Eldorado Canyon, CO
June 9, 2018
It’s the weekend and my friend needed a ride to the airport in Denver. I offered and since we would be moving early in the morning, Laura suggested we take the opportunity to hit Eldo for the day. 4:45am I am up and packing gear. Loaded up and driving shortly thereafter, we dropped Nick off at the Denver airport at 6:45 am and were in the canyon by 8:00.
Making the short hike to the approach slabs is always
enjoyable in Eldo. The river roars and splashing your face and head in to cold
water is refreshing in the early morning. Within 15 minutes we were at the base
of the climb gearing up and working our way up the low class 5 slabs.
The first pitch is rated 5.7+ but felt the most challenging
for the first 25 feet. With good hand and foot holds, the climbing is quite
secure. What makes classics interesting is that the rock is usually worn and
polished making the climb slippery and more difficult due to the amount of
traffic it sees.
The second pitch is the best; a wide, off width crack with
good exposure. On to the traverse with limited protection and up to a tree for
a belay, the climbing was spectacular and the sun was shining. What a beautiful
day to be outside!
At the top of the third pitch, we rappelled down to the base
of the second wall. 3 more pitches to the top were excellent crack and face
climbing and a traverse under a huge roof that Laura led and combined with the
last 5.4 section.
We reached the top of the climb in 4.5 hours and scrambled
and rappelled our way down meeting some new friends along the way. On the hike
out, we once again stopped at the cold river and soaked our feet and splashed
our faces to cool off. The classics are always fun and entertaining and we hope
to get on more soon. Ruper most definitely rates in my book as a climb I would
do many times again.
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