Crystal Wall

More beta on single pitch routes:

There are 3 distinct walls here. The main wall faces northwest and has Tour de Poudre and all that - This wall is about 150 feet tall or so. There is a 60 foot tall steep wall on the right side of the crag that faces west with routes as well. There is also a little 40 foot tall alcove with routes that faces south, just past the steep wall.

Route beta:

Main wall:
1. Just right of Tour de Poudre is a 80 ft route with 11 bolts, probably 10+ or something like that - pretty nice.

Steep wall (from left to right):
1. Mixed bolts and trad gear, looks hard (12ish?)
2. Steep route with 5 bolts, looks very hard (13ish?)
3. Steep featured route with 8 bolts, shares start with the route above. Really nice route with great movement, although there is some choss. If it cleans up it could be a 3 or 4 star line - probably 12c or so.
4. Steep route with 5 bolts, also pretty decent. Probably 12c or so.

Alcove:
three routes that don't look as hard, but I didn't do any of them. I am guessing 5.10 or 5.11 - short routes, about 40 feet.

Richard
I believe that the route to the right of Tour de Poudre (the one that starts off with two cold shuts) is a Craig Luebben route called Fantastic Voyage and I believe it goes 5.10a/b. I have only done the first pitch and I didn't remember what the second pitch looked like, so I did not enter it on the site. I heard it goes 5.11 something but I'm not sure. The first pitch is pretty fun. I am not 100% about the ratings I entered on the routes I posted, because everyone I've talked to who had climbed the routes all said varying things. I'm fairly certain I'm close, but anyone who knows for sure should let everyone know.

Actually, the route right of Tour de Poudre is brand new and only goes one pitch. There is a fixed line hanging down (as of June 11) and I am guessing they are planning on adding a second pitch.

This wall is pretty big and they could add a few more routes without squeezing too much.

But thanks for posting this area - it is pretty nice. Post something about the Palace if you get over there!

Someone is putting in, or already put up, a route in between Fantastic Voyage and Tour de Poudre? The river must be real high and hard to make it over to the Palace.

I cannot take credit for posting this area on Mountain Project, CharlieO gets those honors. When I saw that someone had posted the area, I went through my photos to see if I had any of the Crystal Wall and I posted them and shared what I knew about the area.

I have only been to the Palace once and will most likely not return. Talk about trying to make a race horse out of a jackass. I have been told that there are some really good routes. However, finding them in the seas of bolts is entirely a different adventure. They should re-rate the routes every year because they change every time you climb them and more holds are broken off.

Thanks for your info, maybe I'll see you out sometime.

There are now close to 20 routes ranging from 5.9 to 5.frickin' hard (5.14, I believe) up here, mostly sport with a few old mixed lines.
Last week, most of the routes on the main wall had their ratings chalked at their base for some reason. I think most of the second pitches go at 5.11 or better for any of the routes that have one.

The 3 routes in the alcove which are up and on an east facing wall go from left to right at around 5.10b, 5.10c, and 5.10d, and up higher and south on a west-facing wall at the base of a few trees is a 5.9.

The older routes are in Peter Hubbel's out of print guidebook 'Front Range Crags' and all the routes should be in Craig Luebben's new guidebook when available.

The trail is now well marked with cairns and the rock is granite. As with any route new or old, loose rock can be present, so climb accordingly i.e. wear a helmet!

Anyone know what the route immediately left of tour de pousdre is? Had "11" chalked at the base. A party told us the first pitch was 5.9 and the second pitch was 5.11. Pitch definitely felt 11 to me and there wasn't a second pitch. Just curious if anyone knew. Thanks. P.S. thanks to whoever is chalking the ratings, let's climb sometime.

Sorry to have posted routes without names, hopefully the information will clear some things up. Twice the other day I found myself on routes far above my last bolt, which sort of sucked, wishing I had a cam. Also, some of this info should keep people from having to write on the rock as a guide to the routes.

Also worth noting, the purple rope that used to hang down at the start of the approach is gone.

Someone needs to redo this whole area, with beta photos and maybe a map of the current routes. There are so many new it's pretty confusing. A lot of the right wall routes are like 9ish until the top, where the moves are hard ten to make the anchors. Bravo on the new anchors. They are very nice.

As of 4/11/09, the approach has a green fixed rope, which can be useful for locating the trail and for the descent.

Thank you for that green rope! I would have never know how to get up there, and it was a bit sketchy so it was super helpful.... gracias!!