Clear Creek Sport Climbing

I read a Matt Samet article some years back about his relocation to Bouderrr... It was a wonderfully clever piece about how intimidated he was moving to the Mecca of hard climbing here in Colorado's Front Range (Samet of course didn't waste any time and quickly joined the healthy list of immortals of Front Range radness) ...

Since landing here over a year ago I am just now beginning to see the veracity of his tale of mutants and boldness that seemed all but fictional to an outsider... The climbing CV's of so many men and women here in the promised land are beyond inspiring and downright frightening in some cases... Bold free solos of hard lines, R and X trad sends, 5.13 sport "projects" that go down in about 15 minutes of "work"... The Front Range is truly a rad place to be...

These pictures are from a two hour sojourn into Clear Creek yesterday...

Molly Mitchell, 21 years old, sending a 13a in Clear Creek her second go for the first female ascent and likely the 3rd ascent overall..

Matt Lloyd on his project in Clear Creek -full-extension swing beneath the roof to latch a hold at the lip while feet cut - Matt's ape index (wingspan) is 6 feet 10 inches long... Matt has co-authored the new CC guide book that is due out this next week...

Clear Creek and Tyroleans...

I met Dan and his wife in Golden Colorado. Dan was turning 35 and this was his birthday present - to climb as many pitches as he could in Clear Creek Canyon. We managed six before 2 pm. I was fairly blasted by the end but I am fairly sure Dan would have kept charging... Dan is a Shawangunks climber and in just three seasons he has become quite dialed on a rope making him a solid partner.

There were forces conspiring to make it a stellar day. Our early departure meant zero crowds on Playin' Hooky and incredible morning light in the deep walled canyon. Clear Creek rushed far below and soon the traffic noise from the highway all but stopped. We rapped into a crowd of 8 climbers at rigging up at the base and made our escape to a second crag. As we pushed through tunnel 5 we were stopped at the far end by a highway worker. There would be no eastward driving on highway 6 - we could see the massive rockslide that covered both lanes. He told us the road would be shut for hours and we would have to go around to the 70.

Back through tunnel 5 we assessed our climbing options and opted for the wild tyrolean over the river and into virgin climbing territory on the wall rising directly from the river. Dan's wife who is 6 months pregnant was not climbing but became the cheering section and defacto photographer as I handed her my camera. We ascended to of the coolest sport routes I had done in years. The tyrolean added a high level of excitement and physicality to the 5.8 and 5.10 pitches at the far end of the horizontal ropes.

The pictures below were taken by Dan's wife, she did a great job documenting a stellar day - Thank you both!