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CO for a Day - Where should I climb?

aikibujin · · Castle Rock, CO · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 300
Jason Eberhard wrote:

If Frisco looks like a no-go would the Estes park(Big Thomson) area likely be better?  I saw it's about 1500' lower but I have very little knowledge of the typical weather out there this time of year.

Royal Flush is north facing while Mary's Bust is south facing. I forgot to mention that the Broadmoor may be too hot in May if it's a sunny day. I climbed it in early April of last year and it was about perfect. So if it's going to be sunny and warm on the 13th, I'd go for Royal Flush. Snowy and cold? The Broadmoor for sure.

aikibujin · · Castle Rock, CO · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 300
MyMichelle wrote:

Current conditions on Royal (as seen from my front porch :) )

Personally, I think the view of a parking lot from my work is so much better.

Parker Wrozek · · Denver, CO · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 86
aikibujin wrote:

I totally agree. Royal Flush definitely has more than one pitch of climbing... it has two pitches! Haha... I'm surprised you didn't recommend Mary's Bust area, since you've done the Brown Palace.

The brown palace is pretty sweet. I haven't been on the other routes there though.

Jason Eberhard · · Atlanta, GA · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 111

Thanks again for the tips.  We got on Royal in awesome weather Saturday and couldn't have had a better experience on our first multi pitch.  The only part that sucked was climbing thru the snow being from Atlanta and having almost no idea how to move on it.  Punching hands and kicking in steps got thru it.  The number of variations was confusing and I'm not sure if we did Aces High or a variation of Royal Flush on the upper wall after the scree field.  This was where we started the upper wall and the pitch felt 5.10 to me with a lot of slippery slabs but that could due to this being my weakest type of climbing and the current conditions.  Any ideas if this is the start of Aces High?

 

 

It seemed to follow this yellow line: 

Alicia Sokolowski · · Brooklyn, NY · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 1,781

If the snow levels allow, White Whale. Views are fantastic! Climbing is excellent and well within your stated abilities.

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/white-whale/105750013

Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65
Alicia Sokolowski wrote:

If the snow levels allow, White Whale. Views are fantastic! Climbing is excellent and well within your stated abilities.

Alas his climbing day was two days ago.

Jason Eberhard · · Atlanta, GA · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 111
Marc801 C wrote:

Alas his climbing day was two days ago.

True, but I'll definitely be back.  I love CO but I'm anchored to ATL, which I also love.

Alicia Sokolowski · · Brooklyn, NY · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 1,781
Marc801 C wrote:

Alas his climbing day was two days ago.

Alas, my attention to detail is sorely lacking, Apologies!

Parker Wrozek · · Denver, CO · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 86
Jason Eberhard wrote:

Thanks again for the tips.  We got on Royal in awesome weather Saturday and couldn't have had a better experience on our first multi pitch.  The only part that sucked was climbing thru the snow being from Atlanta and having almost no idea how to move on it.  Punching hands and kicking in steps got thru it.  The number of variations was confusing and I'm not sure if we did Aces High or a variation of Royal Flush on the upper wall after the scree field.  This was where we started the upper wall and the pitch felt 5.10 to me with a lot of slippery slabs but that could due to this being my weakest type of climbing and the current conditions.  Any ideas if this is the start of Aces High?

 

 

It seemed to follow this yellow line: 

I also climbed this saturday. We started before you. I think we were at the bottom of our 3rd pitch when you guys were getting to the base. The 1st picture you posted is the bottom of Pitch "4" (or at least what I call pitch 4) it is about 5.7 climbing although with wet shoes could feel tough (the white rib pitch 10 on the RF page)). We belayed were you are in the picture due to the snow and just traversed in and skipped the first bolt.  The upper part of that might be 5.9 (pitch 11 on the RF page) depending on which way you go.  When we topped out I could see you belaying at the top of this pitch before you would have crossed the snow abd rock to get to the base of the climbing in your second photo. 

As far as the snow goes it was almost completely avoidable if you climbed royal flush proper. If you tried to push over to the aces high variation it would have been not fun getting over to it. It was pretty much burried in snow. At the top of pitch 4 before you cross to the upper headwall you could scramble up and then right and stay on rocks all the way but the last 15' to the start of pitch 5. There is a fixed pin at the start which due to the belay location you had to skip and traverse into the second bolt. When we crossed any snow it was nice and frim so we didn't fall through at all. We didn't have any slushly snow until about the very last bits at the bottom of the main trail down.

Also I can't believe your buddy was wearing shorts. What a crazy man. Glad you guys had fun. 

aikibujin · · Castle Rock, CO · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 300
Jason Eberhard wrote:

Any ideas if this is the start of Aces High?

That's the start of pitch 10 as described on MP, the White Rib Pitch. The White Rib Pitch can feel 5.10-ish if you didn't take the easiest line.

 If you look at your photo, it's the same as the one on the MP page for Aces High... which is the wrong photo for that route.

aikibujin · · Castle Rock, CO · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 300
Parker Wrozek wrote:

I also climbed this saturday.

Nice! Did you climb it with Garrett?

Parker Wrozek · · Denver, CO · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 86
aikibujin wrote:

Nice! Did you climb it with Garrett?

No, my buddy Tim (not sure you met him) has been bugging me for a couple years to climb it. So I said if you get up at 4:30 I will do it with you on Saturday. We started at 6:40 and got back to the car at 11:45. It was super chill for me since I made him lead the whole thing (I had led it all already).  

Jason Eberhard · · Atlanta, GA · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 111
Parker Wrozek wrote:

Also I can't believe your buddy was wearing shorts. What a crazy man. Glad you guys had fun. 

He only took his shells off for this photo, then complained about being cold and put them back on.  He actually had his puffy on for most the day.

Parker Wrozek · · Denver, CO · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 86
Jason Eberhard wrote:

He only took his shells off for this photo, then complained about being cold and put them back on.  He actually had his puffy on for most the day.

haha. That is pretty great. I was the same with a puffy and wind breaker. 

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Colorado
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