South Platte Slab Practice Crags

Hey all, I’d like to work my way up to some of the heady Splatte slab classics (bishop jaggers, topo oceans, ramblin rose etc) but would prefer to get some practice before I go on the sharp end. Any toprope or well-protected lead areas you can think of that fit this bill would be greatly appreciated!

pleasure dome in wonderland is a great spot with easier slab

Once your feeling ready to lead some South Platte slab, I think sheeprock is a great place to start for nicely bolted moderates like fractured fairytales, roottotop, or sweet cigarillo are all fun. And edit since I checked your ticks and you seem to climb some good hard stuff, recommending Knossos as the best slab climb for you to do at sheeprock 

Hey Lang, Wonderland is a great spot for that. A Day at the Cafe is a good volume trainer, but nothing (other than the 12) is hard enough to prepare you for those lines, moreso just a general slab tune-up and efficiency check. The nearby Tiger Stripe Slab is probably your best difficulty trainer for those routes, specifically Richard Parker's Risky Partner is an excellent Topo Oceans crux pitch trainer, with similar bolting and being slightly harder but slightly shorter. If you need to get your mental in order, Buckaroo Slabs is probably the most dense option for routes with some honest bolt spacing, with most routes looking like 80ft and 3-6 bolts. I don't think the anchors are necessarily super cozy to walk-up TR, but there are plenty of trees above you can use to rap in to the anchors to then TR. 

Pleasure Dome has many longer, easier lines with consistently more spaced bolting a la classic Platte lines as well, with Poker Face having been recently rebolted and actually originally established around the time those lines were. Nathan Brown's nearby "Pucker Face" is the ultimate head-game sign off as I believe it's 5.9, 150ft and 4 bolts. Honestly, in general Pleasure Dome has a super high concentration of the sort of mixed trad/slab climbing that crops up in those routes and would be good practice - if you can do Reach Around clean on lead, you've likely got any of those 3 lines in the bag technically, physically, and mentally, and P2 and P3 have pretty easy walk-up TR access for practicing.

While Sheeprock is incredible climbing, a lot of the slab there is much more edging and knob climbing than the routes you mentioned, while Wonderland has a bit more of the "smedging" those lines are known for (barring Ramblin Rose). If we get an actual winter this year, Wonderland will be the better candidate weather-wise, with most of the routes being SW facing. It also has the benefit of a significantly shorter drive and approach. That being said, Sheeprock kicks the shit out of Wonderland in basically every other way other than "likelihood of accidentally or maybe not-so-accidentally being shot at", so certainly worth checking out while the season is still in - especially with all of the rebolting/retrobolting work Ken and Rich have done there in the last couple of years. Good routes in particular would be Fields of Clover (Ramblin Rose Corner pitch), Buffalo Soldier, and Knossos as mentioned. Scatterbrain is a great litmus from a slab standpoint, as if you can stomach the climbing and runouts on that, you'll be fine for the slab climbing on any of those routes. That being said, the bolting on it is a bit fucky with the bolts often being at pretty bad stances, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to climb Buffalo Solider to the Scatterbrain anchors and hang draws on the way down (and give yourself a B1 pre-clip) before attempting a lead.

Two Jews Blues is of course a no-brainer for the tune-up as well, great route in it's own right and is probably the best pure-friction practice around. A lot of what folks refer to as "friction slab" around is absolutely not, but a lot of P1 on this truly is.

Wow thank you Tal! You’re the man. Thanks everyone else also

i wouldn't really call two jews blues a practice route, and it would be a bit of work to TR it. if you are looking for slab routes that are generally friction and fairly easy to access the top, i would look at atlantis slab, murphy dome, etc in that area. you might need two ropes to TR from a top anchor, or maybe rap in from a gear anchor to access a bolted anchor (and run to the top to retrieve the trad anchor at the end of the day).

slim wrote:

i wouldn't really call two jews blues a practice route, and it would be a bit of work to TR it. if you are looking for slab routes that are generally friction and fairly easy to access the top, i would look at atlantis slab, murphy dome, etc in that area. you might need two ropes to TR from a top anchor, or maybe rap in from a gear anchor to access a bolted anchor (and run to the top to retrieve the trad anchor at the end of the day).

That’s actually a great call slim, might be taking for granted how hard it is. Is Borneo slab a decent choice? That’s the only formation I haven’t been to over there but I know the bolting is modern and top access is reasonable

Tal is spot on with the Wonderland reccomendations as well as Two Jews Blues. Most importantly, differentiating between friction slab found on the first pitch of bishop jaggers/topo & the knob climbing at Sheep Rock.

While not exactly a practice climb, Two Jews Blues is better protected than alot of the old school slabs. I chose to do that as a guage of competence prior to Bishop Jaggers and I thought it was perfect. If you can get up the first pitch of TJB you can do the run out on Bishop P1!

I thought Borneo was great, well protected 5.10 slab climbing and worth a quick after work trip. I'll also throw in that the routes on the back of Java Dome are great TR's for harder slab climbing where you look at the bolts below you and wonder how puckered you'd feel leading.

Have fun! Slab climbing in The Platte is the best of adventures!

For really easy access look at Angle Iron Slabs. Yea, it’s small, short and right off the road, but very convenient and easy to set up TR’s with a 70m rope. Going between the listed climbs allows for some more difficult climbing. It faces south and is good in the winter. Note that this formation is included in the raptor closure usually starting March 1st even though it’s right at the road.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105826826/angle-iron-slabs.

Java Dome (N Face), as mentioned above, is a great practice area. To set TR’s, scramble up from the left or lead an easy route. It’s easy to traverse the top ledge to transfer between anchors. Note that some/most routes are longer than 115 ft and require two ropes, or in some cases an 80m may work. Faces north and best in the spring and fall. Also, the approach requires some 3rd class scrambling which is a bit sketchy.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106833924/north-face.

Also check out Jazz Dome (SE face) which is near Java Dome.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106739869/jazz-dome.

Kent Pease wrote:

...

Also check out Jazz Dome (SE face) which is near Java Dome.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106739869/jazz-dome.

I can second Jazz Dome. On the left side, there are several climbs that share the same set of anchors. You can climb a 5.8+ (not 100% slab) and then setup a top rope for the harder lines (up to 5.10a, pure friction slab). We used two ropes. Beware of poison ivy at the base.

hi tal, i am not sure if i have climbed at borneo slab. it has been a long time since i have been in that area, and the stuff on MP doesn't look familiar.

another area i thought of that is kind of cool, but could be getting out of season a bit (can be difficult approach after snow) is the kennels area near scorpio dome.  i remember there being some fun routes there. IIRC stewart green may have added it to his second edition of rock climbing colorado.