Hey Sportos - what are your favorite climbs/crags?

OK I'm mainly a traddie, but have some friends in from the East Coast who are sport climbers. I don't know where
to recommend they go. Pretty sure they lead up to 11 (not sure what letter grade). Where would
you send your sport climin' friends to get a nice flavor of the area or what are your
"must-do" climbs?

Just give them Darren's Clear Creek Canyon book and tell them to go hog wild; all the climbing is pretty good and is well indexed in the book as far as what they would need.

+1 for Buff's suggestion. Clue them into Canal Zone as well. It's not in Darren's book, but I think it's a pretty cool crag. It's off the road a bit and I think the base area is one the coolest in the canyon. If they're looking for lots of 11's they might not dig it so much, but there are currently 3 that check in at that grade and the other routes are stellar in my opinion.

Devils Head. Get Tods guide. Peruse the routes listed here and look at all the 4-stars; plus its a mountain environment with a killer view of Pikes Peak.
And the weather is actually making Shelf plausible again.

Elevenmile Canyon has some pretty nice sport climbing. Not sure if there's a guidebook, or if it is even recent if it does exist. SPlatte climbing is adventurous anyway.

Send them up to Tensleep canyon in WY for some pocket pulling. Umm, that's limestone you sick bastard, what did you think I meant?

Jurassic Park near Estes has some nice alpine granite to clip bolts while gazing over at the Diamond.

+1 on Mike's suggestion: Devil's Head is a great place to climb. Yay SPlatte.

I guess they'd be even more pissed if I said N Table.

Castlewood also has some good climbs if they are SE dvr area; but now I've really made them mad!

Where do I usually climb? Not Bermuda

Beached Nuts wrote: Rifle is pretty good but it's a bit too much of a blow to the ego for vacation. If they're coming for a Colorado climbing trip, you should put together a list of trad on a more moderate scale might be more in line. They'll enjoy themselves more.

I agree with beached nuts... Colorado has some great places... Monestary, Red Rock Canyon, Shelf Road, Devils Head, Boulder Canyon, and more.

The Monastery is a good one for sure. Have fun!

Love it or hate it, Rifle is sport climbing. If they are out for any amount of time, send 'em over the hill; they'll get spanked and ask for more. They can probably also carpool with the weekender Boulder crowd.

Dream Dome and Lost Angel in Upper Dream Canyon.

I like the Monastery and Devil's Head for sport climbing without the crowds. When are your friends visiting? If it's Labor Day weekend, I wouldn't recommend Eleven Mile Canyon as those camping sites fill up on weekends. I'm a Shelf fan, esp since you can walk from your campsite to the crags.

I'd recommend Devil's Head, and Shelf Road for visiting climbers and give a nod to Jurassic Park just for the absolute classic "Edge of Time."

For Shelf:

At Sand Gulch warm up on "Dune,"(before it starts to bake- a.m. sun) then get on "Spiney Dan" then hike down and do "High Pockets"

If the heat is at all manageable or you get up early enough for Cactus:

mandatory warm-up on "La Cholla Jackson,"
then pocket lovers must do "Tractatus" (spiney ridge).

Don't miss "I Claudius," even traddies are sure to love that one!

"Politically Incorrect" is also continuous and excitingly varied. "Muscle Beach, Illegal Smile" and "Gravitations" are other not-to-be-missed outings!

Beached Nuts wrote:Colo-fucking-rado

Wow, thanks guys! This is great stuff!!! They're here for this coming weekend i.e. Labor Day. I plan to take them up one of the Flatirons for the whole trad experience and the views then turn them loose with your recommendations and the appropriate guidebook.

Thanks for all the help!

Wow!! There is some really terrible advice on this thread. The great thing about IMBs is how they've proved once & for all that unmoderated democracy is a bad idea.

If these guys climb 5.12 or less, take them to Shelf. If they climb 5.12 and harder, take them to Rifle.

You'll want to chase shade at shelf, which is easy to do. Rifle should be wide open.

Penitente, it's only about three and half hours from Boulder. It doesn't have the longest climbs, but it won't be even remotely crowded and it's one of the coolest settings in the state, plus the views on the drive down 285 will blow their East Side minds wide open.

Rifle IS sport climbing as mentioned before. I've had a lot of fun there climbing in the 11 range as well, though generally agree with Mono. You are probably a lot more limited then Shelf in the 11 and under category. If you are "only" leading 10's I wouldn't plan a big trip around it as they are few and far between and not the best climbs there.

Little Eiger and Wall of the 90's are both crags really worth visiting in Clear Creek. Both have a ton of awesome 10's and 11's.

Upper Dream canyon is the where I would take someone for sport climbing in Boulder Canyon during the summer...excellent location, FAR from the road, and long multipitch routes. Plenty of moderates.

wait....no one mentioned THE SPORT PARK! c'mon! Sport climbing at its finest!

Michael McKinnon wrote: ever threat of a train coming right by you

It's ever-present Horsie, ever-present.

All sporties should just be advised, they need to run and leave their gear the base at a moments notice. I will provide an air horn from the road; when you hear it, just leave your gear and get out of the water...