Area Profile
Eldorado Canyon, Colo. by Rob Kepley
Eldorado Canyon, or just Eldo, is one of North America’s premiere climbing areas. It has dozens of classic, steep, red and gold conglomerate single- and multipitch routes. Unlike the soft sandstone found in Arizona and Utah, Eldorado rock is more like granite. The largest wall is called Redgarden, and there are enough routes to keep any visiting climber busy for a while. Most of the classics were established back in the 1960s by Layton Kor, Pat Ament and Larry Dalke. Then in the 1970s, legends like Steve Wunsch, Roger Briggs, Jim Erickson and Duncan Ferguson focused on freeing the old aid routes and pushing the grades.
The climbing in the canyon is unlike many other areas and will require you to
get used to the style. The face climbing is intricate and hard to read, and there are small traverses here and there like on limestone routes. There are short cruxes often followed by nice rests and a lot of old fixed gear. On some routes, the fixed gear is bomber, but other climbs have gear that you won’t want to take a big whipper on. Old fixed gear is everywhere, including on routes like The Yellow Spur 5.9, West Buttress of the Bastille 5.9, Tagger 5.10 and The Naked Edge 5.11. If you come to an old piton, try to back it up. The area is mostly traditional, but cracks are few and far between. Nearly every route will require some gear placing.
Some amazing beginner routes that have short cruxes are Wind Ridge 5.6 and Calypso 5.6 on Wind Tower. Ruper 5.8 on Redgarden Wall and The Bastille Crack 5.8 are some of the best at the grade. While only 5.7+, The Bulge on Redgarden has spicy runouts. As mentioned above, The Yellow Spur 5.9 has old fixed gear, but is
considered the best climb in the area. There are so many 5.10 classics, that you won’t know where to start. Consider Outer Space 5.10c and Rosy Crucifixion 5.10a. In the 5.11 range, Eldo has countless world-class climbs, such as The Naked Edge, Vertigo 5.11b and the Northwest Corner of Bastille 5.11a. For harder routes in the 5.12 zone, check out Your Mother 5.12d and Scary Canary 5.12b. Because of the restrictions on bolting, there aren’t many 5.13 lines, but Rainbow Wall fits the bill for anyone looking for that grade.
Eldorado Canyon is a confusing place if you’ve never been. Steve Levin’s newest guidebook, Eldorado Canyon, A Climber’s Guidebook or Richard Rossiter’s out of print, comprehensive Rock Climbing Eldorado Canyon will direct you where to go and give you many hours of reading by headlamp at night. The best time to climb at Eldo is spring and fall, but summer and winter can offer decent conditions. No trip to Colorado for a trad climber is complete without a trip to Eldo Canyon.