This is the right and steeper route on the south face of the Corkscrew Pillar. Head straight up a flaring crack system with stems and jams to reach a small bulge and then a rest. From here, work your way straight up through a more challenging bulge using your choice of laybacking or hand jams to make a slightly awkward mantel. Find the sequence through another bulge to meet up with the final two bolts of

Corkscrew

.

Corky

Bad Grandpa

Tall Boy

Lord of the Flies

The Bends

Tilt

Trunkline

A Day in the Life

Heat Stroke

Crosshairs

Man Hands

Gigantor

Shimminy Cricket

Centrist

Glass Onion

Line-of-Sight

Left of Center

Mighty Mouse

Meter Maid

Super Nova

Doom Seam

White Dwarf

My Left Foot

Mix Up

Polyethylene Pam

Giant Dihedral

Equilibrium Variation

Stopper Start

Mr. Kite

The Gap

Bungalow Bill

Crandall Hammer Arete

Tilt-a-Whirl

Not Alone

Shiny Face

Lady Fingers

Widow Maker

Minimalist

Black Velvet

Another Day

Right of Center

Freezer Burn

Corkscrew

Blinders

Libertine

Radio One

Sunrise Slab

Corker

Sun King

Surefire

Sun Burn

Swirly Slab

Two Edged Sword

Refiner

[Redacted]

Start at the base of the steeper south side of the pillar. Trend up and left through a few thinker moves to reach a tricky but short slab. Gain a very good flake system that takes you up and right to thin ... as you go to reach a tricky move to gain the final bulge. This is varied throughout. Still, it is a bit dirty but should continue to clean up well.

Some nice face climbing leads to a short, overhanging corner. Continue up the face to a finishing hold.

This is a fun route. There is a balancy move about halfway up (watch your feet). Continue to another balance crux above.

A [70m] rope is a must, barely getting you back to the ground.  Fun, varied climbing starting at the right-facing corner, finishing on the steep orange horn.  In the summer, the flies can be bad in this gully.

This is burly on both pitches, involving about every crack climbing technique.

P1 (100', 14 bolts to 2-bolt anchor, 5.11b).

Start at a bolted, flared chimney.  Scott originally climbed this clean with gear, but this would have warranted an R/X rating with the scarcity of good protection available.  After the chimney pinches down, the route veers to the left on thin crimps, then up to a comfortable belay just below the large bulge.

P2 (100', 2 bolts & gear to 4" to anchor, 5.10d).

Follow the hand to fist crack through the bulge.  If you are uncomfortable with this grade, bring one #4 Camalot in addition to the standard rack.  This route was most likely aid climbed by an unknown party before being discovered and cleaned by Scott Sills in 2003.  Old gear was found hanging in the crack.

Very high quality rock keeps you searching for holds.  This route is a must do if you are at the Low Ball Wall.

This shares a start with

Swirly Slab

and needs some gear to protect it. Once on the ledge, follow the bolts on the left.

This shares a start with

Sun King

but takes the right bolt line near the roof. Bring a 70m rope.

If this route were twice as long, it would be total classic.  Some bizarre holds facing the wrong directions lead you to a not-so-good jam, continue straight up the bolt line, avoiding the left arete until the very end.

Power through several small bulges on holds of decreasing size to reach the first anchor.  Stop here for a decent 12a, or continue for a much better 12c.  Long, powerful moves thru the large roof lead to a slightly easier finish.  Another Sills classic.

This route has 2 distinct cruxes, with easier climbing at the start and finish.  After you figure out the 1 move trickery about midway, there is a good rest on a ledge before tackling the steep crack above.  Most of the jams are very positive with only one short sketchy section.

As soon as you step from the dihedral onto the face, the business starts.  A short-lived, thin crux leads to really fun edge climbing.  All of a 60m rope is required to lower back to the ledge.

This route is just to the right of

Shiny Face

. It starts with 4 bolts, and as you head up, you will use a mix of cams for protection.

This is the center route on the Gully Slab Wall.  Once on the ledge below the crack, step up a bit on good footholds to get your hands in the crack.  As you step up more, you can transition completely into the crack, which you can continue until you reach the shared ledge near the top of the route.  There are many face holds and feet, keep off these if you want to practice your crack climbing.

Towards the top, you reach a ledge shared by all three routes on this slab - this is probably the crux for many, as you need to climb up onto a slight overhang. By climbing all the routes on this wall, you could make various attempts on this top portion.

It is not a bad route if you want to introduce someone to crack climbing - they can switch to face holds if they get tired and it's low angle, so not as painful as complete vertical.

Follow the slab up, and take the left bolt line near the top. This shares a start and anchor with

Another Day

.

This unusual route has some loose rock at the start, but it is worth the effort.  The top 2/3 is 4 stars.  Try to hit this route early or late in the day, as it faces straight south.

This is the left bolted route on the Gully Slab Wall.  You can access the route by a short traverse from the belay ramp used for the other routes here, not a difficult move.

Climb more or less straight up the bolt line, it's decent rock and consistent climbing.  Towards the top you reach a ledge shared by all three routes on this slab - this is probably the crux for many, as you need to climb up onto a slight overhang.  By climbing all the routes on this wall, you could make various attempts on this top portion.

This is a dark black streak with plants growing out of the first holds.

The route is southeast of Low Ball Wall by approximately 150 yards. Look for 1 bolt at start.  It is approximately 80' to a 2-bolt anchor at top.

Follow bolts to an obvious, right-trending hand crack.  At the bulge, step left and into a tricky crux corner capped by a roof.

Approach the dead tree ledge by following 2 bolts through a very difficult slab, or from the right at the base of Line-of-Sight Wall.  From the ledge, ascend an easy slab to a rest just below the bulge. A powerful move through the bulge puts you at the base of a shallow flaring seam.  Thin sequential laybacks with desperate feet lead to a finishing jug and anchors.  A completely unnecessary 5.5 2nd pitch exists, if you really want to get to the top.

Sits on the Sun Tower, as per Tod Anderson's new guidebook. This is located just left of

Lord of the Flies

. It follows a bolt line to a finger crack, then the route moves left past two bolts to an anchor. We thought the crux was going from the last bolt to the anchors. Fun route!

P1 - (90 feet, 5.11b) 11 bolts to 2 bolt anchor. Follow overlapping, left-leaning flakes with varied climbing. Must do classic!

P2 - (110 feet, 5.13b) 17 bolts to 2 bolt anchor. Some desperate moves on nearly perfect rock get you into a left-leaning crack, through a hueco, then transitioning into parallel crack/offsets (crux). There is an optional belay here, or if you've got the endurance, continue thru several 5.12 cruxes to the top.

Scramble up to a right-facing corner with a few bolts. Climb through  this wide slot past the bolts to the roof then into a widening crack. Continue up to a big ledge with anchors.  Skip these anchors and climb the bolted arete to your right to the anchors of

Shiny Face

.

It may look short, but it's an excellent route. The guidebook says 11c, but once dialed in, I thought it was a bit easier. This is incredibly bouldery for the first few moves. Throw a heel, and make a nice static move up.

Beware: there is a death block to the left of the chains.

This obvious route was most likely climbed years ago by an unknown first ascentionist, but Ryan cleaned off a ton of loose rock and added modern anchors, so he deserves credit for that.  If you are doing the route in 1 long pitch, make sure the belayer ties in, as it uses up an entire 60m cord.  It can be rappelled in 2 pitches with a single rope.

Equilibrium Variation is not too sustained but is a okay warm-up. Clip first 3 bolts, then move on the the easy slab.

As named, the difficulties begin right away. Work your way over an improbable early bulge to reach a tenuous slab above and a ledge. From the ledge, trend up and slightly right via some flakes and cracks to reach another challenging crux at the last headwall/bulge.

Mr. Kite has varied climbing throughout. There are some runouts over low 5th Class terrain.

Go up and left along ramps and other features to the anchor of

Two Edged Sword

.

To the right of

Sun King

/

A Day in the Life

, climb the slab to an anchor below the roof.

After a thin & sharp start, make one very height-dependent move and continue up the arete.  Tod Anderson's book gives this 5.10d, which I'm sure is correct if you are a little taller than I am.  Shorter people might call this 11+.

This makes for a great warm-up route.  Pitch 1 is probably not good for beginning trad leaders.  Pitch 2 has too-good-to-be-true holds most of the way to the anchors, with a brief crux at the beginning.  This route can also be a convenient way to access the dead tree ledge by rappel.

This climbs a right-facing corner and then moves to the left wall at a black streak near the top.  The crux is near this black streak.  It is pretty easy climbing until this black streak is reached.

This route has a very fun start, lots of long pulls off small sidepulls with imaginary feet, and even a dyno to the crying eyes up high.  Good luck.

Slightly meandering at the start, this technical route keeps you guessing all the way to the corner above, where thin fingers are an asset.

Go through a short overhanging corner to a powerful finish (as mentioned in the guidebook).

This route climbs the face to the left of "

Not Alone

".  It starts about 3/4s of the way up "

Not Alone

".  The crux is at the first bolt.  It seemed a bit hard for a 5.9, but the crux is short.

This climbs a big, right-facing dihedral.  There is some lichen at the bottom, but with care, it can be avoided.  The crux is about 3/4s of the way up, but the protection is good.  You can clip the last bolt on

"Tilt"

if you want.  I did this as I had already used my biggest cams lower in the dihedral.

Begin with a shared start with

Glass Onion

, then take the rightmost bolt line when it splits near the top. It also shares an anchor with

Glass Onion

.

This route makes a good warm-up on cold mornings, as it's one of the first in the area to see sun.

This route is really fun. It is bushy at the beginning. It has multiple starts to get on this route. We used gear through the crux past the third bolt. Like that, you can make this one long pitch. We used a 70 meter. I made two raps to get to the base.

Muscle through a tricky bulge, pull on tiny edges with imaginary feet to a small roof, then smear & mantle to an easier finish.

Libertine may seem a bit contrived, but it is a very enjoyable climb. Head straight up the first couple bolts of

Tall Boy

, then go right into the dihedral (all the good holds are there). Then exit right onto the face for a balance crux before nice holds to the anchors. Stay out of the dihedral, and go for 12a.

The route is good if you are in the neighborhood climbing the other routes. You move through rock that is fractured and broken up to the first bolt.

This makes for a good warm-up route, just make sure you use a 70m cord, or double ropes to get down.  It is a classic South Platte slab.

Start up a mossy buttress to reach lower angle slabs and the base of a steeper by still slabby headwall. Work into a shallow crack system, and then bust left onto a very delicate and thin face. This crux is short-lived but is very foot-dependent and may feel a bit hard for the grade. Once above, this work into a very interesting bulge up high.

This goes up easy terrain and takes the left bolt line at the roof. It shares the start with

A Day in The Life

.

This is an excellent route. Follow the bolts through a few distinct cruxes.

P1 (50 feet, 5.10b). Bring a couple of cams, fingers to thin hands. It is fun stemming in a shallow dihedral, through small roof, to comfortable belay ledge.

P2 (40 feet, 5.8). This is fun, easy climbing. A single 60m rope will get you to the ground from here.

P3 (40 feet, 5.12a/b). This is much harder and thinner but has high quality stone. This requires 2 rappels to descend.

Get to the ledge, and climb the face, following the bolts on the right.

P1 (5.12a) delicate technical climbing lead to a mantle and anchors at a comfortable belay ledge.

P2 (5.11c) move right across a moderate slab to another set of anchors, or continue up the arete towards the large roof.  A little sharp, but worth doing.

After a somewhat crumbly start, stays consistently 10+ on excellent rock with great moves.  Finish on a large ledge where you can access four different second pitch options.

This route is ok if you happen to be passing by it, but I wouldn't recommend it as a destination.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Radio Head