'll definitely need a solid partner to keep the psych high when you start to bonk. You're strong, but you'll probably want to work on your endurance and wall-climbing efficiency/tactics. I can help get you there, PM me

I think the best training for free rider in Colorado would be the diamond, black wall on mt Evans and the black canyon. Things on the diamond like the obelisk and D7should be cruiser to have a chance on free rider. I know I number of climbers who were solid 5.12 trad climbers who got shut down on it. If you’re climbing in the platte you should be able to do multiple routes on the cynical pinnacle in a day with daylight to spare. 

Dan Mydanswrote:

I think the best training for free rider in Colorado would be the diamond, black wall on mt Evans and the black canyon. Things on the diamond like the obelisk and D7should be cruiser to have a chance on free rider. I know I number of climbers who were solid 5.12 trad climbers who got shut down on it. If you’re climbing in the platte you should be able to do multiple routes on the cynical pinnacle in a day with daylight to spare. 

I think it’s better to do the free rider to get in shape for the black canyon. 

Sent you a PM. I live in the springs and would be down to train for this goal of you’re looking for a partner. 

The freerider is mostly 5.10-5.11 burly crack climbing with a short boulder crux and a few pitches that cater more to sporty fitness than pure crack technique(enduro corner). You seem plenty strong to give it a good ground up rip.

Just give yourself the most margin you can with your tactics so you can focus on the climbing. Get a good partner, if you’re not having fun you ain’t sending. Dial in your multipitch efficiency and fix and follow tactics. Make sure you plan around the weather. El cap in the blazing sun is a lot hotter than the valley floor. Bring excess water and dial in your 2:1.

Definitely climb some other routes in the valley, but I’d argue that shorter free routes are going to be better prep than aid/frenchfreeing another route on el cap.