As one of the world's finest and most famous climbing areas, Eldorado Canyon needs little introduction. 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.
The largest cliff, Redgarden Wall , is a few thousand feet wide; it boasts several spectacular summits and an incredible collection of classic climbs. Many of the classic routes were put up in the 1960s by Layton Kor, along with climbers such as Pat Ament and Larry Dalke. The 1970s were primarily a time of first free ascents, spearheaded by climbers such as Steve Wunsch, Roger Briggs, Jim Erickson, and Duncan Ferguson. New activity tailed off a bit in the 1980s, though some very good routes were established.
Climbing in Eldorado Canyon can be odd and it requires some getting used to. It is primarily a traditional area, yet there is relatively little crack climbing. Friends of mine who are used to Lumpy Ridge think everything in Eldo is a sandbag, but once I got used to Eldo I started to feel more secure there than at Lumpy Ridge. Individual pitches will often require delicate face climbing and some kind of funky, inobvious traverse. Highly technical moves separated by decent rests are quite common. Old fixed gear is an Eldo staple, and can either add or subtract spice from your route depending on its quality and the availability of other pro. It enables routes such as the The Yellow Spur and the West Buttress of the Bastille (both 5.9) to offer pro-at-your-waist cruxes. On the other hand, you just know that those pins at the cruxes of climbs like Tagger (5.10) and the The Naked Edge (5.11) are not going to hold too many more 10 foot falls. One should really back up most pins whenever possible. Ultimately, skill in placing pro is very important; cracks tend to be discontinuous and incipient, and nearly all the "sport" routes require some gear as well.
The aforementioned Redgarden Wall holds the longest routes, but also offers great one-pitch climbs, [particularly] a little ways up the trail at a long slanting roof. The Bastille is a 350 foot high vertical cliff which rises right out of the road and offers very steep climbing. The The Wind Tower is the place to go for great beginner climbs as well as scary 5.10 routes, and the The West Ridge/Rincon offers the best concentration of one pitch routes of all grades -- usually very aesthetic crack and corner climbs. Obscure outlying areas such as Cadillac Crag, Shirt Tail Peak, and the Peanuts Walls have excellent climbing, but also involve longer approaches.
Eldo can be a very confusing place and it is helpful to at least look at a guidebook, such as Richard Rossiter's comprehensive "Rock Climbing Eldorado Canyon". Fred Knapp's "Classic Boulder Climbs" is about a third the cost, and still has most of the best routes as well as other great routes around Boulder.
Ideally, a traditional climber's road trip to Boulder should include a day at Eldo followed by a day at Lumpy Ridge (45 minutes from Boulder)-- both offer fantastic climbing, but it is hard to imagine two more different styles. Of course, if experience permits, the alpine rock climbs in nearby Rocky Mountain National Park are not to be missed, either. One can climb in Eldo at any time of year, though summer is piping hot and slick while winter is inconsistent.
Getting There
From Denver, head N on I-25 to US 36, go to the CO Hwy 170 exit. Follow it as it curves around a new shopping complex, and go past CO Hwy 93 to the town of Eldorado Springs and to the state park.
From Boulder, take CO Hwy 93 (Broadway) South until you get to the first stop light after leaving Boulder. This is Eldorado Springs Dr. Take this West until you hit the town. The park entrance is at the end of the dirt road into town. Pay entry fee per vehicle to park or walk-in for less. You WILL be ticketed if you park in undesignated spots outside of the park.... The Eldorado Springs bottling company is right off the road to the park. You used to be able to get a free fill-up on your water bottle, but now it's a pay deal. What a rip, man.
Fees
Annual State Park passes cost $55 for 1st vehicle, $20 for additional vehicles. Daily fees are $5 per vehicle.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Eldorado Canyon SP:
The Reckoning, I've waited a long time to log this route in at cb.com. Mark had scoped this route several years before we went up to put it in. For now, I'll avoid a lot of commentary on the personal significance of The Reckoning to Mark except to say that The Reckoning hit Mark in much the same way that Battle's End hit me, and for a similar reason. It's a bit strange, perhaps, but when you have enough love of climbing it becomes hard to separat...[more]Browse More Classics in CO
This place is the best for novices like myself in the front range. None of the routes are so inaccessible or epic as to scare away someone who's never been there before. And the east crack of the Whale's Tail should be required for every new leader.
It is $50 for a Colorado State Park Season Pass. Good for the calendar year at ANY Colorado State Park. [$6] for a day fee per car. I believe the new visitor center, and other improvements were paid for out the State Lottery Funds allocated to Parks i.e.
Screw that $50 bucks and to hell with pay-to-play. Why aren't we challenging the state of our park??? Think about it this way--how would you feel if "they" started charging $50 bucks for a season pass to Lumpy and built a road up to Sundance with a parking lot and porta-john at The Book?? Fuck that road through our canyon!! don't you just love it when you top out on the yellow spur and look down and see some dip-shit below in a candy-red PT Cruiser.
Take that 50 bucks and use it to destroy that bathroom and that road--restore the area and leave a small maintained trail, and build the parking lot OUTSIDE the canyon!!
Jay, keep in mind that in the late 70s what is now Eldorado Canyon State Park almost became a gravel quarry, but the State stepped in and bought the property off the Fowler family (for something like $500K). Yes, some of the "improvements" are overblown, but the alternative would have been grim. $50 is a steal for use of this park for an entire year.
I moved to the Denver area 5 years ago......I don't care if they charged $20 a day to get in there......NEVER forgot what you have at your fingertips.
Eldo is Eldo-what more can you say? Wolrd class to say the very least, world's best in some opinions.
It's on $50-and unlike many other payments that we all make, this one is most likely going to a very worthwhile service. Consider your payment as your "good deed of the day".
This state is heaven-don't forget it. If you don't agree....well, don't let the door hit you in the a$$.
Concern: Last week I went up to the Green Spur area to knock it off before the rain. On my hike up, I heard "falling" sounds. Lots of boulders knocking together. The occasional sickening "thump." After hiking up aways I encountered a few Europeans (by the sound of them), mostly teenagers. We chatted for a few moments and I asked them if everyone was okay in their party. Sure were, so I moved on, only to see them resume their little game of tossing boulders down the talus slope!!! I don't think I need to address how dangerous this is on this website. Taking out a whole family of hikers is a serious possibility. Instead, I would like to bring this to the community's attention. Keep your heads up, eyes and ears open, and bring a pistol for pest control when you climb... If anyone notices such activity in the future, bite the bullet and go alert the rangers of this activity. Missing two hours of climbing is a small price to pay for the safety of others in the canyon IMHO.
AC, by the time I figured out what was going on, I was just short of being on belay and they were across the talus/scree just west of the Yellow Spur start. My partner and I yelled as loudly and clearly as we could essentially to knock it off. Threw in some colorful language so they got the point. Something about killing someone. Honestly, I was so mad, I couldn't really remember. They immediately quit, so there wasn't a whole lot of point going to confront them then. Had I seen it happen on the approach I would have turned around. I don't think I made the right decision of simply yelling (practice what I preach, I know), but avoidance of confrontation is my MO. Hopefully others will learn from my bad judgement.
Check this web site out for a list of accidents in Eldo. These are taken verbatum from Accidents in North American Mtneering and other sources. Also has accidents in Boulder Canyon and other areas if you hunt around the site:
Has anyone heard a rumor of a new Eldo guidebook in the works? I heard rumors of a Sharp End full-color guidebook, like the David Bloom Indian Creek guide. Anyone know anything about this?
So climbing up on Wind Ridge I see this huge ass cable and I'm thinkin "what the hell is that for" so I look it up. some old dude used to tight rope between there and the Bastille. I'm not aware if the cables are still there on the Bastille but if they are why not highline it?
I saw someone grate across the original Ivy Baldwin cable in the early '70s. They had to wrap a chain around it due to the large diameter. You guys who are asking about setting up a high line: the Parkies will never let it happen. That said, what kind of rope or cable would you use and how would you set it up?
WARNING!!! The rappel tree on the top of the upper ramp (that puts you more or less at the base of Vertigo) is NOT stable.
A bolted rappel anchor was installed near this tree on 8/21/06, after approval by the Eldorado Fixed Hardware Review Committee. See Photo, Photo, Photo for details.
What exactly is the impetus for the new speed bumps just after the ranger station? I saw a number of two-wheel drive cars bottom out on those monsters; is speeding really that big a problem in the canyon?
The "speed bumps" you refer to are actually water bars, created to divert water to the appropriate storm drains. If you have any other questions or issues, feel free to contact one of us at the park.
A seasonal wildlife closure on Redgarden Wall from the Naked Edge (pitch 3 – top) through Sidetrack has been lifted two weeks early due to the four chicks fledging. The routes that are now open include: The Naked Edge (last 3 pitches), The Diving Board, Centaur, Redguard (last 3 pitches), Red Ant, Semi-Wild, Anthill Direct (last 3 pitches), and The Sidetrack.
Eldorado Canyon enforces climbing closures in order to protect nesting and roosting sites of the canyon’s prairie falcons. Eldorado Canyon State Park staff and raptor monitor volunteers would like to thank the rock climbing community for adhering to the closure, ensuring another successful breeding year for these amazing creatures.
You Can Help Us Protect Eldo’s Falcons
The walls of Eldorado Canyon provide critical breeding habitat for birds of prey, such as our nesting pair of prairie falcons. Human disturbances (such as climbing) near the nest can cause abandonment and nest failure. As human actions and breeding and prey habitat loss continue to impact prairie falcon populations, it is even more essential that visitors to their homes respect these temporary restrictions. If you would like to view the nest with a ranger or a volunteer raptor monitor, please contact the park at (303) 494-3943. Thank you for helping protect Eldorado Canyon’s wildlife!
By Jeff Siefman From: Portland Oregon Mar 24, 2008
Does anyone have any old hand drawn topos from back in the day? Or know where to find them? I need a help from the old school cats! Please email me. siefmanj@mac.com...
I am chillin in Laramie, WY- and my partner and I are thinking about checking out the EC...? We like trad- and love crack...any suggestions? Is this a good weekend to go? Is there camping, should I buy a guide book? Any info would be super helpful! Thanks
2010 will be the 75th anniversary of the first rock climb in the Gunks: The Old Route at Millbrook, FA by Fritz Weissner, 1935. This got me thinking: what was the first rock climb in Eldorado? As near as I can tell from the guides, the Bastille Crack may have that designation. Jim Erickson placed the first ascent in the early 1950s by US Army climbers. After that there are several routes done in 1956, the most challenging being the Redgarden Route. Does anyone have any information on any climbing routes in Eldorado prior to this?
Clearly, with the ascents on the Maiden and steep/overhanging faces of the Third Flatiron, high angle rock climbing in the Boulder area was alive and well in the late '40s and early '50s. Yes, we have the Bastille and Redguard from the mid-'50s, but if there was high quality climbing going on in the Flatirons in the late '40s did anything get done in Eldorado which has been lost over time?
I'm wondering what the route is you always pass by on your way to the Redgarden wall, before the roof routes. It's the steeply overhanging cave on your right with maybe 6 fixed draws and an anchor about 40 ft off the deck. I don't even know where to look for it on MP....
Found rope on Redgarden Wall around Green Spur, left of Yellow Spur. Comment on this website if it is yours and I can easily return to it. Give description and better description of how you left it. I assume it got snagged when you were pulling it from rappeling.
Y'all are way too verbose in your Eldo information. I appreciate the time such tedious documentation must've required, but beta should be more straightforward than this.
A sample pdf of the upcoming Eldorado Canyon: A Climbing Guide by Steve Levin is available for download at www.sharpendbooks.com. The 448 page book is due in late September and will retail for $39.95. Enjoy.
448 pages, yowzers. There goes the light and fast theory! Hopefully it will still fit in the purses, er uh packs, that some of my friends carry.... As much as I hate climbing at Eldo, I am actually looking forward to getting this book. Thanks for all of the hard work on this, Steve and Co.
Hi. I left a new, bright yellow, 200ft NE Static rope on top of the Bastille (deep down in a recess where the routes Outer Space, Hairstyles and Attitudes, etc. top-out). Please return this rope to me. I left it up there over the last 2 weeks as I've been hoping to get back to re-bolt a route up there. While I appreciate it being out of some of this rain and didn't mean for it to be up there for so long, the rangers didn't take it and I need it back NOW. Please return this to the ranger station or park entrance OR email me: Madaleines@gmail.com.
Yes, 448 pages does change the light and fast theory if you haul the book. We're offering a free eBook if you pre-purchase the print guide. You can print out just the pages you need for the multi-pitch outings, plus you'll have the info right away. Oh, and 10% of all pre-orders goes to ACE.
We want to congratulate Steve Levin, Fred Knapp, and Sharp End Books on what we believe may be the best rock climbing guidebook ever written--Eldorado Canyon: A Climbing Guide. The book is amazingly thorough, not only (!) offering you over 1500 route descriptions, most of which are accompanied by high-definition color photo route overlays, but also offering a wealth of information on the history of climbing in the canyon, including details on the first ascents of many of the routes in the book. The book is simply phenomenal.
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