Advice: CCC or Boulder Canyon or something else?

My friends & I are visiting Denver in two weeks (climbing July 25th & 26th) and we need advice on where to climb.

About us: I'm the weakest climber of the bunch & will lead a 5.9 in Texas (not sure if that's 5.5 in Colorado or what!). We have a couple of people who will lead 5.11a (again, in Texas) and a few in between. We have very little experience in trad or multi-pitch.

So, we're looking for a place that's relatively close to Denver - we don't want to spend much of our trip driving. We also need a place that's well bolted - we don't have much appetite for placing gear. We'd like a lot of routes from 5.8 to 5.10c. We'd obviously prefer fewer crowds and easy access, but we're no stranger to a decent approach.

From what I can tell, my choices seem to be Clear Creek Canyon or Boulder Canyon.

Devil's head appears to be a bit of a pain for us - we get in very late at night and sleeping arrangements near there are either expensive (VRBO) or very dicey (finding a campsite at midnight on a Friday).

So, any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance.

North Table Mountain in Golden. Can find shade in morning. Also stop at bentgate in golden and they can direct you in the right direction.

Little eiger in clear creek Avalon zone in boulder canyon

You could do a day in each place. The two canyons are only an hour apart. Also, there is no camping in CCC or boulder canyon so it would not be that much of an inconvenience to leave. In CCC there are many options of areas in your range. Most things are well bolted and have an easy approach. Just chase the shade. My favorites are catslab, little eiger, wall of the nineties and high wire.

There are also a lot of options in boulder canyon but can't remember any of the areas specifically.

oh yeah, I forgot about table mountain. However, you got to be an early riser for this place. It usually cooks by 11 of so.

CCC is my favorite sport climbing area near denver. The above crags listed are good. Canal zone also has quite a few routes in the range you are looking. Capitalist crag has a few quality routes in that range as well. Some of these areas will be quite crowded on the weekends but thats just how it is being near denver on a nice weekend.

The Bihedral area/riviera in Boulder Canyon have some good routes in that range as well.

Dan, Check out the A Lodge in Boulder for lodging. It's located in the mouth of Boulder Canyon, offers a shuttle to town, and is run by a few local climbers who will be more than happy to make crag suggestions

I'd avoid Table. The routes are short, the rock is greasy, and it's hot as hell. Clear Creek and Boulder Canyons are great and have a ton of stuff in the grade range you're looking for. Search MP for the crags. It's definitely possible to hit up multiple crags in a day.

In Clear Creek, Canal Zone, Little Eiger, Wall of the 90's, and Capitalist Zone are all good.

Table's basalt is greasy...but it will feel like grip tape compared to the Austin limestone your used to. Especially Barton Creek and Reimers proper. I'm a fellow,Texan and climb down there in Austin. As a fellow Texan, used to the ridiculous humidity and heat of Austin...any climbing temps in Denver area won't bother you too much. And Table's routes are avg longer than most routes in Austin. And if your like any Texan...your desperate for any climbing...so you will be happy climbing anywhere. With that being said, I would agree that CCC is better than Table Mountain. If you have two days...spend them there.

Rigggs24 wrote: The Bihedral area/riviera in Boulder Canyon have some good routes in that range as well.

But face South...

Cascade, Avalon, Tonnere, Sherwood Forest, and others Face either NE or NW and give much more shade.
Much of CCC also faces North. Better than cooking yourself.

Thank you all for your responses - our trip is only 3 days away and I'm super-excited (and a bit nervous)!

One final question: what's the local ethic regarding cleaning the anchors? Rappel only, or is lowering acceptable?

Dan Parisian wrote:Thank you all for your responses - our trip is only 3 days away and I'm super-excited (and a bit nervous)! One final question: what's the local ethic regarding cleaning the anchors? Rappel only, or is lowering acceptable?

Rapp only (though you will see a lot not respecting this)! Is there anywhere where lowering off of anchors IS accepted?

jason.cre wrote: Rapp only (though you will see a lot not respecting this)! Is there anywhere where lowering off of anchors IS accepted?

Yeah, in Texas (where I'm from) at Reimer's Ranch, it's common. I would say it's actually encouraged - I asked one the people running their Facebook page & he told me to not bother with rappelling.

In our group of 8, there are probably 3 of us who have rappelled before, so I guess we'll be doing a lot of cleaning!

I rap on all anchors out here since it does reduce wear. However, there are anchors that are made for lowering. The ones you can clip directly into...not sure what they are called but the ones that dont require you to feed the rope through. Always top rope with your own gear.

Dan Parisian wrote:Thank you all for your responses - our trip is only 3 days away and I'm super-excited (and a bit nervous)! One final question: what's the local ethic regarding cleaning the anchors? Rappel only, or is lowering acceptable?

You can lower off the first people through your biners. The person who cleans a route should rap. Someone somewhere has a bad policy if they are saying otherwise, as over time the wear will necessitate replacement, and frequent or repeated replacements are also problematic and end up ugly.

The rare exception is something like Mussy Hooks or gated cold shuts, but again - the use of those isn't that great of an idea in the first place. Of course there are exceptions.

Rap is better but you will see 75% of the people lowering off in CCC and BoCan.

Also don't climb table mountain (all the other options are way better).

Where are you planning on going?? Got a route list setup?

jason.cre wrote: Rapp only (though you will see a lot not respecting this)! Is there anywhere where lowering off of anchors IS accepted?

A lot of places this is common and if you read this site ever you will have many people telling you any single pitch should just be lower off.

Tony B wrote: You can lower off the first people through your biners. The person who cleans a route should rap. Someone somewhere has a bad policy if they are saying otherwise, as over time the wear will necessitate replacement, and frequent or repeated replacements are also problematic and end up ugly. The rare exception is something like Mussy Hooks or gated cold shuts, but again - the use of those isn't that great of an idea in the first place. Of course there are exceptions.

Tony I think you are totally wrong on this one.
Toproping single pitch sport routes should be done on one's own quick draws, but cleaning should only be done on a lower. I have asked multiple route developers about this and the universal response has been that lowering is safer and preferred. Too many people have been dropped when there's a misunderstanding about rap vs lower. So just lower.

Mark E Dixon wrote: Tony I think you are totally wrong on this one. Toproping single pitch sport routes should be done on one's own quick draws, but cleaning should only be done on a lower. I have asked multiple route developers about this and the universal response has been that lowering is safer and preferred. Too many people have been dropped when there's a misunderstanding about rap vs lower. So just lower.

"only done on lower"??! Absolutely not. How about communicate with your partner just as you do in all aspect of climbing. It is a much better alternative to wearing out anchors which presents far more dangerous liabilities (and increased investment from the climbing community). The idea that a lack of communicating to someone is a reason for not doing something is ludicrous.

With the rapid growth of climbing I think telling new climbers that they should only lower is grossly irresponsible and will lead to a quick degradation of hardware.

+1 for lowering in CCC and north table. Just don't top rope on the fixed gear. Most of the climbs have quick links installed at the anchors, this allows the anchor to be replaced without redrilling.

I haven't climbed in boulder enough to comment on the ethics there. Likely you can only lower on the grass fed, vegan bolts after you give them a hug and smoke them up...

jason.cre wrote: "only done on lower"??! Absolutely not. How about communicate with your partner just as you do in all aspect of climbing. It is a much better alternative to wearing out anchors which presents far more dangerous liabilities (and increased investment from the climbing community). The idea that a lack of communicating to someone is a reason for not doing something is ludicrous. With the rapid growth of climbing I think telling new climbers that they should only lower is grossly irresponsible and will lead to a quick degradation of hardware.

I think you are wrong. As you start to climb steeper sport routes, rappelling becomes impractical.
It is poor practice and unsafe, IMHO, to mix lowering and rappelling, so folks would be much better off just lowering right from the beginning of their climbing careers.

matt c. wrote: I haven't climbed in boulder enough to comment on the ethics there. Likely you can only lower on the grass fed, vegan bolts after you give them a hug and smoke them up...

Well, you have to make sure the anchors are comfortable with the hug first.