Bouldering at Castlewood Ranch

Another meeting of the war council is planned for this coming Saturday, March 4th, at The Castlewood Ranch Boulders.
We had a great session last Saturday at the new Hidden Agenda area. This Saturday we will focus on the B-25 area.
All are welcome.
I'll post the particulars (time, meeting place, etc.) later this week, once I've gotten some feedback from folks.

I would be stoked to join in the fun. I was hoping to get some details on times and directions. Maybe a car pool is possible? I live in Boulder if anyone else is in the area.

GETTING TO THE CASTLEWOOD RANCH BOULDERS:
Take I-25 south to the first Castle Rock exit (Founders Pkwy)
Go E on Founders for a few miles to the intersection with Hwy 86.
Take Hwy 86 W to the next set of stoplights (Enderud).
From the intersection of State Hwy 86 and Enderud Blvd in Castle Rock:
Enderud S to Mikelson Blvd.
Mikelson E to Mitchell St.
Mitchell E then N to where it dead ends. Park here.
Follow the dirt road north. The road dissipates to a trail as it approaches the rim, near the corner of the rim above the confluence of Mitchell Gulch and Willow Creek Canyon.
Toms Trove is located at some boulders at the east end of the north rim above the mouth of Mitchell Gulch. The rocks will be found just west of where a faint trail descends into Mitchell Gulch. Please note: There is no rock climbing allowed down in the west end of Mitchell Gulch. This is posted at the trailheads off of Enderud Blvd and Mikelson Blvd, to the east.
However, up top, above the rim at the east end of the canyon, where this area lies, climbing has not been an issue. Please use discretion when climbing here. Caravan your party into one car to avoid any issues with parking at the end of Mitchell St.

Tom,
Any chance of taking some photos and uploading them into the Castlewood Ranch area you created? Some pics might really help getting the word out and help in developing them.

Cheers, John

Several people showed up last Saturday for the bouldering session at the new Castlewood Ranch Boulders.
Greg from Castle Rock, Tara from Boulder, Ben and Kevin from Denver.
After fully exploring Norwegian Wood, the group began the first circumnavigation of the formation.
Tara discovered a fun lowball traverse on a fin of rock to the south of Norwegian Wood and was soon putting together the sequences. Ben, Kevin and Greg were soon caught up the traverse as well.
Tara did all but the extremely difficult crux move, but she'll soon link it up for the FA.
After getting fully thrashed, everyone wandered over to B-25.
Ben, Kevin and Tara worked a problem on the left side of Waist Gunner Wall. Meanwhile, Greg was pulling off some problems on the right side of Waist Gunner Wall.
At that point everyone was experiencing diminishing returns, so we packed it up for the day.

th

Hi Greg,

Thank you for posting the Norwegian Wood shots.
I've been meaning to do that for quite some time.
It looks like we might be in for a spell of snow this week.
I'll drop you an email when it looks like we'll be able to get out with some good weather.

Hey guys,
I had a blast this weekend. It was great meeting you all and Tom thanks for the tour. Do you guys want to try and get out there the weekend of 3-18/3-19? Tara and I went up to Flagstaff the following day and Paradise last night. I'm paying for it now. Email me if you guys want to get together.

Hi Ben,
I will try for either Saturday or Sunday, depending on which day has the better weather forecast.
I found two new areas while exploring the other day.
Prosecutors Will Be Violated - is located several hundred yards west of B-25. It has a few really cool looking short, and some not so short, walls.
The Dark Wall - is yet another couple of hundred yards west of Prosecutors Will Be Violated. It hosts a single, dark vertical wall that promises some good problems.

How about developing these areas and adding some photos to the site!!!

Sounds good. I will email you later next week to get info.
You will have to show me the new places also.

Hi John,

Greg posted five photos of the Norwegian Wood Area.
Here are the descriptions for those photos:

1. Norwegian Wood - left to right: The Dane, The Icelander, a small portion of The Finn is hiding between the Dane and The Swede, The Swede.
2. East Side of The Swede
3. Norwegian and The Dane
4. Tara's Traverse
5. Right Side of Tara's Traverse

More folks are getting out here to The Ranch all the time. I will make a point to bring the camera and get some shots of people on some of the other boulders.

There are currently eight developed areas at The Ranch:
1. The Bovine Arena
2. Derailed Train
3. Toms Trove
4. Norwegian Wood
5. B-25
6. Hidden Agenda
7. Prosecutors Will Be Violated
8. The Dark Wall

Tom,

Thanks for the captions.

If it's okay with Greg, I can probably add the photos to the site.

Just wondering whether I should separate Castlewood Ranch Boulders from Castlewood Canyon, since they seem to be different areas.

This is what I'm suggesting:
Denver South
Castlewood Canyon
Castlewood Ranch Boulders
Norwegian Wood
Monument Rock

Does this make sense to you or do you have any other ideas of how to organise things based on their location.

Thanks, John

John,

I think the following makes sense:

Denver South
Castlewood Canyon
Castlewood Ranch Boulders
The Bovine Arena
Derailed Train
Tom's Trove
Norwegian Wood
B-25
Hidden Agenda
Prosecutors Will Be Violated
The Dark Wall
Monument Rock

A lot of the info that's on the ?? page could be moved to the newly created sub-areas.

Hi Ron and John,
Ron's idea on the Castlewood area structuring sounds like the winning ticket.

Castlewood Ranch Pull Down Session This Weekend

I will be wandering about the Castlewood Ranch Boulders on Saturday the 11th.
My loose itinerary consists of, an alpine start from the trailhead at 9:30 - 10:00am, on to Norwegian Wood to warm up, and then move on to some new finds, Prosecutors Will Be Violated, and The Dark Wall. These two areas offer first ascents galore.

Park in the dead end at the end of Mitchell St.
Veterans, welcome back. Neophytes, come take the tour.

I had another look at it last night and yes the layout proposed by Ron makes sense. I'll make the changes over the next few days... My list just gets longer!

Tom,
I'll create the basic structure, as outlined above in your's and Ron's email and then I'll assign the area to you, so you can go in and edit the descriptions etc. I've yet to boulder in this "new" area so I'm sure you will do a lot better job than myself developing it on the site!

Let me know if you are okay with this.

Thanks, John

John,

Good news. I will do my best to keep the Castlewood Ranch/Castlewood Canyon sections up-to-date.

th

Greg,

Good to hear you will be joining us tomorrow.
It sounds like Ben will be there early.

th

Good looking pad Greg. I might head out there around 9ish. I have to work at 1 pm. If so, I will see you out there.

Tom, I'd love to come check out these new areas tomorrow with you guys. My spring break plans sort of fell through after my partner pulled a tendon in his finger so any climbing I can get in right now would be great.

I've started working on a new section called New Castlewood Ranch Bouldering. It's very high level and very rough, but in a couple of days it should be starting to take shape as I start to bring the current stuff from the site and also the stuff that has been linked to this forum.

So, over the next few days please don't post anything in either the area or the old Castlewood Ranch area. It will just add more work and confusion for me. I'll post a message when it's ready to go live and you can start building it out with pics, routes etc. It should be done by Monday or Tuesday at the very latest. A lot depends on the weather!