Okay, here we go. Big section of rock here. This bit of reorg will take longer. Beware of falling participles, hanging adjectives, hazardous grammar....for you perfectionists....don't read any further until it is safe.....
The West Ridge is an amazing, diagonalling cliff band, far wider than tall, with an enormous variety of climbing on SW-facing Fountain Formation sandstone. There are face climbs, dihedrals, slabs, overhangs, thin cracks, wide cracks, lots of moderate routes, but, sorry, no long routes. It lies just W of its larger sister, the Redgarden Wall, and rises out from the S. Boulder Creek to the gully just before Rincon. Interestingly, this ridge seems to have escaped the climbers' attention until 1963. Perhaps, it is 2400 feet wide by up to 350 feet tall with at least 180 routes. These routes range in length from 20 foot highballs to the 5-pitch Long John Wall and from 4th class to 5.12d at least; however lower than 5.7 & higher than 5.11 is are lightly represented here. So, higher end climbers need to look elsewhere for established testpieces unless you want to free one of the few remaining aid lines. Likely, it has the greatest potential for unclimbed routes remaining in Eldorado but many of the unclimbed areas area unclimbed for a reason.
Although there are no long routes here, this is a particularly great place to climb since climbing is well-spread out, there are all sorts of difficulties in climbing routes close together, and it's simply beautiful here. You can dial in your temperature setting by aspect of the face, shade, & altitude. For the moderate traditional climber seeking ease of access & variety, there may no place better in the close-in Denver Metro area.
For the purposes of organization for ease of use, the West Ridge is divided into 6 areas by well-known, spaced-out, arbitrary climbs (Xanadu, Pony Express, Long John Wall, Verschneidung) with the distinct Potato Chip (cover shot for the classic Boulder Climbs South) which remains from the previous organizational scheme.
Descent can be done by rappel or scrambling down the E side of the ridge when there it is snow-free.
So, while we're working on this, anyone care to sound in on if they've already done my long-term vision of a girdle traverse? I'm guessing this could be the second longest climb in the area. Mic? Did Derek do this? Crusher? Chris? Hamish? Tony? Bob? Malcolm? Duncan? Charlie?
Girdle on Redgarden is probably bigger.
Getting There
Approach is dependent upon the depth of the creek, the section of wall you wish to climb, the parking available, and your desires for the day. You can approach the top of the ridge by parking at the W end of the park, hiking up the Eldorado Canyon Trail, take the turn off for the Rincon access, then boulder hop the talus, and cross to the Rincon. Then angle down a short way to the top of the ridge. You can approach the lower part of the ridge by parking at the Milton Boulder, wade the stream or boulder hop (Aug-ish to May-ish) to the base of the ridge and ascend. Finally, you can approach the lower part of the ridge by parking at the E end of the park, cross the bridge, hike on the trail paralleling the creek, and traverse the slippery 3rd class ramp around to the base of the West Ridge. Note, this last traverse is intimidating for small kids and particularly green partners.
This climb begins just to the right of a rotten chimney area a hundred yards or so downhill from Positively Fourth Street. It is identified by a RF dihedral that leads to a roof with a thin crack through it. This route is a combination of the first pitch of Practice Climb 101 and the second pitch of Sidewall.Scramble up the bottom 10 or 15 feet of the chimney and situate yourself on a ledge/bench below the dihedral. Climb the dihedral (11a) pa...[more]
Yesterday I was hiking the West Ridge and noticed something a bit unusual.
A tree lying on the ground right by the trail had three slings on it (black, red, tan?). I'm guessing this used to be a rap anchor up on the rock and pulled out. If I remember correctly this was above the Long John Wall area, but that could be mistaken.
I don't visit this part of Eldo too often & was curious if there is a story behind this. For all I know this is old news, but it just struck me as strange.
Due to the raging high water, access to West ridge is a bit more complicated but can still be made from the east. However, the 4th class polished boulder next to the stream, that most folks skirt around or over, is not an option. We climbed straight up 3rd class terrain from there and rapped from a dead tree to the trail below on the other side.If your returning the same way, there's a slot that goes at (6) for 20' in the corner by the standard walk around next to the river.
ROCK FALL WARNING!!! There has been some major rock fall at the north buttress of West Ridge, right of Chockstone and left of Xanadu. There are still some rocks coming down. I could not tell if any routes were damaged but there is dust all over the face.
The West Ridge
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