front range sandstone trad?

I LOVE sandstone trad, being a southeastern climber moving to CO...so I'm curious to know about some of the places that feature good sandstone trad climbing in the front range. I am aware that CO has sandstone climbing out towards Grand Junction and am aware of

Garden of the Gods
Red Rock Canyon Open Space
Eldorado Canyon

in the front range, but are there any other areas that I'm missing that are worth mention?

Thanks y'all,
Sam

Of course, Eldo stone is much closer to Quartzite than to what is commonly known as Sandstone.
If you count that as Sandstone, then FOR SURE the Flatirons are sandstone. The Flats have more S/N/W Facing cracks than you can climb in a year, even full time, so give that some thought and attention.
As for classical sandstone - IE Splitters, The area around Grand Junction (IE CO National Monument) is 4 hours away from Denver. It's good overall. Moab is about 90 min further down the line with some stuff along the way there, and an hour past, in Indian Creek (6-7 hours total)
GOTG is less desirable, for the most part, so not much worth the drive.

Tony B wrote:Of course, Eldo stone is much closer to Quartzite than to what is commonly known as Sandstone.

a majority of rock in AL is bullet hard...the texture and hardness is pretty similar to quartzite. i am very excited to climb in eldo!

At least in my opinion, the Eldo sandstone is very different from any of the stuff in the south.

michaeltarne...i guess ill just have to go there to see for myself. have you ever climbed at little river canyon or tallulah gorge? the stone is SUPER hard and very fine grained. it doesn't really exfoliate at all because its so well consolidated.

From Raymond Bridge's Geology of Boulder County:

The Fountain Formation is a mixture of mudstone, sandstone, and conglomerate with incorporated clasts... [p. 64]

and

Rock climbers are particularly likely to wonder why the rocks around Boulder are generally so much better for climbing than outcrops of the Fountain that are exposed elsewhere. Theodore Walker, a geologist at the University of Colorado, investigated this question and discovered that a high proportion of the cement of the Fountain in Boulder's Flatirons consists of adularia, a particularly hard and resistant orthoclase --- a potassium feldspar. [p. 74]

Out here, we got this shit called granite. You should give it a try.

Mike Lane wrote:Out here, we got this shit called granite. You should give it a try.

I've climbed on tons of granite in North Carolina and lived at Joshua Tree for a month...Granite is pretty sweet and I'm looking forward to climbing at the South Platte and the like.

But you see, the thing is, I get homesick for the South sometimes and when I climb on sandstone and it makes me feel close to my family...hence the title to my thread

brenta wrote:From Raymond Bridge's Geology of Boulder County: The Fountain Formation is a mixture of mudstone, sandstone, and conglomerate with incorporated clasts... [p. 64] and Rock climbers are particularly likely to wonder why the rocks around Boulder are generally so much better for climbing than outcrops of the Fountain that are exposed elsewhere. Theodore Walker, a geologist at the University of Colorado, investigated this question and discovered that a high proportion of the cement of the Fountain in Boulder's Flatirons consists of adularia, a particularly hard and resistant orthoclase --- a potassium feldspar. [p. 74]

thanks for the education!

Mudstone? Isn't that an oxymoron?

So, dude, if you like mud and dirt, and it makes you homesick for the deep south, ya'll come on down and get 'cher fill 'o dirt at the Garden. Like the other guy said, it ain't worth the drive.

'sides. Rainbow, Anaconda, T-ex, 'n Kor's 'll kick yo ass. Ya'll gonna love it.

: )

pm me if ya'll're unfortunate enough to come down this way and want the guided tour.

I've climbed several times at T-Wall, and also at Tallulah and The New. T-Wall is incredible and I've gone several years in a row now.

Have you climbed on any western sandstone...Zion, Red Rock, Moab? It's totally different than the sandstone you find in the southeast. Compare even T-Wall and The New and they're vastly different. I don't know exactly what type of sandstone really tickles you, but I can tell you that there is nothing like T-Wall anywhere in the west, or at least not that I've encountered. Your experience with granite should give you some idea of what I'm taling about (J-Tree versus NC?).

I hear ya - good old southern sandstone is bad ass. I recently moved from Arkansas to Colorado. I suggest embracing the many different rock types you will find in Colorado - it will make you a much more rounded climber. There will be a learning curve with different rock types, and some will require vastly different technique - so be patient (I'm trying to take my own advice!)

Indian Creek is one of the best crags on the Front Range.

Eldo is like a multipitch T-Wall. Don't waste your time at Garden of the Gods.

The Blueprint Part Dank wrote:Eldo is like a multipitch T-Wall. Don't waste your time at Garden of the Gods.

Hmm, Eldo reminds me more of the Gunks than T-Wall. All three are awesome though.

I've climbed at all 3 and none of them remind me of the other. You're really stretching to draw comparisons between the three.

You'll have a hard time finding that kind if sandstone out west. Not that the sandstone in the west isn't great, but it's nothing like the stuff in the southeast. It's really not at all the same.

nicelegs wrote:I've climbed at all 3 and none of them remind me of the other. You're really stretching to draw comparisons between the three.

amen.

Tom Fralich wrote:I've climbed several times at T-Wall, and also at Tallulah and The New. T-Wall is incredible and I've gone several years in a row now. Have you climbed on any western sandstone...Zion, Red Rock, Moab? It's totally different than the sandstone you find in the southeast. Compare even T-Wall and The New and they're vastly different. I don't know exactly what type of sandstone really tickles you, but I can tell you that there is nothing like T-Wall anywhere in the west, or at least not that I've encountered. Your experience with granite should give you some idea of what I'm taling about (J-Tree versus NC?).

ive climbed about 30 days in red rocks NV and 5 days at indian creek. i camped in canyonlands for 26 days straight. i've seen my fair share of western sandstone i guess haha. the thing is, yes, the southern sandstone is more quality as far as hardness and what not but in the west, you have something the south really doesn't...a GRAND setting. id rather climb soft stuff thats TALL rather than totally rad 60 ft routes.

the high quality southern sandstone is rarely taller than 200 feet and 250ft at the most. a majority of it is in the 50-100 ft tall range. the multipitching in the southern sandstone is very limited.

soft sandstone doesnt bother me. i really like the texture and features in sandstone and the western sandstone and southern sandstone feature very similarly.

i felt very at home on the red rocks and utah sandstones. lookin forward to playing around on the front range stuff as well as the granites, basalts, and limestones.

Ryan Williams wrote:You'll have a hard time finding that kind if sandstone out west. Not that the sandstone in the west isn't great, but it's nothing like the stuff in the southeast. It's really not at all the same.

i think that the sandstone i climbed on in the west was very similar in feature and even texture to a lot of the climbs ive done in the southeast minus the hardness.

Sam Latone wrote: i think that the sandstone i climbed on in the west was very similar in feature and even texture to a lot of the climbs ive done in the southeast minus the hardness.

Exactly. "Minus the hardness." There is a big difference in pulling on a razor edge on eastern sandstone and pulling on one out west.

Really there are a lot of different kind of sand stones in the east and a whole lot more in the west. The Red is different from the New, Linville Gorge is different than what you guys have farther south, so on and so forth. But it's all harder in the east. The difference is, when you're crack climbing on Wingate, you don't need for the rock to be that hard. That's not the case at say Red Rocks.

If you haven't been to Mill Creek yet, you should check it out. That layer of sandstone (forgot what it's called) is very similar in hardness and texture to what we have in the east. It's also the best sport climbing I've done out west.