Good crack climbs for beginners?

Getting more into trad, and want to learn how to crack climb properly, hand and foot jams, etc. The few times I’ve encountered cracks, I always found a way to face climb around them or layback. Any suggestions for easy, well protected crack climbs in the Denver/Boulder area that would force you to actually crack climb? I want to lead the Bastille Crack sometime, but want to know how to properly crack climb first.

Turkey perch in south platte has a great variety of easier pure crack climbs that can be top roped with some ingenuity. Also bastille crack climbs much more like a face route than the name would lead you to believe.

Thanks for the route suggestions. For any other crack neophytes, I led Crack Corner in Animal World today and thought it was a nice intro to crack. There were a few sections where I was forced to use hand and foot jams to progress, and the jams felt really secure. Lots of solid pro placements in the crack. You could easily scramble up the left side and set up a toprope above.

Karinia Gaston wrote:

Star wars in eldo

If you're in this area, have a look at  "Your Basic Lieback, 5.6 G" . Force yourself to jam it. #1 to #2 camalot size.

Le petit arbre, mother 1, and 1st pitch of capitan nemos at vedauwoo just to name a few. I know you said you're in the Denver area but it's worth the drive and you wont have a choice but to climb the crack. All are 5.7 or 5.8 and can be lead with a single rack. 

Happy crack climbing!

Coming from Denver, Vedauwoo and Turkey Rocks are  both 2 hours

White Lightning in Eldo goes from fingers to fists and protects extremely well.  You could pretty much place a piece, take, reach up, place another piece, etc. if you're hesitant to just go for it.  You can also climb Duh Dihedral (5.6) and traverse right to a bolt anchor to set up a TR on White Lightning.  You'd just want to place a directional or two on the way down.

FWIW, I climbed "easy cracks" at various crags in the Front Range but never got good at crack technique until I climbed Center Route on Cynical Pinnacle. Like already mentioned, it is just too easy to use other climbing moves and not actually jam the crack. There used to be tat at the top of the first pitch (5.9) you could rap off of, but I just saw a comment that it is gone now. Another good pure crack route in the area is Hand Job Direct (5.9; one-pitch, not to be confused with Hand Job).

Most of the suggested climbs are harder than Bastille Crack. Star Wars is harder. Your Basic Lieback is an easier pitch but you have to continue up something harder above. You're planning to learn to climb crack by following an experienced leader, yes? That's your best bet. If you want to learn on imperfect and sometimes polished or flaring cracks, try the 5.6 to 5.8 classics at Lumpy Ridge.

Also, the Wide Boys have some helpful short videos on crack technique, if you haven't seen them.
Wild Country Crack School

Thanks for all the responses. As a follow up, I led the Bastille Crack and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting (the warnings on the MP page had spooked me). The only time I actually had to jam was on P1 when you climb the crack immediately after stepping across, and only for one move. For the rest of the climb jamming was helpful but not strictly necessary.

Also went to Turkey Perch and was humbled by how hard the 5.7 cracks were. Was forced to crack climb the entire way. I was always able to get pieces in above me and stitch up the cracks really well, but it would be easy to walk to the top and set up TR here.

Other beginner crack climbs I found helpful:

• Nightworm Pinnacle in CCC (5.8) - Friendly hand crack that also has face holds if you get tired
• 5.8 Crack at Lookout Mountain - Pretty easy, comfortable crack with a few face holds - significantly easier than a 5.8 crack at Turkey Perch!
• Valyrian Steel at Staunton SP (5.6) - Easy, but short hand crack
• The Touch at Sport Park (5.8) - Easy crack section, and it's bolted too, though you could totally lead it on gear. 
• Empor at Cob Rock (5.7) - A few wider crack sections where jamming is helpful but not strictly necessary

Not sure if the best beginner crack climb but did Pear Buttress at Lumpy today and pitches 1 and 3 had some amazing crack sections. I'm trying to break into 5.9 and both of these pitches were fantastic (pitch 1 was a bit spicy getting first piece of gear in from the slab but from there perfect jams).

+1 for north table. Learned a lot there in my early trad days

Jonathan S wrote:

FWIW, I climbed "easy cracks" at various crags in the Front Range but never got good at crack technique until I climbed Center Route on Cynical Pinnacle. Like already mentioned, it is just too easy to use other climbing moves and not actually jam the crack. There used to be tat at the top of the first pitch (5.9) you could rap off of, but I just saw a comment that it is gone now. Another good pure crack route in the area is Hand Job Direct (5.9; one-pitch, not to be confused with Hand Job).

Cynical pinnacle? Where is it? I’ll be out there next week and I’m always on the lookout for some good pure crack!?! 

Jennifer Vaisman wrote:

Cynical pinnacle? Where is it? I’ll be out there next week and I’m always on the lookout for some good pure crack!?! 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105797908/cynical-pinnacle

Cynical Pinnacle would not be for someone looking for a “beginner crack”.

I love cracks. I feel better jamming than face climbing. I've climbed most of the easy and moderate cracks in the front range. I think Turkey Rocks and Vedauwoo are hands down the best local places to learn. They are also not super close to Denver.