Best areas in the front range to boulder with beginner grades, short approaches, and good landings?
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Recently started climbing outdoors again with a focus on bouldering, which is pretty new to me, and so far only in the flatirons at the satellite boulders. However, the approach to the satellite boulders while carrying a pad and heavy backpack has made it a bit difficult. I would love to boulder in some areas more ideal where I can save myself some physical and mental energy for the actual climbing while getting used to falling on a crash pad. In order of importance for the criteria for me would be short approaches > good landings > a variety of boulders with beginner grades (V4 and lower). Also if anyone would like to boulder or climb sometime in the front range, hit me up! Thank you |
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Johnny Utah wrote: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105744361/mount-sanitas |
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JCM wrote: Should have mentioned mount sanitas was on my list to try out next haha. Anywhere else you would recommend after sanitas? Thanks! |
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Guanella Pass. Short approach, generally flat landings, and plenty of fun climbs in the V0-4 range that aren't sandbagged. Three Sisters around the Eggs area is pretty flat and not a long hike, and has some nice V0-4s. |
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Flagstaff has very short approaches and a reasonable number of lower grade routes, although grades can be a little inconsistent. The online guide is excellent. Guanella and Three Sisters are also good in this grade range. I'm not personally a fan of Sanitas- not a lot of problems, and often the landings are tiered, requiring good spotting. |
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Some easy stuff in the Satellites as well as nearby. I've put up some real easy stuff nearby Sunset. |
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Flagstaff and Sanitas are the obvious answers. Park at the Crown Rock trailhead and walk 100 feet in any direction towards visible rock and you've got a new set of moderates to climb. After spraining my wrist last fall I found a good little easy rehab circuit there that I could fit in an hour before work and felt comfortable climbing either padless or with one pad and no spotters. Here's my loop: - The v0-3s on the left part of Tutorial Rock - The stuff on One-Arm rocks (climbed with two arms) - The easy west overhang on the Beer Barrel - The easy west overhang on Distant Dancer - The largely unnamed stuff below the tree slab (there's a cool easy highballish thing down there and lots of other v0 stuff to play on) - The Tree Slab - The Monkey Traverse |
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MattH's circuit looks super fun! Great recommendations. What I love about Flag is that it's SO accessible, you can dial in multiple circuits over time, then work a few climbs each session that you'll eventually add to your circuits. Things that feel impossible start to feel easy and you find yourself getting stronger along the way. (Also: No better place to farm finger skin. After taking time off Flag, I find it takes like three weeks to build skin back to the point that fitness and not finger skin is a session's limiting factor...) |
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Flag is good too, but don’t be surprised if you get shut down on V0-4 climbs in the old school areas (e.g. Red Wall, Amphitheatre). Holds have broken or changed in character since they were FA’ed in the 1960s, and some of them are just plain sandbagged. If you go to Flag, I’d check out the Dark Side behind Cloud Shadow so you aren’t blasted with sun in the summer heat. There are some easy slab problems on Nook’s Rock and some fun V4 overhang problems nearby. |
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Not great for summer but Morrison has a large subset of mediocre easy problems https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105745708/the-dark-side |
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Flagstaff requires some advanced planning if anyone wants to climb after the 9pm parking restriction. Parking permits need to be secured 7 days in advance from OSMP. Parking permits available at: https://bouldercolorado.gov/pilot-flagstaff-nighttime-use-permit-application |
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Great suggestions - super appreciated! This helps a lot |
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3 Sisters in Evergreen has a really easy approach and lots of easy climbs. |
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What's bouldering? |
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evergreen three sisters and chicago lake park at echo lake and buy the bouldering guide books from wilderness exchange locally owned by a climber named Don |
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For anyone who finds this old thread through a search, I put a list of quality (IMO) and safe boulders together at frontrangemoderates.com. Hopefully you find it useful! |