Roxborough State Park Climbing Access

I just moved out to a rental in Roxborough Park area, pretty much a climber's wonderland neighborhood with 30-300 ft. fountain sandstone fins scattered all around the hood steps from my door. Sadly, no climbing is allowed, even in Roxborough State Park, which is a ten minute walk from my house. It seems like it would be pretty much impossible to get climbing opened up in the neighborhood or golf course, but what's up with Roxborough State Park? I assume climbers have tried in the past to get climbing opened there, what's the deal now? Any chance of petitioning or applying for the opening of climbing there? If anyone has any history or info, that would be great. Thanks!

bump.

My 15 year odyssey to get a new route permit at Castlewood was a waste of time, and climbing has an established history there. Out there, they'd consider fixed anchors a blight as well as tell you of all the threatened habitat climbing would put at risk. Since there is no history of climbing they probably would not even entertain hearing a proposal from you. You're just going to have to wait for society to collapse first, then you might get away with it.
With the exception of Eldo, the State has demonstrated nothing but a desire to eliminate climbing access around its parks. They don't want people traveling off their approved trails.

Delta Bravo wrote:You're just going to have to wait for society to collapse first, then you might get away with it.

That's freaking hilarious.
Damn that sucks and I didn't know that the state park system was so anti-climbing. It's just such a shame, that sandstone looks so nice!!

Delta Bravo wrote:With the exception of Eldo, the State has demonstrated nothing but a desire to eliminate climbing access around its parks. They don't want people traveling off their approved trails.

Is this true? It seems like they are pretty open to it at Golden Gate, although Thorodin is not in the park, and the new Staunton park. Isn't rifle a state park as well?

Maybe if you contact someone at the Access Fund you could come up with a strategy.

That is a great idea about contacting the access fund and I can't believe that I didn't think of that! I wonder how the park would respond to some sort of plan that involves making quality and discreet approach trails, and a ban of fixed hardware and white chalk. I feel like if there was a good plan in place climbers could enjoy the park while creating a relatively small impact, keeping everyone happy.

Without calling anyone out.. here are some State Park employees on here you may want to contact and see what advice they have to offer. I hope you are successful.

I would also find out who the marketing personel are for the State Parks. These types of govt outfits are always looking for ways to increase revenue and Park pass sales. They could definitely provide some leverage.

Roxborough is a VERY restrictive park. You're not even allowed to walk off the designated trails. I may well be in error, but the nature preserve aspect of it may go back to proscriptions when the land was given to the state. Opening it to climbing would effectively end the preservative mission.
Does every bit of beautiful stone have to be available for our personal recreation? Must every urge to mount something be satisfied? It's a pretty special and pristine place. Those sandstone formations look great without chalk, bolts, chains, tat, etc. IMHO, leave it be, at least until you've climbed out the Front Range.

I used to live out in Roxborough for a few years and looked over many of the formations out there (obviously not nearly all of them). I was struck by how soft that sandstone is, not remotely close to Eldo, and noticeably softer than even the Garden of the Gods. I can't imagine bolts reliably holding in that stuff (maybe glue-ins??). On the formation behind my house (over a mile from the entrance to the park, fwiw) I used my hand drill just to test it out and it bored into the rock with little resistance. Very striking formations out that way, yes, but not so sure it's prime climbing material. Just my opinion.
-Tom

I personally don't mind leaving Roxborough off-limits as a preserve.
That stuff looks a lot better than it would actually be for climbing anyway.

Couple of things regarding the state parks and climbing:

• Rifle is owned by the City of Rifle. The state owns the crags at the entrance, and a recent push to open them up to climbing was flat-out crushed.
• Regarding Staunton, they know there is too much stone to flat-out ban all climbing. But if you look at the Master Plan, they are decidedly vague about how climbing will be managed. When they do mention it, half the time its phrased along with 'climbing education', a ropes course, etc. It sounds very much that they will make climbing there a highly supervised activity. The real test will come when someone asks permission for new routes and is told that no fixed anchors will be allowed.
• Refer to Cheyenne Mountain State Park's climbing policy.
• At Castlewood, they acquired the land on the east side of Creature Features Bridge** off of CO. 83. Not much potential for us over there, the cliffs get really small. But the Park has a no admittance policy in that people can only hike there via a silly loop trail they built, escorted by a parks employee. It used to be a working ranch, they treat it like some pristine habitat. I asked why that was once and was told there was 'potential' for Prebles' Meadow Mouse. They haven't found one, just potential. Never mind the 10,000 rattlers.

With my route permit fiasco, there was an endless string of committee's to pass through. Some of them required 2nd and 3rd looks, as for awhile it looked like the barriers were being overcome. I had an advocate in the Park Administrator at the time saw the value of what I wanted to do, but there is a mysterious Heritage and Resource Committee out of the governor's office that has final say, along with a legal department. That group is dominated by the Biology Dept. at CSU, which has a philosophy that allowing people access is just not an option. If they can, they will fence out every crag they can like they did at Ralston. They are what conservatives call Ivory Tower elitists in the worst sense in that they have a dismal view of mankind in general. End of rant.

**- Creature Features Bridge was the scene of absolutely epic '70s parties BID. Just a little history, and a reminder on how mundane we have made our society.

Delta-

Sorry to hear about your troubles with new route permitting at Castelwood. I have seen some new fixed anchors go in within the last year at the top of a route on the Neanderthal Wall area. Not needed due to proximity to numerous anchor points on top of the cliff. Wish that a process was in place to apply and evaluate any new anchors going in. Might cut down on those that randomly pop up in useless places from time to time.

Delta Bravo wrote:I personally don't mind leaving Roxborough off-limits as a preserve. That stuff looks a lot better than it would actually be for climbing anyway.

I completely agree. I live in the area and spend a lot of time in the Park. The majority of the rocks that look inviting do not have trails leading to them. The layers of formations serve as hiding spots and habitat for the local wildlife. Wildlife is truly abundant and flourishing in Roxborough due to the great preservation efforts made on behalf of the Park. This is one case where I feel that allowing climbing access would disturb the balance. Believe me, I have looked at some of those formations and longed to climb them as well. But I won’t. There are some neat looking cracks along Iron Bark Drive (which is the road that goes through the Park from Arrowhead to the Powerline Road behind the Park). Even there, the road may not be private per say but the formations are on State Park or private property so its a no go.

I’ve done some climbing on the east side of the hogback that used to be part of the clay mine but operates as a recreational area now. I’m not gonna lie, it’s kinda crappy but good for a morning burn. Also since you are so close to Waterton, I’m sure you have seen some of the potential up there as well. There is quality rock up there. You just have to be willing to put in some effort to locate it and get to it. Some routes exist high on Goat Mountain (1 mile up the Canyon North side) but it’s a haul to get there. Potential exists close to the 3-4 mile mark on the north side of the canyon as well as at the 6 mile mark, way up hill along the north side. We’ve got plenty of rock in the area. It’s undiscovered and a bit of a pain in the ass to get to but its there.

Then there is my garage. You can do 100 laps on the wall and climb 1200’ vert. If you leave the big fans on with the door open during a rain storm it’s soooo just like being in an alpine environment.:-) Okay, not really.

Totally different styles of climbing than what is drawing you to the Park, I know. My point is that there is climbing in the area for us restless residents. Sure it’s not the best but there is enough to pacify. Consider Deer Creek Canyon too.

And yes, I speak from experience when I say the park is VERY strict with their rules. Very, very strict.

Great comments everyone. It's nice to learn more about Roxborough as well as some of the other parks in the state. I've spent lots and lots of time in Eldo, but not really in any of the other state parks, so I was ignorant about some of the issues with climbing in the other parks, and I never even heard about Roxborough until I started looking at housing out here.

After getting closer to some of the features in my neighborhood, I'll have to agree that a lot of the rock seems a bit crumbly, and it is nice to see such an amazing variety of thriving wildlife. I agree that not every piece of stone out there needs to be open to climbers and there is something to be said for maintaining a totally pristine environment, and from what I've seen so far Roxborough SP is just that. It is still such a tease though because those formations are very striking and it's literally a ten minute walk from my house!! Oh well.

Legs, it is good to hear that there is rock nearby to explore and its sounds like some crazy gnarliness in your garage! Any more beta on Deer Creek and Waterton Canyons is much appreciated. I guess I got a little spoiled over the past ten years living in Boulder having Eldo, Flatirons, and Bocan within a ten minute drive from my house. It seems that the Splatte will be my new playground now and I am definitely getting excited to explore all of the nice rock out there!

Legs Magillicutty wrote: My point is that there is climbing in the area for us restless residents. Sure it’s not the best but there is enough to pacify. Consider Deer Creek Canyon too.

But the Deer Creek Crag is pretty damn burly, the warm up is .11C.
Wouldn't it be great if someone were to develop a new crag in the canyon? Maybe a nice steep slab with several routes ranging from .9+ to .10B?