| The Urban Alpine Crag |
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BETA PHOTO: Crag from Deer Creek Canyon Road.
Description Urban? Alpine? This diminutive wall in Deer Creek Canyon has a uniquely North Face feel only seconds from a busy road. Urban – well-bolted, moderate, sport routes with interesting and cerebral climbing on fairly solid gneiss/schist with a Clear Creek feel and a 45 second approach. Alpine – said approach is horrendously loose and steep; lichen, moss, dirt, and a bad weather magnet give a distinctly un-sport crag appeal. Add in some rattlesnakes, unstable ground, and aggressive vegetation and you have the making of an adventure within sight of DTC. This little fin of rock will give you your money’s worth with some tenuous, inobvious climbing, and “thinky” routes. All the routes are short and as mentioned, very well-bolted. This is a great little crag for those after work burns on the Southwest side of the Metro.
Due to the nature of the rock and difficulty of getting above, most routes are not top-rope friendly with the exception of K2 and Morin a Minute. Plan on leading. All the routes can be easily done with a 60 meter rope. The very friendly nature of the bolt spacing makes these excellent first time leads at the grade. The starts are usually the most difficult section of the routes, and although the climbing can be tenuous, the rock is very well featured. Since this is a new crag, it still is being cleaned, and there are little pockets of loose rock. It is best to protect the belayer here. It is North-facing and shady even in the high summer.
Getting There Deer Creek Canyon is far south and west in the Denver Metro. Make your way to the intersection of C-470 and Kipling Parkway in Littleton. Heading south from this intersection, make the first right turn onto W. Ute Ave. (heading west). Pass the Johns Manville plant and Xcel energy, round a couple of sharp turns and head into the Canyon proper. Set your odometer at the electric substation at the mouth of the Canyon.
From the substation, go exactly 3.0 miles up the windy Deer Creek Canyon Road keeping an eye out for the Canyon’s namesake. On the right (north) side of the road, you will see a graffitied garage. The parking pullout is on the opposite (south) side of the road. Hang a dangerous u-turn here or head up the road further and turn around at a safer spot and come back. The crag is a couple hundred feet to the west (up-canyon) of the pullout. Cross the road and head straight up to the base.
L->R: A. Gneiss Lee Done, 10, 1p, bolts.
B. Mike in the Fast Lane, 9+, 1p, bolts.
C. Hasbeen Done, 10-, 1p, bolts.
D. Morin a Minute, 10-, 1p, bolts or TR.
E. Roach Clip, 9, 1p, bolts.
F. K2 (Kerry Kells Route), 7, 1p, TR.
The ClassicsMountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Urban Alpine Crag:
Featured Route For The Urban Alpine Crag
BETA PHOTO: Right side routes.
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BETA PHOTO: Crag from the road.
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BETA PHOTO: Left side routes.
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Tracy more than likely on the second route from th...
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Lee above Hasbeen. Mike above Morin a Minute.
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Mike.
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I think I'm on MFL?
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That's Locker and the crag.
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| Comments on The Urban Alpine Crag |
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By Stich
From: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Aug 16, 2012
| Super fun half day of climbing! Thanks for putting in the work everyone. |
By Monomaniac
Administrator
From: Morrison, CO
Aug 20, 2012
| Nice addition, Lee/Mike/Mike et. al.! I've driven/ridden by this cliff countless times and thought it would make for a nice little crag.
Watch out for road bikes on the approach! |
By Lee Smith
Aug 22, 2012
| Thanks, Mono. It is perfect for moderates after work. You are correct about the road bikes -- Tom Hanson was crossing the road and almost got T-boned by some Lance wanna-be going mach 9! |
By Matt Pierce
From: Morrison, CO
Sep 16, 2012
| We had this place to ourselves this morning. This is a really fun crag close to town. If you like very well bolted moderates, this is a good place. The approach is short and only a bit gnarly coming off the road. Belay stances aren't ideal. Nice work by those that put up the routes - thanks! Oh - and we were in the shade all day.... |
By Mike Lane
From: Centennial, CO
Sep 17, 2012
| Here in the early days of this crag, the routes can't get enough brushing. Feel free to pitch in on some. Blow tubes work surprisingly well too. Meantime, we'll keep working at it. It wouldn't hurt either to take a few minutes and help re-arrange the abundant flat stones into steps and landings. This is a work in progress. |
By Lee Smith
Oct 17, 2012
| If you have a group of people and you want to set up TRs, you can use one 60m rope to set up 2 routes in most cases; i.e. K2 and Roach Clip, MITFL and GLD, etc. Disclaimer: Please only do this if you know what you are doing. Remember, these routes must be led first to set up TRs. |
By Jay Eggleston
From: Littleton
Nov 6, 2012
| The only parking I saw was on the right side of the road shortly after the crag. |
By Lee Smith
Nov 26, 2012
| There is a small pullout on the right just after the crag, but the best option is the pullout opposite the Graffiti garage. It is bigger and shadier in the summer, plus you can see your car from the crag. |
By Lee Smith
Nov 26, 2012
| I found a sling above K2. Any takers? |
By ErikaNW
Dec 1, 2012
| Super fun crag - thanks, Lee, for the tour! You guys have done an amazing job here - small crag, but every line is good quality. False advertising on that approach though... took me way longer than 45 seconds! |
By Locker
From: Westminster, CO
Dec 13, 2012
| "I found a sling above K2. Any takers?"....
Lee, as you now know, that was mine. Just wanted to thank you for posting that you found it. So many wouldn't have, just figuring it to be "Booty" (which it was) and a piece of shit sling (which it is).
Cool of you!
Thanks, man!
Side note: It was the last of the DYNEEMA shit I had left, and I'm HAPPY to see it go....
LOL!!!....
And it is indeed a fun, albeit super LITTLE, crag.... |
By Timothy.Klein
From: Highlands Ranch, CO
Apr 30, 2013
| This is a great little cliff. I've now climbed all 6 lines, and they are all high quality. Typical gneiss climbing: highly featured, but often with holds pointing slightly the wrong way. Good stuff, super short approach (but steep).
The lines are very generously bolted, which I really appreciate on a highly featured slab. Nobody likes to cheese grater down that stuff.
Be careful leaving: I often flip a u-turn, but visibility is limited.
Note: this crag never sees sun. We went there on a beautiful day in early April (65 degrees, no clouds). It was chilly at the base of this crag, there was about 8 inches of snow still, and the rock was FREEZING. So cold that I backed off of one route because of the pain/numbness in my fingers.
So save it for the warmer days. |
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