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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 27, 2016 - 09:41am PT
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I've been traveling to the Denver area professionally for nearly 30 years. I've been on numerous snowboarding trips to Colorado over the past 30+ years. I've climbed in many places (even spent three days climbing in Oklahoma) but I've not once climbed outdoors in Colorado and have never visited Eldorado Canyon.
So yesterday I visited. I drove 42 miles from Greenwood Village to the park and it only took me 60 minutes. Drove up the 10 MPH road past the Eldorado Springs resort/pool thing. Paid $8 to enter and park the car.
A few things struck me:
1. That place is a lot smaller than the Chelton/Godfrey book climb made it feel. I have an old and very dog-eared copy of Climb! from the late 70's. Spent many hours absorbing its contents.
2. Watched people climb Bastile Crack and to a climber, they mentioned how slick those opening moves were; even looked slick from the ground.
3. Even though the place is physically small, the climbing looked awesome and extensive.
4. It only took me 100 minutes to drive the 42 miles back to Greenwood Village around 6 pm.
I will be back with $8, gear and a partner next time.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Oct 27, 2016 - 10:36am PT
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bring beer !
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Oct 27, 2016 - 11:28am PT
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Yellow Spur... no matter what.
The 'summit' is... well... you'll see.
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JohnnyG
climber
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Oct 27, 2016 - 01:19pm PT
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Viva eldorado!
When I first saw the place, I was like "meh." But then I touched the rock. That place is so damn fun. West ridge climbs on a fall or spring day...awesome!
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Oct 27, 2016 - 01:33pm PT
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A really gorgeous place to be sure, full of adventure. Always thought the place (like Yos valley), was Underlinedstout & intimidating to the uninitiated. A place where even moderate ratings were to be respected, but I get skeeared real easy so who knows.
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Oct 27, 2016 - 01:50pm PT
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I love Eldo, but unfortunately don't get there nearly often enough these days. Some of the highest quality climbs anywhere, but the ratings can be all over the place. Eldo is where many "Dalke 5.9's" are located - pitches that were later upgraded to 5.10 or 5.11 (Dalke was a beast). However, don't let that put you off, go there, climb much, have memories for the rest of your life. Also, consider spending a weekend in town and going up Boulder Canyon or up to Lumpy Ridge in Estes Park - now that is a place to give you memories for a lifetime!
cheers
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Oct 27, 2016 - 01:54pm PT
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The guide book might state 5.8, but if you also read, for instance, FA Layton Kor, you best take that into consideration!...
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Oct 27, 2016 - 02:03pm PT
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Hmmm. Well, the first time I saw Eldo in '75 I thought it was gigantic, but then I was coming from the hollows of Southern Illinois. But from that point on, it became a semi-annual 18-hour pilgrimage across I-70. Love the place. The Bastille Crack was my first roped-solo and last year I made it back there to do a fortieth anniversary rope solo of it after an absence of about 20 years. It was like being in a time machine - nothing had changed (hell, I thought the opening moves were slick in '75 so didn't notice anything different).
Can't imagine having repeatedly been near the place and not hitting it relentlessly. It'd be like spending thirty years making trips to NYC and never going to the Gunks, or SF and never going to the Valley...
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Oct 27, 2016 - 02:44pm PT
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About the ratings:
The most modern guidebook and current "standard" is Levin, and before that it was Rossiter, which mostly have the same ratings. You can also look at MountainProject, which, being started by guys in Boulder, has a huge database of routes and ratings.
I believe the ratings are generally internally consistent and consistent with other "standard" old school trad areas (Gunks, Yos, JTree)--maybe a tad easier at the lower grades.
I imagine people can point out a few routes where they the ratings are harder or softer than they should be, but that's no more true of Eldo than anywhere else.
If you look at ratings in older guidebooks, they can be very different, but I don't think anyone has used those old ratings for decades.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2016 - 03:04pm PT
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Can't imagine having repeatedly been near the place and not hitting it relentlessly. It'd be like spending thirty years making trips to NYC and never going to the Gunks, or SF and never going to the Valley...
Well, it's easy for me to imagine; I was working all the time on every other trip or the weather was not cooperating.
So my mantra over the past few years has been, "in ten years will I remember that meeting that I blew off or the surf/climbing/snowboarding I scored that day?"
I'm changing.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Oct 28, 2016 - 03:59pm PT
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Just watch yourself if the route was put up by Larry Dalke and it's a "5.7."
THE classics: Ruper, Bastille Crack, Yellow Spur, Bulge, Green Spur, Rewritten, Hair City, and Naked Edge.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Oct 28, 2016 - 04:04pm PT
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Lotsa classics in Eldo. There are way more than 10 top ten routes ifna ya know what I mean. And no, Eldo is not crowded, it's actually pretty dead for the most part. But don't tell everybody. Now puke.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Oct 28, 2016 - 04:13pm PT
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It's the one place of my climbing venues where leading 5.10 -- certain 5.9s for that matter, does not seem routine. I can remember on several occasions coming back from a few days of climbing hard in the desert (5.11 and maybe 11+ in Moab and IC areas for me) and being humbled by Eldorado routes a few letter grades lower. Leading 5.11 at Eldorado has always been a big deal for me.
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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Oct 28, 2016 - 06:36pm PT
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In 1981, in between my second and third year at a two year college, I had the good fortune to spend the summer with a friend in Boulder. I told my parents that I had a place to stay (I did) and that I would find a job for the summer. After a week of half hearted job seeking, I applied for food stamps, and discovered a clinic on Pearl Street that would pay me twice a week for my blood plasma.
The clinic, a favorite with transients, would draw a pint of blood, centrifuge out the plasma, and then give you back the rest. A band aid would be followed by $15 cash for the first time per week, $20 for the second, and then a caution not to do anything strenuous. It was a very easy hitch from there into Eldo, and I did so every day.
Most days that summer I climbed with John Rosholt, and I progressed from a shaky New Hampshire 5.8 leader to a semi-capable 5.10 leader in a couple months. My first ever .10 lead was Tagger on the Wind Tower, and the next year my first ever .11 lead/onsight was C'est la Vie. I still consider it a home of sorts, but still have way too many climbs left to do. Fortunately it is an easy half hour drive from our new forever home.
Coming from NH, my experiences were limited to granite, gneiss, and Gunks quartz, so to walk into a real honest-to-creator canyon lined with Cathedral Ledge sized walls of sandstone made quite an impression. Still does.
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Oct 28, 2016 - 07:33pm PT
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If you didn't have a chance to hike and check out all the various ridges and formations, you might be surprised how extensive Eldo is...
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Oct 28, 2016 - 10:21pm PT
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Eldo is indeed an extensive area. I climb there more than any other area, and never get tired of it.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Oct 29, 2016 - 12:11am PT
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You know, the mini breakfast burritos to go from that gas station store are pretty damn good!
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Oct 29, 2016 - 09:19am PT
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Edge, so nice to see a pic of my old friend, the late Rosholt. I love seeing images of him that I haven't seen before. Any idea which route the pic is from? It looks familiar but it's been awhile since these aging neurons experienced Eldo.
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Decko
Trad climber
Colorado
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Oct 29, 2016 - 09:56am PT
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Eldo is one of the big three I'd say to Yosemite and the Gunks on a historical perspective and keeping to the trad standards it has kept to.
And it may have looked "Small" from the road but it's huge.....
Was there yesterday with my 10 year old whom I've been bringing there since he was 3. We climbed with one of his friends then as boys do we headed to the river to do what I thought exploring just yet another aspect of the place I've been visiting and climbing at for almost 20 years.
Instead of chasing grades and myself I got to chase a couple of excited boys and to see the canyon thru their eyes....
I never get tired of Eldo no matter how many times I've climbed the same route...
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Oct 29, 2016 - 12:50pm PT
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Decko, I know what ya mean about never getting tired of the place no matter how many times you do the routes. Some of the routes I have done a couple hundred times (and then some) cause I live in town(Eldo) and they are always great to do again and again. See ya there.
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