Located in Big Thompson Canyon just outside of Estes Park, The Monastery was once the scene of some of the most bucolic climbing in the Front Range. Several of the routes were established by Mike and Tommy Caldwell. So you can expect some hard climbing. Nevertheless, plenty of excellent bolt-protected 5.9s and 5.10s exist. Climbing at The Monastery is on igneous granitic pegmatite and some schist and gneiss. It is steep and edgy or slabby and on great friction. Alligator skin is common on the steeper walls. Many of the dozen or so crags have excellent South faces that remain dry for a large part of the year; however, they are located at 8,000+ feet and can get cold on a cloudy day, or snowed in in mid-winter.
The routes here are documented in Bernard Gillett's Estes Park Valley guidebook.
The first time I climbed at The Monastery was on a crisp sunny fall day in November 2022.
On this page, I give photos from climbing at The Monastery, organized by date. At the bottom of the page, I keep a list of the climbs I've done at The Monastery.
