PRINT: Rock Climb Rush Buick, Eldorado Canyon State Park

Rush Buick

5.7, Trad,

Avg: 2.1 from 68 votes
FA: Jim Erickson, John Behrens, 1969.
Colorado > Boulder > Eldorado Canyon SP > Hawk-Eagle Ridge

Access Issue: 2023 Seasonal Closures - lifted Details

Update: as of 6/7/23 per Mike McHugh, ECSP: all closures have been lifted within Eldorado Canyon State Park, including Continental Crag.

Crags on Eldorado Mountain, such as Mickey Mouse wall and Cryptic Crags, are outside of park boundaries and may still be subject to Boulder County closures.

Previously in 2023: per M. McHugh, ECSP: the upper loop of the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail, above the Crags Hotel Ruin, & the
Continental Divide Overlook, is closed effective immediately. This included Continental Crag.

These areas are closed to all activities, including rock climbing & hiking, through 7/15 or until further notice, to protect nesting golden eagles on the S side of the canyon.

Golden Eagles are protected by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under authority of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. A conviction of nest disturbance can carry a fine to $5,000 & one year imprisonment.

See the map in the photo section for terrain closure.

Previous years: per Dustin Bergman, CO State Parks Officer #770, ECSP:

Seasonal Raptor Closures
Check Park site for current closures:
cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/…

For more info visit:
cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/…

Double check prior to venturing there. Thanks!

Access Issue: Turkey Vulture nesting closure - now lifted Details

Per Dustin Bergman, State Parks Officer, ECSP (1/30/21): the Hawk Eagle closures are lifted!

Attention: CLOSURE - the Eldorado Canyon SP staff has placed a closure for a confirmed turkey vulture nesting as of 7/3/20. This applies to Heart of Gold, Rush Buick, Emergency Brake, The Squeamish, and Nobody's Home.

As of 9/13/19, the turkey vulture closure was lifted. The nest is empty.

Attention: the Eldorado Canyon SP staff has informed us that Heart of Gold, Rush Buick, Emergency Brake, Nobody's Home, and The Squeamish are closed until further notice for turkey vulture nesting. Please respect this closure. This notice came out Aug. 22, 2019.

Description

Attention: CLOSURE - the Eldorado Canyon SP staff has placed a closure for a confirmed turkey vulture nesting as of 7/3/20.

The route starts near the upper section of the ridge. Pass by the [prominent] roof (described in the rock section) and continue up the gully past some chossy cliffs. The upper section will be apparent when some reasonable looking routes start appearing. As the gully steepens, the trail turns from grass/dirt to more talus and scree. Before the very top of the ridge, the trail turns to rock slabs. Before this section, about 50-60m down the hill, look for a bolted arete and a right-facing dihedral. Rush Buick takes the dihedral.

Whew...If you manage to locate the route, you'll have some fun. There are two cruxes on the route--the first is negotiating the first bulge, then 10m later, another bulge. Some fun liebacking/stemming gets you through these sections up to an easy ramp. Take the ramp up 15m to a belay on the right with a bunch of slings. Rap 100' to the ground from here.

I hesitated giving this route two stars, but it was just long enough with an excellent crack. Maybe 1.75 stars. ;-)

Descent

Slings have appeared from time to time for a rappel descent. Alternatively, you can traverse to and rappel off the Heart of Gold anchors. Finally, you can rappel of the Nobody's Home anchors.

Eds. apparently now there is a bolted anchor.

Protection

A standard rack up to #3 Friend. Either a 60m rope or double ropes are required to rap back down.

Per Carl Sampurna: there's now a two-bolt anchor at the top.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Rush Buick climbs the right-facing corner; Heart of Gold breaks left and climbs a steep bolted face. The bolt on the right is on Emergency Brake.<br>
<br>
There is NO rap anchor atop Rush Buick; bring slings and rings and try to find a place for a rap anchor after 70', or be prepared to climb to the top of the ridge and exit to the left.

Rush Buick climbs the right-facing corner; Heart of Gold breaks left and climbs a steep bolted face. The bolt on the right is on Emergency Brake. There is NO rap anchor atop Rush Buick; bring s…

CM in the middle of the pitch.

A fine pitch.

Looking up the the route Rush Buick

Bolt anchors up high on the left were nice to have.

January Playmate is the crack on the left....

"THE SLINGS ARE BREAKING!" <br>
Just kidding.

"THE SLINGS ARE BREAKING!" Just kidding.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

George Bell
Boulder, CO

I actually thought this route was pretty good, 3 stars! If the approach was as short as Calypso it would be as popular. Aug 7, 2001

Scott Conner
Lyons, CO

How about 2.5 stars. 5.7 corners don't get much better than this. I look forward to doing this route again but the approach was kinda crummy. Fun route, though. Mar 14, 2002

Kevin Currigan
Lakewood

Nice solid route. It could use a new rap sling and removing about half of the six that are there would make it easier to clip. The existing slings look pretty weathered. Apr 2, 2002

pete cogan

New sling added 10/12/02. Fun route. Oct 12, 2002

Ivan Rezucha
Fort Collins, CO

This route is easy to find using the picture below.

Rating history:In the 1970 High Over Boulder and Ament's 1972 "5.10" this is rated 5.4!In Ament's 1980 "Eldorado" it's rated 5.5 or 5.6.In Erickson's 1980 Rocky Heights it's rated 5.6. Nov 11, 2002

Tonya Clement
Boulder, CO

My partner and I climbed on Saturday, April 6th just before the snowfall. Great ridge in the winter...no wind and we had the warmth of the sun (probably 45 degrees in Boulder). We didn't have too much trouble finding the route...just make sure you get off the East Slab [descent] trail early and head towards the ridge. We went a bit high and had to back track as we weren't certain we could cross over from high up. The actual route was easy to spot thanks to the picture posted by Scott : - ).

As a semi new leader it felt all of 5.7 (and a tiny bit harder than Calypso) because the crux is so close to the ground. It did protect...this I know because I sewed it up. There is a good sequence that took me a while to figure out but once you get it...it is so fun. It was just not obvious at first. I used every small cam on my rack.

Once finished you can top rope a fun 5.9+ just to the right. Oh, we cut out one of the old crusty slings and added a new one.

I will go back and do it again. It is unique but aren't they all? Apr 7, 2003

Kenny Gruchalla
Denver, CO

Nice varied moderate. There is rap station 80' up the route (a slung horn on the right side of the ramp) allowing for a single (50 m) rope rappel. Jun 3, 2003

rob.calm
Loveland, CO

I climbed the route today and the slings were gone from the horn that's been used for about 20 years to rappel. Maybe just as well as the structual integrity of the horn seems [questionable]. As far I can figure, this leaves 2 ways to get off. Climb to the rappel bolts on Heart of Gold on the left (second rappel station further down). It's troublesome getting to the bolts. The second way down is to do an easy pitch to the top and then scramble to the very north end of the ridge. Makes for a long descent. A rappel station on the left wall would be a welcome addition. Sep 15, 2004

Derek Lawrence

5.7+

Climbed this on Labor day. Since there were no anchors at the top of the route - we went up and left along the rotten band at the top to near the top of Heart of -Gold. There is a small tree w/ slings (I added a quick link) about 10 feet back. A 60m rope will just barely get you down the bushy corner below the tree. Anchors more in line with the route would be nice. Sep 16, 2004

Ron Olsen
Boulder, CO

5.7

A great climb for the first 70 feet. After that, easy but runout climbing. I continued up, looking for the anchor mentioned in Rossiter's guidebook: "Rappel 100 feet". There is NO rappel anchor for this route: not on a horn, not on a tree.

I continued to a loose ledge about 110' up, managed to get in a decent anchor (after a 40' runout) and brought up my partner, who scanned the area for rap anchors. The only anchor in sight was the bolts at the top of Heart of Gold. My partner climbed a ramp to a tree just above the Heart of Gold bolts.

From the tree, we managed to get down to the Heart of Gold bolts, which are on a vertical wall with a hanging stance. A 60m rope got us to the ground with a little rope to spare. This descent is NOT recommended; it's not easy getting to the Heart of Gold anchor from the tree.

It might be possible to install a rap anchor on this tree, but the tree is less than 6" in diameter and doesn't instill confidence. We also weren't sure if a 60m rope would reach the ground from the tree (in retrospect, it probably would just make it).

Another alternative may be to continue to the top of the ridge and then descend to the left, but the rock is junky and loose. Traversing left on the ledge system at 110' also looks possible, but this is littered with loose rock as well.

Anyone doing this route in the future should bring slings and rings and look for a good place to install a rap anchor as soon as the difficulties end after 70' of climbing. We had brought up slings, rings, quick links, and a knife, but by the time I got 100' up, there was no place to install an anchor, other than the aforementioned tree. Nov 7, 2005

Eckhard Koehler
Denver, CO

5.6

Felt like a 5.6 Eldo. I thought Calypso and Washington Irving offered more of a challenge. Rap down after 30 meters/100 ft. Two connecting holes w/ a bridge in the rock make it possible to thread a sling with a rap-ring. I wouldn't use the smaller of the two rock bridges, but somebody else did. SCARY! oh, to the left of the tiny tree that I also would tie to. Dec 28, 2008

Mark Roth
Boulder

Has a bolt anchor now.... Feb 5, 2010

Luke Clarke
Golden

Two stars and 5.7. This would be a three-star trade route if the approach didn't suck. This one and Nobody's Home are "must do" climbs when you're in the area because you're probably not coming back soon. It's one of the cleaner and more consistent lines on this formation. Mar 15, 2010