How about climbing on big limestone, 2 hours from Denver, with zero approach, and a South to West facing system of crags? Too good to be true? Not. Puoux can offer exactly that, but with the caveat that most of the developed climbing is just off Interstate 70. No good guide has been developed, so this is it until the FA teams get the data assembled. Separate parties with Jeff Achey, Eric Candee, Dave Pegg, Greg Purnell, and others have done the work. The limestone can be excellent to poor, depending on location, but the routes listed here will be derived from the best stone. Many of the routes start right off the ground, however, some very steep and very rad lines have been developed that require some hair-ball approach on fixed cords. Since the limestone sees little traffic, much of it is fresh and sharp - even now nothing is polished (I'll probably regret this comment). This reminds me of the upper sectors of the routes in Rifle that have all of those little scalloped spines on them.
So far, the climbing is confined to the road-side crag, called the No Name Crag (aka Puoux), with Puoux and Fault Walls seeing most development. However, development is also pushing into the higher crags on the hill and across the river in the shadowy grey limestone - time will tell how these shape up.
Getting There
Puoux is just about the easiest crag in Colorado to locate, being immediately adjacent to Interstate 70. Park in the large pull-out 300 feet East of the tunnel at Glenwood Springs. The crag by road-side is obvious. Development is spreading to the higher cliff and across the river.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Puoux:
Birdman features great rock, a cool position, amazing movement, and a heartbreaking crux at the anchors.Starting off a ledge, move up and left under a roof and commit to the steep wavy wall above. Consistently harder moves on pockets, pinches, and edges leads to a decent rest below the extended crux section. With you power fading, push past sculpted slopers, and pinches to a very unique finish in shallow scoop. This may be one of the best 13a's in Colorado! Also, for anyone allergic to bees...[more]Browse More Classics in CO
As far as I have heard, the only development across the river in horseshoe bend has been purely exploratory. I know a few individuals who have rapped in from above to toprope a few lines. I haven't seen or heard of any bolts being installed. Access to the horseshoe bend has been from above off of the Scout trail and the Forest Hollow trail. These can be reached from the east end of eighth street in g-wood. I would love to hear if anything was being developed...
Rick Spoot speaks the truth about the chipping on those boulders at New Castle. Unfortunately he writes like he's in 4th...no wait...3rd grade, so no one takes him seriously.
Spooty, if there is extensive chipping going on at these crags then go ahead and name names. And stop using this brain-damaged persona to discuss these important issues.
Spooty's comments, while in poor grammar and often denigrating into random insults, do provide a much needed bitch out to any rank bastard who would pick up a chisel. I'm generally amused by his comments and enjoy reading them. The [Poux], though a roadside distraction, [suffers] from chiseling like other sport areas. Please don't bring down a route, sport or bouldering, to your level by chiseling. There's plenty of other rock to be had everywhere even for "pizzle diks". Even a fat ass weekend-warrior moderate climber like myself could put up a route a week in Glenwood Canyon with out chiseling. Why chisel if it's an A0 bolt ladder anyway? Don't you have aiders? Keep spewing Spooty and call bullshit if you need to... Also keep in mind the [Poux] are actually on mine claims owned by private individuals; check out the boundries of public(BLM or Forest Service), private, and city owned land in at the Garfield county [assessor's] office.
I added some routes to the DB last night. Because most have no names & the numbering of "NoName..." was already in-place I numbered each going from right to left. I hope this makes sense. If anyone has any more info for these &/or wants corrections let me know & I'll make the edits.
Also, 1 of the 3 Innominate climbs (the left-hand 1 I think?) had a large chunk fall off of it in the past few weeks. It contains 1 of the route's bolts. Not sure if it's still climbable, but probably not safe without the bolt.
Actually that chunk of rock with the bolt fell off at some point last summer. I first noticed it last August, but it may have fallen off in the spring, according to the speculation of some. At one point, I heard rumors that it came off when someone fell on the bolt, but I'm quite positive that the story is b.s.
With the generous support of Climbing Magazine's Anchor Replacement Initiative, the Roaring Fork Climbers Coalition is spearheading an effort to replace bolts and anchors at the Puoux this winter. We want to update bolts that are showing visible signs of degradation caused by the seeping nature of the limestone and replace them with new stainless steel hardware. We'll begin with the more popular routes at the Puoux as well as bolts and anchors in greater need.
If you have any suggestions for routes, bolts or anchors that are in need of some care, please let us know. You can email suggestions to badbolts@splitterchoss.com or you can PM or email me through this site.
I am cross-referencing info on the Puoux in the new Rifle Mountain Park and Western Colorado Rock Climbs guidebook along with info from Mtn Project and splitterchoss.com. Can someone please clarify for me which info is newer updated? I thought online was a good source, but there is much more in the new book than there is online, but not all that is online appears to be in the book. I am new to leading and learning the ropes (no pun intended), so perhaps I just need some processing time to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but any advice anyone has is welcome in the meantime. THanks!
The stuff on splitterchoss.com is getting old. I haven't updated it since the new guidebook came out. The info in the guidebook should be pretty spot on, that's what I'd go with.
The stuff in the guidebook is newer than the stuff here although there are some new climbs (added by Evan) that aren't in the guidebook. That may be part of the confusion. Plus, because many of the climbs don't have known names, mp.com has a bunch of numbers that can be a little confusing.
On the Two Moon Buttress, there is a route missing. The center route up the center of the wall. Ten or eleven bolts of good climbing out a roof 20 feet right of the big flake. It's Pete Heck's route in 1992 maybe. Seeking Clarity is the title. It was like 10c and has broken down to about 11a/b. The bulge is the business with some cool moves then up the sustained wall. 60 meter rope recommended. Please add it to the roster. Thanks
There is a pair of Miuras at the bottom of Youth Warm Up. They look as though they were forgotten in the last couple of days. We left the there figuring the owner would come back for them. -Dave
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