jjd Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I am going to be in Boulder in July for a family reunion and I'm thinking about going out a week or so before the reunion. Any recommendations? I'll likely be solo, so I'd prefer class 3-4 routes. Also, with any recommendations, could you please give me an idea where I can get more route info, etc? Quote
matt_warfield Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 (edited) Scare up a partner or go to the rock and hitchhike with a party and do the E. face of the Third Flatiron. It's mostly 4th class with some low fifth class here and there, including a slightly runout summit pitch of 5.4. It is an awesome climb at the grade. For alpine, go to Rocky Mountain National Park and do the Keyhole route on Longs Peak. It's mostly hiking but has sections of Class 3 and is a safe solo. Plan to summit by noon to avoid lightning and acclimate for a 14,000' peak. Have fun. For route info, go to the mother of all climbing shops: Neptune Mountaineering. Edited March 30, 2004 by matt_warfield Quote
AlpineK Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I would watch out for afternoon thunderstorms, and you shouldn't underestimate the number of folks who are out bagging 14ers. Everybody and their brother is out at 4AM on the trail to Longs Peak. We climbed a route on Meaker one time, and we had to run by the cattle train on the trail for a mile or more listening to angry people yelling at us for not saying, "on your right." There are some cool 13ers above Boulder. Arapaho Peak above Nederland is a cool walk up, and there's even a pocket glacier on it. Mt Meaker has some scramble routes on it, and you can see it from the plains. There's a, "glacier," on a peak right next to the Petit Grepon that would be a good hike. Hiking up towards Spearhead and Chief's head isn't really scrambling, but it takes you into an area of the park that is less used. Quote
matt_warfield Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Good suggestions from AlpineK. Going during the week for Keyhole on Longs reduces the body count or start late (like 6:00 a.m.) and go fast to still summit by noon. For a more lonely experience, do a scramble route on Longs. From Glacier Gorge (access to Spearhead and Chiefshead) you can scramble Longs Pk. or Spearhead and get awesome views. Quote
skyclimb Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Depending on your comfortability with snow routes, june and july are prime in colorado. Mt. of the holy cross is great, with a couloir sunk way into the mountian. It rises for 2,000 feet, and tops out at the summit. Keyhole is great. crestone needle and peak are great, but are a little technical. Rock is solid though. Pick up colorado 14'ers book. Third flatiron is a great suggestion. Try gore peak outside of vail. Great 13'er in an awesome setting, with great diversity, and 4th class scrambling. Near boulder there is also the indian peaks wilderness, which is accessed via brainard lake. Awesome scrambling up there. Do it under a full moon for full effect. Quote
AlpineK Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 The trail system just west of Boulder in the flatirons is really good. You can do some long hikes. Quote
skyclimb Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 If I am not mistaken, the flatirons are closed to climbing for a great deal of the year due to birds nesting. I think the ban takes effect from jan 1st. through sometime in mid-summer. Any beta on this?? Quote
Distel32 Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 if you boulder RMNP has some of the best bouldering in the US on really cool gneiss Quote
jjd Posted March 30, 2004 Author Posted March 30, 2004 Thanks for all the information, I've just started looking into some of the routes mentioned. Depending upon conditions, the Skywalker Coulouir on Arapaho is looking mighty attractive. In regard to Flatiron closures: from what I've gathered so far, they close the parts of the area that are within raptor breeding grounds. Anyway, thanks again for the help. Quote
jjd Posted March 30, 2004 Author Posted March 30, 2004 I'll probably do some bouldering during the second week I'm there (the times when I'm not with the family!) Quote
joekania Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 Snowpack is 100+ below average this year, that may open up some other 14er possibilities further into the interior. Quote
griz Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 (edited) If I am not mistaken, the flatirons are closed to climbing for a great deal of the year due to birds nesting. I think the ban takes effect from jan 1st. through sometime in mid-summer. Any beta on this?? Yeah, it's closed til August the last time I looked. A great CO link is w/ tons of great beta: climbingboulder.com pick up a copy of Colorado's 14ner's by gerry roach. great book with topo maps on all the mtns.He has a book on 13ner's too. Mt.Evans has some fun snow routes from Summit Lake and is a really gorgeous drive up to the lake and really short approach. Quandry Peak's Cristo Couloir is a favorite of mine too out by Breckenridge. Or the West ridge rte on the same is fun too ...return via Cristo. Both w/ short approaches too. Not sure how much snow will be in this year in July but it's a pretty peak. I'd skip RMNP/Keyhole rte. That's a better winter/spring climb to avoid all the shitheads and the access is good all year. Another way to avoid 14ner crowds is to go late. Storms either brew or don't brew around 2-3pm. If it is clear around those times then you are most likely golden for a fine climb in near solitude. If you are slow or have a tough time judging your time for a climb then maybe just stick w/ morning stuff. I'll usually have "know it all" type shitheads make a comment on my way up but I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to make my own calls so... fuck'em. Also, I should add, this "late start" advice doesn't apply to snow climbs. Edited March 31, 2004 by griz Quote
griz Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 Oh, yeah... if you get time for a sweet hike in Boulder's Chatauqua Park check out the Royal Arch Trail. It's an actual ,natrual ,big ass stone arch w/ the best view in Boulder. Hands down favorite for the area and a great workout. Quote
JayB Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 Another vote for the the West Ridge of Quandary. From what I remember it features almost a mile of traversing on 3rd and 4th class terrain at almost 14,000 feet. Very cool route, reasonably close to boulder by way of Breckenridge, and a route that will keep you away from the teeming hordes. If there was one 3rd/4th class route on a 14er relatively close to boulder this would be it. On Quandary's north side there's there's also the Inwood Arete which has a fair amount of low fifth climbing (5.4 max) followed by a bunch of blocky talus on the way to the summit. The route isn't all that committing as you can bail off of the fifth class stuff and traverse to talus on quite a bit of the route. Mt Evans is a good choice if you are looking for stuff that's a bit closer to Boulder, and the best route IMO is the linkup from Bierstadt to Evans via the Sawtooth ridge (exposed 3rd class - may feel like 4th to some) although this makes for a long day. One other route worth mentioning that's fairly close to boulder is the Kelso ridge on Torrey's peak, which has quite a bit of fun 3rd class terrain and one minor section of ridge narrow enough to be a bit more engaging than the rest of the climb. If you want to knock off two peaks in a day, the summit of Grey's peak is just a short ridge-walk away. Griz is right to recommend staying away from the Keyhole on Long's at that time of year if you are not into obscenely crowded routes and megaclusters. There's excellent coverage of all of these route's in Lou Dawson's guide to the Colorado 14ers, as well as Gerry Roach's book on the same peaks. I imagine there's also a fair amount of info on these peaks/routes available at www.summitpost.com Quote
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