Best Climbing in CO?

I'm doing a xc climbing trip. Lots of places are easy to figure out where I want to go, but Colorado just has so much climbing that I don't know where to go.

I climb both trad and sport, looking for mostly in the 5.10-5.12 range. I would like to find a fun tower or two too.

What would you suggest?

Depends on the season, what time of year will you be coming through?

I will suggest the Black Canyon, the South Platte, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Eldorado Canyon for trad. The first two of those have better camping scenes. Eldo and the Black are the two places that, to me, seem most unique to Colorado.

There are towers in Colorado Monument, but I will admit that Moab is a much better bet for towers.

Having done most of my Colorado sport climbing in Boulder canyon, I don't feel qualified to discuss it, so I'll let someone else argue about that.

I'll be heading through this summer, some time in July or August.

Asking what's the best climbing in Colorado is like asking who is the cutest girl at CU.

There are alot of good options.

In July and August, I'd head for altitude like the Park or lumpy. But, if you're from the UAE, anywhere will seem brisk.

Evan

Independence Pass is gorgeous and waaay less committing than the other alpine stuff, good for that time of year, lots of both sport and trad. Rifle if you're pretty good and like to project hard sport.
Charles: the desert in July/August!?! Yeah, he's from UAE, but jeez!

Edit add: try to zip up to Tensleep in Wyo.

Evan Horvath aka Evan1984 wrote:Asking what's the best climbing in Colorado is like asking who is the cutest girl at CU.

"The analogy is double accurate, since for every one cute girl, there's about 30 dudes trying to get on her"

It's just not true. Sure, if you go to CMC Leadville or another mountain town college the guy-girl ratio will sadly hold true just like if you go to the Bastille in Eldo on a Saturday there will be tons of people waiting in line. CU has a very nice ratio, and there are walls in Eldo with amazing climbing where you can be all by yourself any day of the week.

As for the original question, that time of year definitely check out Rocky Mountain NP: Lumpy, the Diamond, etc. Eldo is a very cool and unique place to climb, so it's definitely worth checking out. You can go to Peanuts Wall or Bastille to find the shade that time of year, because most other places in Eldo will be very hot. South Platte is pretty cool too, and Vedauwoo up in Wyoming (about 2.5 hours from Boulder) is definitely worth checking out. That's just a small sampling, there's so much great climbing here! Have fun!

a great north facing wall is Land that time Forgot. Has trad and sport multi-pitch. Check out Solarian for an amazing trad line and for sport- Jacobs Ladder and Riders in the Sky.
SheepRock

If you're coming to CO for your first time, and definitely if you're coming from UAE, go into the mountains. RMNP would be my recommendation. August up there is great, just keep an eye on the weather.

kubes wrote:"The analogy is double accurate, since for every one cute girl, there's about 30 dudes trying to get on her" It's just not true. Sure, if you go to CMC Leadville or another mountain town college the guy-girl ratio will sadly hold true just like if you go to the Bastille in Eldo on a Saturday there will be tons of people waiting in line.

The creek...

funny how indian creek shows up as a Colorado climbing suggestion.

ha ha come on, Darren. Everyone knows the creek is the best cragging in the front range

I'm not actually from UAE, I just spent some time there. Actually from Maine so I'm used to the cold more than the heat.

Thanks for the suggestions.

While in CO I would minimize my driving and focus on RMNP. You could spend a whole summer cragging at Lumpy and the Alpine climbs are the best in the state. Also, the Alpine spires could be considered towers.

if you are going to do some cragging at lumpy in july, you will probably want to do some special training. take one of those 2-burner propane stoves, light it and set it full blast. now, lace up your shoes really, really tight and stand on the burners. 5 or 6 sets of 30 minutes each should do the trick.