Beginner Ice Climbs in Colorado Front Range

I've climbed ice on a few occasions and lead once so I have a little experience but I still qualify as a beginner. What routes would you recommend to help me gain experience?

Also, my rack of screws is, well, not quite a rack yet. So, if you know of any good beginner routes that offer good placements for rock pro, that would be a bonus.

Thanks,
Craig

Craig,
This is an interesting year to be a beginner ice climber...

The areas that I would recommend would be Silver Plume - if it is still climbable - easy TR setup to get good reps, but nothing long or challenging about it.

Lincoln Falls - good moderate ice 2-3 pitches with the Bowling Alley/Scottish Gully and rock surrounding the ice, not great but probably get some solid placements...it's conditions now are more like an alpine climb than waterfall ice.

There are a few areas left in the park that will give you good experience - The overflow or Jewel lake ice is still in and can be TR'd to practice mock leads (a great way to gain confidence in placing screws)

Hope that helps and let me know if you ever need some one to get out with.

Cheers,
Doug

When they're "in" of course:

Clear Creek Canyon (Coor's Lite)
Boulder Canyon
Moffat
Silver Plume
Loch Vale
Lincoln Falls (Is this Front Range?)

use the search function on this site for WI2 - WI3 in the area you want. There's quite a bit of stuff out there in this range. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

After this year it's hard to believe that CCC or BC EVER had ice like before...Dry and hot.. :o(

doug s wrote:Craig, This is an interesting year to be a beginner ice climber... The areas that I would recommend would be Silver Plume - if it is still climbable - easy TR setup to get good reps, but nothing long or challenging about it. Lincoln Falls - good moderate ice 2-3 pitches with the Bowling Alley/Scottish Gully and rock surrounding the ice, not great but probably get some solid placements...it's conditions now are more like an alpine climb than waterfall ice. There are a few areas left in the park that will give you good experience - The overflow or Jewel lake ice is still in and can be TR'd to practice mock leads (a great way to gain confidence in placing screws) Hope that helps and let me know if you ever need some one to get out with. Cheers, Doug

Thanks, Doug and everyone, for the input.

Yeah, I know. I decided to get back into it early in the winter before it was obvious conditions weren't going to be great. I had decided to wait but then Wilderness Exchange had a smoking deal on BD Vipers that I couldn't resist. So, now I have new toys that I need to play with.

I'm considering going on Sunday but A) I need to find a partner and B) I can only go for 3-4 hours as I have to prepare for a 10-day business trip. If you're interested/able and know of a place that is fairly close with a short approach, let me know.

I can only imagine a world if boulder built an ice park, the carnage that would surely follow

The lower falls in Boulder Canyon is the spot. Park at castle rock, cross the creek to the west and follow the trail for a few minutes. There are three flows, not looking so good this year thought, but the westernmost is where you wanna go. It is obvious, decently long, much less than vertical, and is easily protected with rock gear to the left. I lead it last weekend and there was ice, but it was thin and hollow, it was definitely more mixed than pure ice which made it way harder than it usually is, but who knows what the weather will do next month, it could be great in a week (yeah right), but that or moffat falls are gonna be where you want to learn, hands down.