Eldo - Cadillac Crag - Route Closures (Let it Vee -> Deviant)

Greetings:

There's a very precarious, very large block at the base of Let it Vee at Cadillac Crag. I put up danger tape and closed off Let it Vee, You're Ugly, and Deviant.

If I can assemble enough volunteers (5) to run the necessary trail closures, we may have an opportunity to move that block tomorrow morning. 7am start, should be finished by 10am. PM me if you're interested.

Many thanks

Mike McHugh
Park Resource Technician
Eldorado Canyon State Park
mike.mchugh@state.co.us

Bump.

Tomorrow (10/24), the Eldorado Canyon trail will be closed starting at 0730. If all goes well, it will reopen at 0930. The potential fall line of the debris intersects the trail in three places.

Just sent you a PM. 

pmed

Hey -

Thanks to superb Eldo volunteers! That rock was removed. It was probably north of 20,000 lbs and went over with a gentle tug. I'll post vid in a bit.

Be very careful in that area - there's still some loose rock that we couldn't safely get to today. 

I'm very far from local, but have climbed at Eldo.

Even so, thanks so much for the quick response.  I won't climb that route for at least a long while, but I appreciate what you and the other volunteers were able to do.

In case you're curious about why this block became a priority so fast...

In 2009, the area looked like this:

Yesterday, the block looked like this. It had slid about 7 or 8 feet down and moved quite a ways out from the cliff:

Here's the trundle in progress.

We closed the whole Eldorado Canyon trail for the trundle. That thing was poised to unleash hell onto a very popular hiking trail.

Good work.  Thanks for you efforts!

good job not munching that nice big tree.  managed to shoot the gap just right :)

Curious how the route looks/climbs now? Any pics from below?

Holy crap! Thanks Mike and crew!! That’s one of my favorite Eldo crags. That thing was massive! 

nbrown wrote: Curious how the route looks/climbs now? Any pics from below?

I'd stay away from all the climbs that start in that corner until we've had a good freeze/thaw cycle. The sit-down-start to Let it Vee has been eliminated and the first 35' of You're Ugly ... will be pretty different. The fragments of that pillar sat down relatively flat and didn't bang up the walls much at all, but it was a tectonic event compared to the usual Eldo trundle. There are a bunch of better climbs to get on at Cadillac while winter/spring weather does some additional cleanup.

If you're in the mood for Deviant, approach from Gonzo as per this pic:

nbrown wrote: Curious how the route looks/climbs now? Any pics from below?

I’ve also got vid from a different vantage point that I’ll have to pull off my camera.

Thanks guys. I was really just curious how the "new terrain" looked. Occasionally a route gets better but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

Anyone been up there this spring? Is Deviant still doable from this start?

plantmandan wrote: Anyone been up there this spring? Is Deviant still doable from this start?

Don't know about the normal start but I approached from the right (as Mike M. suggested above) not long after their work and it was prefectly fine/safe. Looking down it looked like quite a mess in need of a serious cleaning, but probably not too unsafe. Also, for what it's worth, the closure signs are still up.

Hey - ACE members and I will be scouting a number of reported loose blocks in the coming weeks. Hair City, the Wind Ridge walkoff ledge, p4 of yellow spur, and Cadillac. There were some pretty good cold snaps with moisture this winter; Freeze/thaw might make for a lot of loose rock in Eldo this year. Updates forthcoming.

Trident (Rincon) has a very tipped-out 6-8' chockstone that looks to be on borrowed time. High foot traffic below - don't linger. Look closely - you can almost see it move  , just below the top of P1. 

Has anyone taken a really good look at the giant flake at the start of the last pitch on Vertigo lately? (The one below the roof.)

ABB, Ryan: Thanks for the info - duly noted, they'll be in the inspection tour this spring.

Thanks again for all your hard work Mike! You and your crew are awesome. It was really nice up there today. The fir tree partially up You're Ugly looked quite precarious. Any chance that will survive?

I'll add that the following comment was posted on this forum under Ghetto Cruiser in January. I climbed it today and didn't notice anything terribly dangerous, but it may be worth checking out if you have time.

"Be careful! There is a huge loose block at the top of the layback section. It is about 4 ft by 4 ft and is completely detached. If knocked off, it would land right on your belayer. Very fun route though"