Eldorado Canyon Climbing 2014-present

Routes:

- Naked Edge (5.11b, 6p)
- Other routes

Region: Colorado

Type:

Trip Report 1:

Naked Edge (5.11b, 6p)

Date(s): August 12, 2014 (Tue), July 14, 2019 (Sun), July 13, 2021 (Tue), September 3, 2024 (Tue), Ocober 8, 2024 (Tue)

Partner(s): Eric Schweitzer, Michal Matyjasik, Mike Lawson, JJ Calhoun, Kishen Mangat

Trip Report 2:

Various other routes

Date(s): 2014(x2 days), 2018(x3 days), 2019(x16 days), 2020(x4 days), 2021(x6 days), 2022(x11 day), 2024(x5 days)

Partner(s): Alex Haeger, Amy Gray-Smith, Brad Mering, Craig Weinhold, Dave Wichman, Eric Schweitzer, Erika Bannon, Erin DeMarco, Erin Houlihan, Gabe Allen, Giles Eperon, Greg DeSantis, Jenny Abegg, Kishen Mangat, Kristen Dillon, Lisa Foster, Michael Butts, Michael Underwood, Michal Matyjasik, Natalie Huey, Nate Mankovitch, Patrik Larsson, Ryan Enright, Stuart Gillespie, Tom Wright, Tony Bubb, Will Starks, Zach Durbin

Located mere minutes south of Boulder, Eldorado Canyon ("Eldo") is a world-class climbing area. Thousands of routes ascend the beautiful sandstone cliffs, which rise up to 700 feet in height. The sandstone at Eldo is hard, more reminiscent of granite than sandstone in other areas. The climbing is predominantly trad, yet there is relatively little crack climbing; instead, the style of the climbing is delicate face moves, steep juggy roofs, and highly technical sequences on featured rock separated by decent rests. The steepness, committing nature of the climbing, and tricky pro can make climbing at Eldo pretty game on. It is an awesome place.

The first time I climbed at Eldo was in August 2014, for three days during a brief stop on a climbing road trip. Four years later, in Summer 2018 on a month-long climbing roadtrip to Colorado, I squeezed in a few more days at Eldo. I didn't know it at the time, but a year later I would be living in Boulder and Eldo would be 20 minutes from my doorstep.

On this page, I give photos from climbing in Eldorado Canyon, organized by date. I've also included my trip report for the Naked Edge at the top of the page. At the bottom of the page, I keep a list of the climbs I've done in Eldorado Canyon.

More Photos

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS FROM OTHER DAYS OF CRAGGING AT ELDO

More climbing fun!

Date: August 10, 2014 (Sun)

Partner: Stuart Gillespie

Climbed at: Redgarden Wall, The Bastille

The first day I climbed at Eldo. During my 2014 climbing road trip through Colorado.
Below is the original intro for this page, when I thought I would visit Eldo only once...

I had spent the first week of August climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park, and was now headed back north for a second trip to the Cirque of the Towers to climb some routes I had not climbed on my first trip that summer. I had a few extra days between trips, so I decided to stop by Eldorado Canyon. Just south of Boulder, Eldorado Canyon is one of the world's finest and most famous climbing areas. It consists of steep, beautiful conglomerate sandstone walls of up to 700 feet high, in brilliant shades of gold and red. The rock quality is reminiscent of granite rather than the soft sandstone found throughout much of Utah and Arizona.Below are some photos and a list of the routes I did during my three-day introduction to Eldorado Canyon. Thanks Stuart, Patrik, and Eric for the fun days of climbing in the Canyon. I'll be back for sure.

Eric (who I had climbed with for the previous couple of weeks) was interested in climbing The Naked Edge, a premier route of the Canyon (perhaps THE premier route of the Canyon) which ascends a spectacular 500' tall arête. But he was in the process of buying a Sprinter van and couldn't climb for a couple of days. So, following the partner-finding trend of the summer, I posted on MountainProject.com to see if I could find a partner (or partners) to climb for a couple of days while Eric dealt with the Sprinter. My problem quickly went from having no partner to having to choose between a dozen potential partners. Guess there are a lot of climbers in Boulder, huh.

I climbed for three days in Eldorado Canyon, the first two days with climbers from Boulder (Stuart and Patrik) and the third day with Eric. I really loved the technical nature of the climbing, plus the variety of cracks, face, corners, jugs, roofs, etc. The rock is quite grippy and for the most part solid. I had told my partners to "show me the best" so many of the routes we did were 3- or 4-star Canyon classics.

The first day, a 40% thundershower day, Stuart and I climbed several 1-2 pitch 5.8-5.11b routes.

The second day, under a more stable forecast, Patrik and I climbed a couple of longer (4-5 pitch) routes. Eric also joined us for the morning.

The third day, with the most stable (and hotter) forecast of the trip, Eric and I climbed the spectacular arête of The Naked Edge (5.11b, 6 pitches). Although all the routes I climbed in Eldorado Canyon were great, this was probably the prize of the trip.

Thanks Stuart, Patrik, and Eric for the fun days of climbing in the Canyon. I'll be back for sure.

More climbing fun!

Date: August 11, 2014 (Mon)

Partners: Patrik Larsson (all day) & Eric Schweitzer (morning)

Climbed at: Redgarden Wall, The Bastille

The second day I climbed at Eldo. During my 2014 climbing road trip through Colorado. The next day we climbed the Naked Edge.

More climbing fun!

Date: July 6, 2018 (Fri)

Partners: Alex Haeger, Penny (woof)

Climbed at: Shirt Tail Peak, The West Ridge, The Bastille

The fourth day I climbed at Eldo. During my 2018 climbing road trip through Colorado.
Below is the original intro for this page, when I thought I would visit Eldo only twice...

In July 2018, I climbed in Colorado for just over three weeks. During this time I climbed for three days at Eldorado Canyon. The first two of these days were near the beginning of my trip. I had a few days between climbing adventures in the Black Canyon and Mt. Evans, and Tony Bubb (who I had climbed with in the Black Canyon for a couple of days) had generously offered to let me stay at his house during this time, so this was a great opportunity to crag for a day or two in Eldorado Canyon. The first day I climbed with local Alex Haeger, who had responded to my mountainproject post for a partner. The second day I climbed with Tony; this was a real treat, since Tony has climbed probably over a thousand routes at Eldo and has put up numerous first ascents in the canyon. Over the course of these two days, I was reminded of how awesome (as well as humbling) the climbing is at Eldo. Then, a few weeks later, at the very end of my climbing trip to Colorado, I managed to squeeze in one more morning at Eldo, this time with a local named Zack, who saw my last-minute mountainproject post for a partner. I had actually met Zack a few years earlier at the Elephant's Perch in Idaho and it was cool to finally get to take him up on his offer to "climb together if I was ever passing by the Boulder area."

The first day, Alex and I climbed several 4-star moderate routes, most featuring steep and juggy cracks so typical of Eldo. And so fun to climb! By the time it got too hot to climb around 2pm, our total pitch count was 12 (but 8 with linking). Thanks Alex for showing me some of the classics!

The second day, Tony introduced me to three "best of" Eldo routes: Rincon, Over the Hill, and Chockstone. After being humbled by my lead of the first pitch of Rincon, I was happy to let Tony take the sharp end for the day while I enjoyed attempting to tronsite each route. Each of the routes we climbed is 2-3 pitches long according to the guidebook, but Tony-the-king-of-long-pitches had brought his 80m rope, and essentially led each route as one epic pitch (Rincon he broke into 2 pitches, but has climbed it as one in the past). Thanks Tony for rope-gunning some awesome Eldo routes!

The third day, Zack introduced me to some steep trad yet not crack-climbing classics like The Metamorphosis and Hair City. I loved the techy movement on these routes. Great job leading The Metamorphosis, Zack, that's a super heady lead!