The awesome last pitch of Swanson Arete.

All Locations > Colorado > Boulder > Eldorado Canyon SP > Redgarden Wall > Redgarden - Lum… > Swanson Arete (5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a)

The awesome last pitch of Swanson Arete.

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The top of Swanson Arete.

Chockstone Chimney rappel route. From the top of Upper Ruper, scramble uphill to a wide notch, then down the other side to two huge bolt hangers on the left wall of the chimney. A 100' rappel with a 60m rope takes you to the Upper Ramp; watch the ends of the rope.<br>
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To descend from here, go around the right (N) side of a short slab and traverse left on a ledge to the rappel tree for the Upper Ramp (Vertigo) rappel route. See the photo on the Redgarden Wall page for details.<br>
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The pocketed wall to the left is Body Tremors; around the corner to the right is Italian Arete.

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Jake Johnson

Jun 3, 2022

“The awesome last pitch of Swanson Arete.”

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Nearby Photos

Upper Lumpe Tower and Tower One on Redgarden Wall.

Belays and rappel stations.

The top of Swanson Arete.

The awesome last pitch of Swanson Arete.

Chockstone Chimney rappel route. From the top of Upper Ruper, scramble uphill to a wide notch, then down the other side to two huge bolt hangers on the left wall of the chimney. A 100' rappel with a 60m rope takes you to the Upper Ramp; watch the ends of the rope.<br>
<br>
To descend from here, go around the right (N) side of a short slab and traverse left on a ledge to the rappel tree for the Upper Ramp (Vertigo) rappel route. See the photo on the Redgarden Wall page for details.<br>
<br>
The pocketed wall to the left is Body Tremors; around the corner to the right is Italian Arete.

Getting up and down moderate routes to and from Red Ledge.

The Redgarden East Slab descent.

Upper Ramp rappel route. From the base of Chockstone Chimney, hike up to the right side of the slab by a tree, then downclimb the slab to a ledge. Traverse left on the ledge to a bolted rappel anchor. <high>This anchor was installed on August 21, 2006 to replace the anchor on the wobbling tree.</high> Rappel 65' to a stance with bolts and chains.<br>
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A second 95' rappel takes you to Vertigo Ledge. Follow Vertigo Ledge until it intersects the West Face trail.

Jenna Marie climbing with Joey from Colorado Mountain School. Photo by Brian Aitken.

An option to climb from Red Ledge in two pitches with a 60m.

E Slabs descent.

Second pitch, unknown climber.

A view of the final pitch from Swanson's Arete Proper. The best climbing on the route is up there! Note that the belay ledge (where I am seated) can be reached from the big tree on the red ledge easily in 1 pitch with a 60 meter rope. The ledge comes equipped with a perfectly sized shade tree, a great spot for a snack.

Swanson's Arete as viewed from near summit of Rewritten.

Unknown climbers on tower one photo by J.Wang.

Downclimb to the notch between Lumpe Tower and Tower One (neither difficult nor overly exposed).

A view of the Chockstone Chimney rappel anchor from above.

Pitch 3 from the cave belay under the crux roof.

Leading the first pitch of Swanson Arete.

Mike Hubbard Topping out on the classic final pitch of Swanson's arete. He looks giddy as a school girl! (5/28/08)

Positions and approaches for upper Vertigo rappel option 1 (purple) or option 2 (red).

Climbers on Swanson Arete (down low) with the Yellow Spur in the background.

From the great tree belay just below the arete, above the West Chimney. Great December 30th weather, 2016.

Looking toward Walker.

Final roof (easy moves out right).

Looking down the dihedral.

Stemming fun.

Top of the arete.

Looking toward Green Spur Buttress.

Looking toward Icarus/Yellow Spur finale.

More easy terrain.

Paul (before he bought his helmet), at the top of the second pitch.

John Barton on P3 of Swanson Arete.

New summit rap gear.

Dave Covill heading up the arete on a beautiful day.

Steven Watson on pitch 1.

Leading off on P2 of Swanson's Arete.

Start of the arete.

An approach to the Vertigo rappel anchor (option 2) with the Chockstone rappel in the background.

Eva leading pitch 1.

Eva coming up pitch 2.

Eva leading pitch 3.

Swanson Arete from Rewritten.

View from the summit of Swanson Arete.

A photo from top of Great Zot's P1: the start of the runout traverse + the chossy scramble to the tree belay at the base of Swanson Arete's P1.

From Rewritten/Great Zot, cross over the W Chimney to reach the arete, which ascends the middle bump (Lumpe Tower).

Nelson - Lumpe mid-area belay area going climber's right instead of left. From my comment, this is the area we found a flake that used to be solid, seemed to be more detached & looked like it had moved; we had to climb up to a tree - 50m was full ropestretch to make a safe anchor, would advise to use a 60m or use an area that is climber's left of the arete and 10' below the midledge. The actual ledge has chossy rock.

Wayne tip-toeing up the arete.

Red Bull gives you wings!

Brenda tops out on Swanson Arete.

Photo op: Sara Watson on last pitch approaching top.

Blocky terrain.

In This Photo

emilio Taiveaho Pelaez

Saxapahaw, NC

Julia Grootens

Sandpoint, ID

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