Tim's Stupid Hat

Baby Beeper

Mettle Detector

Daddy Dwarf

Jim's Myrtle Spurge

Grü

Chubsy

The Perfect 10

Stupid Human Trick

This Bolt's For You

Al & Mike's Frosty Little Adventure

Mama Midget

The Delegate

Scraping Apples

This Bone's For You

Doctor Not Recommended

Unknown

Purposefully Put In

Chillin' and Drillin'

My Big Red Catcher's Mitt

Little Green Apples

Table Trash

Risk of Injection

Handcrack

Rope Trick

Uncle Shorty

Serendipity

Mark Hamill's Face aka Jack Palance's Push-ups

Scraping The Barrel

Sinister Minister

Unknown F

Chimney Route

This route heads up a buttress just left of the overhangs of "

Sinister Minister

" and "

Rope Trick

".  Work up left past a bolt onto the buttress, then head straight up to the anchors at the top.

This is another case of "reading between the lines", tackling a thin crack and flake system in between the ancient trad standards "

Chimney Route

" and "

Handcrack

".  The crux is the initial corner, protected by as much metal as you can stuff into the thin fissure in the back.  The "S" rating comes from the mid-section, where the rock and pro aren't as good, even as the moves stepping left aren't as difficult.  The upper flake is a straightforward hike to the anchor rings (shared with "

Handcrack

").  As a lead it will test your placement skills, as a toprope it is just plain fun.

Climb the right side of a small pillar past a thin crack.  It is just steep and reachy enough to offer a good challenge.

Start as if doing "

Mark Hamill's

" (sound's a little kinky!), move immediately left.

Just right of

Stupid Human Trick

is a gully with some easier climbing.  We cleaned this out and found it to be a pretty nice chimney climb, well protected, with more of a face climb to finish out.  Follow this up past the separated block to the top of the cliff.  We left the remains of a deer on the route for added fun.  I guess a mountain lion works in the area.  Natural anchors can be found at the top, finger-sized cams.  This climb would make for a good beginner trad lead.

This is a line just to the right of

The Delegate

that starts out in a crack system and moves right into a chimney about halfway up.

The upper chimney section may be a bunch of stacked rocks on its right side, so protecting that stretch may be challenging and climbing it gives you the sense you should tread lightly.

There is an interesting bird or rodent nest at the top of the chimney.  You can move a short way to the left to rappel off the anchors for

The Delegate

.

Don't climb this unless you have a sense of adventure and ability to embrace questionable rock quality.

This was named in honor of a family Robo Dwarf hamster who required that gentle sort of touch.  If it is your route, accept our apologies and let me know, so that I can give credit to where it is due.

FWIW, there is no mention of this line in P. Hubbel's

Front Range Crags

, M. Rolofson's

1995 Boulder Sport Climber's Guide

, or M. Rolofson's

Golden Rock Climbs

.

This is a fun route with some neat moves but a little overrated. Follow the short bolt line to the left of a small prow or bulge. (On the bulge [was] a single rusty hanger to rusty chains.

The bolts have been replaced, and the anchor has hooks.

) Between bolts 1 and 2, swing to the right a bit, then traverse across a ledge left. Juggy pockets from here out make it easy.

The name says it all.  This is the broken arete 15' right of

Daddy Dwarf

.  Starting directly below this feature is a reachy crux boulder problem (B5.10).  If you're smart, you'll crank the problem, step left, and scramble off.  If you're like me, you keep going and wind up on top (B5.8).  The boulder problem is worthwhile, but the landing is broken and worth a big crash pad if you expect to fall off.  Above the start, don't fall.

This is a stout route with very tricky balance.  The first bolt may be pre-clipped on the ledge to the right of the route.  Start right below the arete and move up the obvious holds on the left face.  The crux is finding the proper footholds that will allow you to transfer from a very crimpy lieback to a large flake.  Technically difficult and rather small holds--the first bolt is well-placed for a fall.

This line starts in the chossy netherworld about 20' right (south) of "

This Bone's For You

". A step off a handy boulder across the trail launches you past the undercut base of the wall into a nice little crack. Work up and rightward in cracks until things peter out beneath a rotten bulge with a pair of worthless seams and a ton of lichen. Pass this via a big blind reach and a sloping shelf on the right, then step back left into lichenville above. Mantle assorted flat topped blocks to the summit of a small pinnacle a short step away from the rim. Lasso the top block of the pinnacle or stuff a couple 2"-3" cams in the slot on the backside for a belay.

The descent is a walkoff 100 yards north along the rim.

The climbing and the pro is generally quite good, but it is steeper and trickier than it looks from below, with enough choss to keep you pleasantly occupied.

This is the left of two routes on a small pillar at the north end of the Risk Area.  It lies between "

Uncle Shorty

" and "

Daddy Dwarf

".  Stepping onto a smear over the overlap will keep you entertained.

Head up the face to a corner with a good rest ledge.  Then stem up the corner to the northwest-facing anchors.

This is certainly not new, not mine, nor much of a route, but if you're collecting the whole set, this goes almost straight up to the

Scraping the Barrel

bolts. It's a bit runout to the first placement.

This route takes the shaded face to the right of

This Bolt's For You

(5.11d). A brief arete sort of block presents the only difficulty, and it comes between bolts one and two. Big jugs, good stone, fun moves. What more do you want, besides making the line 600 feet long instead of 45 feet long???

This is a toprope line just to the left of

Jim's Myrtle Spurge

that sort of calls out to be climbed to those who hear such things. It's probably not worth bolting, but if you are looking for additional lines and don't mind risking your rope if you should pitch off (or don't intend to fall), you might find this a micro-adventure.

After leading up

Jim's Myrtle Spurge

or

Mark Hamill's Face

, you can clip the left anchor bolts with a longer sling. Start perhaps 10 feet left of

Jim's Myrtle Spurge

aiming for a shallow dihedral. Beware of loose/fractured holds. Gaining the dihedral makes for a test of trusting these iffy holds. There's an interesting squeeze-a-downward-pointing-hold bit to move right around the arete.

This is the crack immediately left of

The Perfect Ten

.  It gets better the higher you go, til you swing over the steep part at the top.

This is the line immediately right of

This Bolt's For You

.  Look for the wooden "bench" at the base.  Follow the right-facing dihedral past 2 camo'ed bolts.  Clip the third bolt below the prominent roof, make a powerful and balancy step left to the arête (crux) and finish as for

This Bolt's For You

.

This route was established on toprope in the early '90s by Guy Lords, who left behind a hangerless bolt (now the fourth clip) as the only sign of his passing.  The route was equipped as a sportclimb by Alan Nelson in 2001.  It ascends the overhanging right side of the leaning pillar to the left of "

Mama Midget

".  It only merits the published grade if you avoid stemming the gully past the second bolt, otherwise it may drop a letter grade or three.  Nonetheless, it offers a few enjoyable, interesting moves.

Ascend the left edge of a pillar to a shared anchor with "

My Big Red Catcher's Mitt

".

This gully route is just right of the crack

Unknown F

. Start on some 5.8 face climbing moves to a detached tooth block in the center of a gully. From the block, climb up a series of loose ledges on a small arete. The rock quality improves as you climb higher.

I'm only including this route since originally I thought I was on "

Al & Mike's Frosty Little Adventure

," and I ended up on this route which should be be avoided. I pulled at least 50 lbs. of rock off of this route, and there is still plenty more.

For whatever reason someone wants to climb this route, both the climber and belayer should wear helmets. There are still loose questionable blocks on the arete.

The first bolt is set high and protects a burly crux boulder problem. After somebody removed the hanger from it in the early '90s, the route didn't get climbed much. The hanger was replaced by Alan Nelson in 2001. The climb is ridiculously short but packs a wallop. It merits an "S" protection rating, because the first bolt is the only thing between you and the ground, while the second bolt is difficult to clip. Without a cool head and an alert belayer, there is potential for a slab-slapping spit off the bulge. I recommend stick-clipping or aiding to get the rope into both bolts before pink-pointing from the ground, although it has seen an onsight redpoint flash ascent.

Every climbing area needs a high-quality handcrack, but not every area is so blessed.  This Golden Cliffs classic is hidden away at the far left end of the cliff, but it is worth the hike with a rack of gear.  Located on the right wall of the large dihedral of "

Chimney Route

", it splits the wall all the way to the rim at plus or minus hand size.  For convenience, and to minimize the erosive impacts of walking off the top of the cliff, a two bolt anchor with rings was installed in 2001.  The anchor is accessible from the top, so there's no excuse not to toprope it even if you left the cams in the car.

Approach the first clip from the left, move up to the second bolt, then angle leftward and up on powerful and funky moves to the anchors.  It will either feel trivial or impossible, depending on your level of fatigue.

This is fun but short, and, like many routes here, overrated.  Start to the right of a small prow or bulge (look for the enticing finger crack running up and left between bolts 3 and 4.  A bouldery start raises the biggest challenge.  After the 2nd clip, it's smooth sailing.

Climb the finger/hand crack up the dihedral just left of "

Mama Midget

".  This is a case of a short, clean, overlooked trad line adjacent to a sport route.

Stem and jam up the corner just right of

Risk of Injection

.  The crux is keeping lichen out of your clothes,  but the important holds are clean enough.  Especially the serendipitous jugs that appear at the crux.

The face looks like it is covered in lichen, but there are lots of good holds without lichen.  The crux seems to be near the bottom around the first two bolts.  This is a fun route if you are in the area.  I hope whoever put up the route sees this post and gives it its real name.

Per

Locker

: The start is probably the crux, though the last move might be interesting for short people.

Eds. this is a combination of 2 submissions for the same route.  The information was moved onto the original submission's page.

This is the [third] leftmost route on the cliff, 20' left of "

Little Green Apples

". The trail along the base scrambles up onto the rim about 100 yards north of here.  Face climb to a blocky dihedral leading to a split block on the rim.

If you're in the area and you've mastered "

Rope Trick

", take a run on this top-rope problem.  It takes as direct a line as you can force through the overhangs directly to the anchors on "

Rope Trick

".  The crux comes pulling crimpers onto the shield above the upper roof.  Easier combinations are possible by deviating out to the left, but you want the big numbers so you'll crank it directly.

This is an angling crack with a [former] bird's nest just right of a rocky buttress which is right of

Hand Crack

. Do an easy boulder start to an angling crack, and belay on gear.

If desired, a TR can be set up by walking up the cliff 150 yards to the (north) left of the route.

The corner right of "

This Bone's For You

" starts out as a chimney, then pinches down to an offwidth / lieback / fist crack for the top half.  At the top of the corner, reach left for the anchors.  This is one of those "obvious" trad lines that was probably first climbed more than twenty years ago.  It is a little more convenient now with the fixed anchors on the adjacent route.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Risk Area