Mt. Evans Area Main Page: Black Wall, Aprons, Lincoln Lake Slabs

Mt. Evans Area: Black Wall, Aprons, Lincoln Lake Slabs

Routes:

BLACK WALL:
- Good Evans (5.10d, 5p)
- Road Warrior (5.10+, 5p)
- Cary Granite (5.11c, 4-5p)
- Rainbow Highway (5.10+, 7p)

THE APRONS:
- Second Apron Left Side (5.8+, 5p) + scramble to summit of Mt. Evans (3rd)

LINCOLN LAKE SLABS:
- Cragging (5.8-5.11, 4 routes)

Region: Colorado
Elev: ~13,000 ft (Black Wall), 14,265 ft (Mt. Evans summit)
Rock type: Granite
Type: 
Date(s): 2018(x2 days), 2021(x4 days), 2022(x3 days)
Partner(s): George Foster, Will Starks, Michael Underwood, Lynn Anderson, Nate Beckwith, toprope solo

Just an hour and a half west of Denver and at 12,000-13,000 feet elevation, Mt. Evans has some of the best quality alpine granite in the Front Range. There are many climbing areas at Mt. Evans: The Alpine Lite Cliffs, The Aprons, The Black Wall, Lincoln Lake Slabs, not to mention several boulder problems.

To date, I have climbed four routes on the Black Wall and one route on The Aprons.

The 400-foot Black Wall is one of the premier multipitch venues at Mt. Evans, offering a fine selection of 5.10-5.11 multipitch trad routes that face east. Routes on the Black Wall are committing, since to access them you rappel down and then climb back up to the plateau. Beware that due to its high elevation Mt. Evans can get some pretty gnarly weather. The Aprons are the alpine, granite slabs above the Summit Lake cirque, high on the flank of Mt. Evans. These slabs have several routes up to 5 pitches. The longest routes on the Aprons end on the summit ridge, and the last pitch or two clock in at a bit above 14,000 feet.

I first climbed on the Black Wall on a climbing road trip to Colorado in July 2018. By the end of that road trip, I had decided to move to Colorado, and within the year I was living in Boulder and planning to start a PhD program at CU Boulder. Now the Black Wall was just over an hour from my doorstep. Due to exploring other Colorado objectives in 2019 and the COVID closures of 2020, I didn't manage to return to the Black Wall until 2021. I first climbed at The Aprons in August 2021, as an alternative option once we discovered the route we wanted to climb on the Black Wall was wet. The first time I climbed at Lincoln Lake Slabs was in September 2022, when I had an afternoon free and decided to check it out by rope soloing a few pitches.

This page features route overlays and pitch-by-pitch trip reports from the climbs I’ve done on the Black Wall and The Aprons and Lincoln Lake Slabs at Mt. Evans.

Route Overlays

Overlays for the routes I have climbed at Mt. Evans area. Photos of these routes are given in the trip reports on this page.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Routes I've Climbed

CLICK ON ROUTE TO DROP DOWN CONTENT

Black Wall

Dates I've climbed this route:
Date: July 8, 2018 (Sun);  Partner: George Foster
Date: June 23, 2021 (Wed);  Partner: Lynn Anderson

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

On my July 2018 climbing road trip to Colorado, I climbed two routes on the Black Wall: Good Evans (at the beginning of my trip with George Foster) and Road Warrior (three weeks later at the end of my trip with Will Starks). Good Evans is perhaps the most popular route on the Black Wall. Apparently 8 other parties (9 total including George and me) also decided that the summer Sunday was a good one for climbing on Black Wall. And we all arrived in somewhat of a mad rush at the same time (~7:15 am) at the top of the rappel route. All of us were there to climb either Good Evans or Cary Granite. In the end, 3 parties climbed Cary Granite, 3 climbed Good Evans, and 3 changed their plans and headed to the right side of the wall (to climb routes such as Emerald Highway, Rainbow Highway, and Cannonball Corner). This resulted in a 6-party back-up on Pitch 1, since Cary Granite and Good Evans share the same first pitch. George and I were the 5th party in line, and we ended up having to wait a total of 2 hours to get started and about 1 hour more on the route itself. Apart from the waiting, the actual climbing on the 400-foot route went relatively quick. We were a bit worried when some dark clouds began to build above us but fortunately the "50% afternoon thundershowers" decided not to materialize and we was spared the intense experience of being caught in a Colorado thundershower.

I climbed Good Evans a second time in June 2021. Lynn and I had planned to climb Rainbow Highway but the snowpatch at the top was still obscuring the rappel anchors and there was some snow at the base we didn't wish to traverse, so we decided to climb Good Evans (this was Lynn's first trip to Black Wall so she had not yet climbed it). This climb was just as fun the second time. It was nice to climb on a weekday this time, since we had the entire wall to ourselves, which made the climb even more enjoyable.

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Pitch 1

5.10d (crux)
Start up the flakey features, moving up and slightly right to a crack, passing a fixed pin along the way. This crack narrows into a seam. Continue to a small ledge system which jogs up and to the left towards some fixed anchors.

Pitch 2

5.9
Step to the right from the belay and work yourself onto a large flake. At the top of this flake, move a few feet right into a splitter crack system (C4#3 size). The pitch finishes in a pod/alcove at the base of a wide dihedral.

Pitch 4

5.10
Climb the steep right-facing dihedral to the roof, using a mix of crack and face holds. Pass a fixed pin before the roof. At the roof, move left and around a corner to gain a small ledge with an old bolt to belay. 

Top

Yay! Say hi to the marmots. Hopefully they did not eat all of your spare snacks.

Hike Out

2nd
The awesome thing about climbing on the Black Wall is you sort of make the descent before you do the climb. Hike back the way you came.

(other trip reports may have more photos of the hike out, but it is pretty much just a reverse of the hike in)

Dates I've climbed this route:
Date: July 27, 2018 (Fri);  Partner: Will Starks

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

When climbing Good Evans with George, I was quite intrigued by the 250-foot vertical 6-inch wide splitter on the wall just right of Good Evans. This is Road Warrior. I made a mental note to climb this route if the opportunity ever arose. Three weeks later, I was back with Will Starks, big bros and big cams in tow. It was a Friday, and we had the wall to ourselves. The climb was pure fun. Road Warrior is the longest continual offwidth I have climbed, and quite memorable. Climbing a 250-foot vertical offwidth at 12,000 feet is a great workout. I admit to a bit of cam-pulling when the offwidth got a bit featureless near the top of Pitch 2, but Pitch 3 was featured enough I could burl my way up it despite my poor offwidth technique. Will did an impressive job leading these two offwidth pitches. 

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
Same approach for Good Evans, Cary Granite, and Road Warrior.

From the Summit Lake parking lot, hike on a faint trail to the north and west. After passing some steep chimneys/gullies, and about 40 minutes of hiking, look for a bolted rap anchor at the edge of Black Wall. Four rappels with a single 70m rope put you at the base of the route. (Heads up that there are sometimes a couple of options for rappel anchors down there, and some may work better for double ropes.)

(other trip reports may have more photos of the approach)

Pitch 1

5.7
Same start as the first pitch of Good Evans, but stop before the 10d crux face and set a belay below the obvious offwidth going off to the right. Set a belay in the crack (uncomfortable but good photo op of leader starting out next pitch) or on the ledge to the right (comfortable, but involves the leader starting out on unprotected face).

Pitch 4

5.10
Continue up the last bit of the wide crack, pull a small roof and traverse left into the steep corner. From here on up the pitch is the same as for Good Evans. At the roof, move left and around a corner to gain a small ledge with an old bolt to belay. 

Pitch 5

5.easy
This is the same as Pitch 5 of Good Evans. Continue on easy ground to the top. Go left to avoid hard climbing. Short pitch.

Top

Yay! Say hi to the marmots. Hopefully they did not eat all of your spare snacks.

Hike Out

2nd
The awesome thing about climbing on the Black Wall is you sort of make the descent before you do the climb. Hike back the way you came.

(other trip reports may have more photos of the hike out, but it is pretty much just a reverse of the hike in)

Dates I've climbed this route:
Date: June 15, 2021 (Tue);  Partner: Michael Underwood
Date: September 7, 2022 (Wed);  Partner: Nate Beckwith

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

This is an excellent line just left of Good Evans, climbing into the obvious splitter that leads steeply up through a couple of roofs and to the top of the wall.

The first time I climbed this route was in June 2021, with Michael Underwood. Thanks Michael for leading the crux pitches. When temperatures are above 100 in the lowlands, climbing at 13,000 ft is the way to go! It was nice to climb this route on a Tuesday and avoid the weekend crowds.

Michael has climbed this route multiple times. He has some excellent beta which I include in my pitch-by-pitch description below (in particular, the beta about the belay at the bolt location at the top of Pitch 3 and linking Pitches 4&5 are particularly on point). He has also dialed down the rack. Here's what Michael says about the rack: "I've been happy with doubles from #0.3 - #4 BD, a single #5, and singles of the green and red BD C3 (the two sizes down from the 0.3). About 10 alpine draws and some small/medium stoppers complete the kit. As much as it's somewhat debated in this comment thread, I would strongly discourage climbing the route without bringing at least one #5 cam for the otherwise unprotected wide climbing."

I climbed Cary Granite a second time in September 2022 with Nate Beckwith. Nate had never climbed on the Black Wall, so why not just climb the best route on the wall? This climb was even more fun the second time, since I was climbing stronger this year than the last. Thanks Nate for being psyched for the midweek morning outing. Gotta squeeze in the alpine since the days of summer weather are fleeting!

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
Same approach for Good Evans, Cary Granite, and Road Warrior.

From the Summit Lake parking lot, hike on a faint trail to the north and west. After passing some steep chimneys/gullies, and about 40 minutes of hiking, look for a bolted rap anchor at the edge of Black Wall. Four rappels with a single 70m rope put you at the base of the route. (Heads up that there are sometimes a couple of options for rappel anchors down there, and some may work better for double ropes.)

(other trip reports may have more photos of the approach)

Pitch 1

5.10d
(Michael's excellent beta:) Same as the first pitch of Good Evans. Climb moderate cracks and flakes up to a wide crack that veers off to the right (Road Warrior). Place a #4 here for security, gingerly rock over a knob on the face until you get a nice stance, and clip the fixed wire. Pull a couple of insecure crux moves at 10d, and gain the fairly secure leftward traverse. A red C3 goes in at the start, and you can place other gear (such as a #3, a great #0.75, and a #0.3) along the way if you like. Belay off the fixed pin anchor.

Pitch 2

5.11-
(Michael's excellent beta:) The money pitch, in my opinion. Great stemming allows you to sew up the lower third of the pitch with smaller cams and medium nuts. A full no-hands rest follows, allowing you to compose yourself before starting up a nice layback section that protects very well with #0.5 - #1 cams. This deposits you at an okay stance below a rightward, undercling traverse. You can catch your breath here if you choose the right body position, and you can also plug in the #5 cam to protect the traverse. Pull around the roof on its right side, and hike up to the comfy belay ledge. Cams from about #0.5 - #3 can be used to build the anchor.

Pitch 3

5.11b/c
(Michael's excellent beta:) The crux. The rightward traverse to the vertical crack is definitely the most delicate 5.11 crux I've ever been on. I like to protect it by clipping a high #3 cam to create a controlled pendulum back toward the belay should the leader come off. I much prefer the "low" variation, which starts with feet below the belay ledge. Once you make it to the crack, a #1 cam fits nicely and can be bumped up as you move towards the roof, which takes #2 cams. A leftward toss over the roof gains you a very positive flake (I didn't need to tape my fingers for it), and you can crank up over the roof into a #3 handcrack formed by the same flake. Once you've placed a #3 and perhaps bumped it up once or twice, you climb a short section of #4 crack in the same flake, then go left through a wide roof that protects with a #4 cam. After this, you move straight up a wide crack of #5 size, though the climbing is moderate and allows some decent rests. If you didn't bring a #5, you'll be running it out for about 20-25 ft here. If you brought an extra #5 (total of 2), you can belay at a good stance in the wide crack. If you only brought one, try to find your way left around the arete to the bolt and ledge. I've missed this station a couple of times, but it's there.

Pitches 4&5

5.10
(Michael's excellent beta:) Climb the #5 crack for another 15-20 ft, bumping your cam up as you go. This is fairly fun climbing and invites some clever stemming as you exit left below a big roof and move up onto a small ledge. After this, it's ho-hum climbing up and right along broken, ledgy terrain until you top out. I'd only stop and make this into 2 pitches if I encountered lots of rope drag or something.

Top

Yay! Say hi to the marmots. Hopefully they did not eat all of your spare snacks.
(no photos)

Hike Out

2nd
The awesome thing about climbing on the Black Wall is you sort of make the descent before you do the climb. Hike back the way you came.

(other trip reports may have more photos of the hike out, but it is pretty much just a reverse of the hike in)

Dates I've climbed this route:
Date: July 7, 2021 (Wed);  Partner: Lynn Anderson
Date: September 9, 2022 (Fri);   Partner: toprope solo

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

Located on the far right side of the Black Wall, this route is one of the longer routes up the wall. The route features a wide variety of corners, laybacks, splitter cracks, knobby face, and more, all up great alpine rock. The route is fairly sustained at 5.9 and each pitch has some 5.10 to 5.10+ climbing on it.

Lynn and I had actually attempted to climb Rainbow Highway a couple of weeks previous to our successful ascent, but the top rappel anchor had been buried behind a mound of snow; so we had climbed Good Evans instead, and made plans to return for Rainbow Highway. We returned two weeks later. Lynn and I thought this was a superb route, despite the fact that about a third of the route was a tad wet (mainly on Pitches 1, 4, and 7). We maximized our climbing on dry rock by traversing left at Pitch 4 and and climbing the steep 5.12 fingercrack of Sinners on Sunday for a pitch. Someday I will return to climb this superb route again (including the awesome-looking Pitch 4 corner) when it is completely dry. It's certainly worth climbing again.

I climbed Rainbow Highway a second time in September 2022. It was a Friday and I had the day off work, and I wanted to squeeze in at least one more Black Wall day before the summer was over. I didn't have a partner, but I got the crazy idea to go rope solo Rainbow Highway. When Lynn and I had climbed the route the previous July, it had a few sections that were wet (including the Pitch 4 corner which we bypassed), so I had always wanted to return and climb the route when it was dry. I brought 4 ropes (two 60 m and two 70 m, totaling 860 feet and 33 lbs of rope—my pack was quite stuffed and heavy!), and fixed them on the way down at the anchors at the tops of Pitches 7, 6, 4, and 2. This made for four rope solo pitches with lengths of about 170 feet (P1+P2), 220 feet (P3+P4), 220 feet (P5+P6), and 120 feet (P7), for a total of 730 vertical feet of climbing (note that two 70 m ropes are required to be able to reach the P4 and P2 anchors). I had to place a few directional slings on bolts (namely, at the top of the P4 corner and on the diagonal traverse on P2), but otherwise the route is mostly straight up. One of the things I had worried about was pulling up the rope, but fortunately there were nice ledges at all of the fixed anchors, so I was able to pile the rope on the ledges, and never have to pull the weight of more than a single rope. It took me 40 minutes to rap down to the base and set my 4 fixed ropes, and it took me 1 hour 42 minutes to climb up the 7 pitches, with just short stops at all of the fixed anchors. This was a surprisingly fun way to climb Rainbow Highway and much better than just doing autobelays at the climbing gym. Now that I know it takes just over 2 hours to fix the ropes and climb back up cleaning the ropes as I go, next time I will climb the route twice, taking advantage of being able to climb the route in one continuous 7-pitch push without worrying about pulling up the ropes.

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Pitch 1

5.10+, 80'
Start up a shallow, left-facing corner. Above the corner, climb an arch to its apex, then face climb up to a small, bushy ledge above below another arch. This is the only gear belay on the route.

Pitch 2

5.10-, 90'
 Climb straight up off the belay and climb face moves past a couple of bolts. Continue up a left-facing corner to a bolted anchor on a nice ledge to the left.

Pitch 3

5.10, 140'
Climb up and right through a lower angle and vegetated section, aiming for the obvious, huge corner system above. Climb a crack system on the wall just left of the corner, ending at a bolted belay at a stance on the right.

Pitch 4

5.10+, 120'
Jam, lieback, stem, and face climb up the huge dihedral above. Climb out the left side of a roof and traverse left past a bolt and gain a nice ledge system and bolted belay.

Variation: 5.12, 120' (Sinners on Sunday). Climb the finger crack that is about 50 feet left of the Pitch 4 corner of Rainbow Highway. In July 2021, Lynn and I chose to go this way because the corner was soaking wet. The climbing was awesome, but quite sustained at the grade, which meant that this pitch didn't go quite free by either one of us. There is a three-bolt face traverse to get to the anchor below the finger crack. The finger crack ends at the same bolted belay as Pitch 4 of Rainbow Highway.

Pitch 5

5.10-, 100'
Traverse left to a hand crack around the corner. Climb the crack and follow the weakness back right into a left facing flake/crack. Continue up this feature to its top. From there, climb a chickenhead face with two bolts, traverse back left on horizontals, and finish on a jam crack to the bolted anchor.

Pitch 6

5.10+, 120'
Climb the face above the belay on chickenheads, with two bolts for protection. Climb through an obvious break in a small roof, and then traverse left to gain a thin crack. Continue up the crack and left and over a flake/block and then up a short arete to a nice ledge and bolted belay.

Pitch 7

5.10-, 130'
Climb up, navigating chickenheads, horizontals, and blocky steps. There are a couple of bolts on this pitch. This pitch is often wet and it is possible to head right to somewhat easier (but not drier) terrain after the first bolt. Belay from the top rappel anchor, which is on a boulder back a ways from the top of the cliff.

Top

Yay! Say hi to the marmots. Hopefully they did not eat all of your spare snacks.

Hike Out

2nd
The awesome thing about climbing on the Black Wall is you sort of make the descent before you do the climb. Hike back the way you came.

(other trip reports may have more photos of the hike out, but it is pretty much just a reverse of the hike in)

The Aprons

Dates I've climbed this route:
Date: August 18, 2021 (Wed);  Partner: Will Starks

Route Overlay

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Intro

Will and I had planned on climbing Cannonball Corner on the Black Wall, but when we got to the top and scoped it out, it looked pretty darn wet for the first and last pitches of the route. This route suffers from seepage, so we had expected to deal with some wetness, but this was a bit too wet. So we decided to climb a route on The Aprons. These slabs of granite had always intrigued me as we hiked to the Black Wall. We pulled up mountainproject to see if we could find a route that sounded interesting. The routes on the Aprons are fairly moderate and nothing stood out as distinct from any other, so we decided on the Second Apron Left Side. The route is a choose-your-own-adventure romp, mostly 5.6-5.7 with a couple of moves of 5.8+. Once we topped out on the Second Apron, we scrambled to the summit of Mt. Evans, which at 14,265 feet is one of those sought-after fourteeners. Although it was a bit disappointing to have to re-route from our original climbing objective for the day to something far less challenging, it was a fun day out gaining altitude fitness and tagging a fourteener by climbing up to it.

Note: My camera was acting up and most of my photos are blurry. Sorry!

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
From the Summit Lake parking lot, head directly for the base of the Second Apron, about 30 minutes. (We had planned on climbing Cannonball Corner on the Black Wall, and finding it wet had decided to climb on The Aprons. So we actually approached from the high ridge to the climbers' right of the Aprons, which was a longer approach but also a better workout.)

Pitch 1

5.8+
Start in a left-diagonaling crack on the left side of the Second Apron. Climb upward.

Pitch 2

5.7ish
Continue upward choosing your own adventure on 5.7ish terrain.

Pitch 3

5.7ish
Continue upward choosing your own adventure on 5.7ish terrain.

Pitch 4

5.8ish
Continue upward. We climbed some cracks leading along the left side of a detached pillar and ended with a leftward hand traverse. As you may be able to gather from the number of photos I posted on this pitch, I thought this was the best pitch on the route.

Pitch 5

5.easy
A short pitch to the top of the Second Apron.

Top

2nd-3rd
We changed into approach shoes and left our gear and rope and harnesses on the top of the Second Apron and scrambled along the ridge to the summit of Mt. Evans. Expect a crowd of people who have hiked a grand total of 3 minutes to reach the summit from their car in the summit area parking lot.

Hike Out

2nd
Probably the best way to descend from the summit would be to descend the ridge straight to the Summit Lake parking area, or to hitch a ride from someone leaving the summit and driving back down the road. But we had left our big packs and extra gear at the base of the Second Apron (since we had originally planned on climbing at the Black Wall where you just leave your big packs at the top). So we scrambled back to the top of Second Apron, collected our rope and gear and harnesses, and descended the gully to the climbers' right of the Third Apron, collected our stuff at the base of the Second Apron, and hiked back to our car at the Summit Lake parking area.

Lincoln Lake Slabs

List of Climbs I've done at Mt. Evans Area

LIST MAINLY FOR PERSONAL RECORD-KEEPING | DATES I'VE CLIMBED THERE ON SECOND TAB

Comments Pertaining to this Page / Trip Report

Useful beta. Updated route information. Corrections. Historical notes. Interesting facts. No fluff please.
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