The West Ridge
251 routes and 3 boulder problems · sandstone (Fountain Formation) · 6,602 ft
What's here
5.6 to 5.12, with no single grade dominating.
Counted from the 251 climbs here that carry a grade. Shown only where there are at least 5 of them — below that the shape is noise.
How well located
Position on wall known 254
No route here has its own point yet. The map pin is the crag. At the wall? Survey it: 30 seconds per route.
The order of the climbs along this wall is known from the open catalogue, so a few surveys go a long way: standing at Xanadu, Early Bird Special, River Of Darkness, Texas Two-Step, Doc's Little Brother, Cold Turkey, Iron Pony (7 climbs, about 210 seconds on West Ridge - part D - Xanadu to Pony Express) would place up to 57 more climbs between them. Survey the wall →
“Up to” because the estimate between two surveyed routes is only used when they turn out to be close enough together on the ground.
The guidebook for this area
Eldorado Canyon: A Climbing Guide - Steve Levin - 4th ed. - 2024 every crag it covers
From the publisherBookshop.org
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The book has the topos, the descriptions and the local knowledge this page can't. Buying it helps support the people who know the crag best.
Rock, from the geologic map
Fountain Formation. Paleozoic, about 320 to 295 million years old.
Reddish-brown arkosic conglomerate and pebbly sandstone containing thin layers of dark reddish-brown shales. Forms red spines and monuments at Red Rocks and Roxborough Parks and flatirons west and southwest of Boulder. Thickness 512 to 610 m.
This is the map unit under this crag's map point, read from the 1:100,000 sheet (Trimble and others, 2003, U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-856-H). The point can be a few hundred metres from the rock, a cliff often stands on the line between two units, and at that scale a line on the map is about 100 m wide on the ground, so the wall itself may be the neighbouring unit. The rock named at the top of this page comes from the public geology of this area; this card is the map's answer. Every crag on this unit: Fountain Formation. Geology data: Macrostrat (CC BY 4.0), serving USGS and Colorado Geological Survey maps.
On the map since 1899
The USGS has mapped this ground since 1899. 31 historical sheets cover this crag's map point; the oldest is below.
USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Public domain, U.S. Geological Survey. The sheet shows the ground as the survey found it then, which is why a trail or road you know may be missing. Every sheet over this point, 1899 to 1983: USGS topoView.
In print since 1877
1877 Geologic Map of Colorado (Hayden), high-resolution scan · F. V. Hayden; scan by the Colorado Geological Survey · 1877
Geological and geographical atlas of Colorado and portions of adjacent territory · F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories · 1877
Trail and Timberline, volume 2 (1918) · Colorado Mountain Club · 1918
Free to read: public domain or government work. About Boulder as a whole, not this wall. More in the reading room.
From the archives
Photographs of this area held by the Library of Congress, oldest first. Every one carries the Library's own "no known restrictions on publication"; anything else is left out.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Hidden as soon as you tell us, everywhere it appears, before anyone reviews it.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · found by place name, not yet checked
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · Public domain · the record · indexed to this place by the archive
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2 more at the Library of Congress.
Photographs near this crag
Taken within 1.5 km of this crag's map point and published under a licence that lets us show them, from Wikimedia Commons. The coordinates say where the camera was, not what it was pointed at, so some of these will be the creek or the trail rather than the rock.
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY · the record · placed by its coordinates
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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · the record · placed by its coordinates
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1 more on Commons.
Routes
Corner Stone
- 1 The Veteran V0+
- 2 Sunbeam V1
- 3 Prune's Arete V2-3
West Ridge - part A - Verschneidung to base
- 1 Verschneidung Dihedral 5.7
- 2 Verschneidung Direct 5.10c
- 3 Foaming Cleanser 5.10d
- 4 High Anxiety 5.11b
- 5 Clean Freak 5.12a
- 6 Crow's Landing 5.10
- 7 A Moveable Flake 5.9+
- 8 Auntie Perspirant 5.8+
- 9 Odarodle 5.9
- 10 Quo Vadis 5.8
- 11 Stepping Stones 5.8
- 12 Super Scooper 5.9+
- 13 Runsholl Scrunch 5.12-
- 14 Up the Downclimb 5.8
- 15 Initial Hangover 5.10
- 16 Initial Route 5.9
- 17 Territorial Integrity 5.9
- 18 Party Pooper 5.9
- 19 Piece Easy 5.6
- 20 Allosaur 5.9
- 21 Ranger Danger 5.10d
- 22 Pork Chop 5.9+
- 23 The Farmer's Wife 5.9
- 24 Blind Mouse 5.8
- 25 Something Blue 5.9
- 26 Blues Power 5.12b
- 27 Office Girls Walk The Plank 5.12d
- 28 Shot and Chaser 5.11b
- 29 Wingshot 5.11b
- 30 Kickin' Chicken 5.12b
- 31 Wild Turkey 5.12a
- 32 Turkey Jerky 5.12c
- 33 Wishbone 5.11b/c
- 34 Flyback 5.9+
- 35 The Exterminator 5.11a
- 36 Sleepytime 5.6
- 37 Jam Con 5.9+
- 38 Morning Thunder 5.9+
- 39 Thunderbolts From Hell 5.12
- 40 Thunderworld 5.11
- 41 First Unknown 5.8
- 42 Mineral Maze 5.11d
- 43 Water Line 5.11a
- 44 Roadside Attraction 5.11b
- 45 Leg of Ilg 5.8-
- 46 Earnest Stemmingway 5.9
- 47 Ernest Extended Way 5.9
West Ridge - part B - Long John to Verschneidung
- 1 Knife, The 5.7+
- 2 Thin Ice 5.9+
- 3 Long John Wall 5.8
- 4 Long John Direct (Original Aid Start) 5.10b
- 5 Quick Silver 5.9+
- 6 Uranus 5.8-
- 7 Think Quickly 5.10-
- 8 Pluto 5.9
- 9 Rock For Climbing Routes To 5.10d
- 10 Break on Through 5.10b
- 11 Break On Through to Chianti 5.8+
- 12 Rictus 5.11c
- 13 Chianti 5.8+
- 14 Sunshine Wall 5.8
- 15 The Gibbet 5.11-
- 16 Atom Smasher 5.12c
- 17 Washington Irving 5.6
- 18 Next to Irving 5.6
- 19 Next to Nearly 5.9
- 20 The Unlead 5.11b
- 21 The Unsaid 5.9
- 22 Aftershock 5.12a/b
- 23 Shock Of the New 5.11c
- 24 Strawberry Shortcut 5.9+
- 25 Cruisin' for Burgers 5.10c
- 26 Baby Sitter 5.9
- 27 Ein Kluck 5.9
- 28 White Rabbit 5.9
- 29 Toothsheaf Transfusion 5.11
- 30 Ghetto Blaster 5.10b
- 31 Clear-a-Sill 5.9
- 32 Varieties Of Religious Experience 5.11b
- 33 Incarnation 5.12c/d
West Ridge - part C - Pony Express to Long John
- 1 Horse d'Oeuvre (aka Pony Express P1 to Zip Code) 5.9
- 2 Pony Express, Briggs' Variation 5.11d
- 3 Pony Express 5.11c
- 4 Iron Horse 5.11
- 5 Mesca-Line 5.7+
- 6 Dandi-Line 5.7
- 7 Pygmy Pony 5.9+
- 8 Sister Morphine 5.9-
- 9 Drug Abuse 5.9
- 10 Who's Holding 5.9
- 11 Prison Sex 5.10
- 12 Seemingly Innocent 5.8+
- 13 Dead Letter Department 5.8
- 14 Hyperspace Roundup 5.12b/c
- 15 Junk Mail 5.8+
- 16 Lightning Bolt Crack 5.8+
- 17 Going Postal 5.10c/d
- 18 variation to Mail Ridge 5.10c
- 19 The Mail Ridge 5.9+
- 20 Mail Ridge Tower Link-Up 5.10c
- 21 Handcracker Direct 5.10a
- 22 Reckoning 5.12d
- 23 Sundial 5.8
- 24 Chick on the Side 5.10b/c
- 25 Passing Lane 5.9+
- 26 Bloke On The Side 5.9+
- 27 Rope to Ruin 5.8+
- 28 Wind Tunnel 5.7
- 29 Sword Of Damocles 5.8
- 30 Bridget the Midget 5.8
- 31 Lost in the Netherlands 5.9
- 32 Good Ship Venus 5.9-
- 33 Crazy Stairs 5.10+
- 34 Byway 5.9+
- 35 Muscle and Hate 5.10d
- 36 Heatwave 5.10
- 37 Rhombohedral 5.8+
- 38 Warp Drive Overload 5.12a/b
- 39 Practice Wall 5.11a
- 40 Zeros and Ones 5.11+
- 41 Practice Climb 101 5.12c
- 42 False Prophet 5.11d
- 43 Conversions 5.12
- 44 Unbroken Chain 5.11c
- 45 The Side Wall 5.11b
- 46 Quiet Desperation 5.11c
- 47 The Human Factor 5.12a
- 48 Court Jester 5.11a
- 49 Hanging Chad 5.11b
- 50 Barrel of Monkeys 5.11+
- 51 Erickson's Finish 5.10a
- 52 Curving Dihedral 5.10c/d
- 53 Sooberb Lite 5.8
- 54 Sooberb 5.10c
- 55 Ignore Me 5.10b
- 56 Ignominity 5.9
- 57 Quicksand 5.10
- 58 The Fever 5.9
West Ridge - part D - Xanadu to Pony Express
- 1 Xanadu 5.10a
- 2 Kubla Khan 5.11c
- 3 Tanqueray 5.11c
- 4 Trip Itch 5.10
- 5 Tryptich 5.10b
- 6 The Tickle 5.10d
- 7 Hang Ten 5.8
- 8 Srinagar 5.7
- 9 Kashmir 5.11b
- 10 Coffee Break with Joe 5.8-
- 11 Rhadamanthus 5.10a
- 12 Willow World 5.8
- 13 Early Bird Special 5.6
- 14 The Formula 5.12a
- 15 Toprope Right of Formula 5.12
- 16 Pool of Blood 5.9
- 17 Tampon 5.7
- 18 Duh Dihedral 5.6
- 19 Fine Line 5.9
- 20 Zap Snack 5.10c
- 21 Terminal Velocity 5.11b/c
- 22 Hand Crack (aka White Lightning) 5.10a
- 23 Funeral March 5.9
- 24 The Masterbator's Edge 5.12a
- 25 River Of Darkness 5.8
- 26 Lady Fingers 5.7
- 27 Milk and Honey 5.8
- 28 Milk Dreams 5.10a
- 29 Mirage 5.9
- 30 Clean Dan 5.10d
- 31 Parallels 5.11b/c
- 32 Tango 5.11
- 33 Foxtrot 5.11d
- 34 Sign of the Cross 5.10d
- 35 Crazy Fingers 5.12a/b
- 36 The Barbie Doll Arete 5.12-
- 37 Texas Two-Step 5.10+
- 38 Backslash 5.10d
- 39 Inverted Vee 5.8
- 40 Bit by Bit 5.11c/d
- 41 Whatever 5.9
- 42 MRJR (aka MB III) 5.12d
- 43 Henry Chinaski 5.10d
- 44 Five Fang Overhang 5.8+
- 45 Three Lane Highway 5.8
- 46 Bottlenecks 5.9
- 47 Cruising Lane 5.6
- 48 Road Narrows 5.10
- 49 Doc's Little Brother 5.6
- 50 Dr. Michael Solar 5.7
- 51 Lunar Lander 5.8-
- 52 Lunar Avenue 5.8-
- 53 Positively Fourth Street 5.9+
- 54 Coniferous Types 5.9+
- 55 The Detour 5.9+
- 56 Highway 61 5.9+
- 57 Fork in the Road 5.8
- 58 X 5.9+
- 59 Working Class Hero 5.7
- 60 Snail Mail 5.10
- 61 Cold Turkey 5.9+
- 62 Air Mail 5.10b
- 63 Zip Code 5.11-
- 64 Iron Pony 5.11d
West Ridge - part E - top to Xanadu
- 1 Tales of Ulysses 5.7
- 2 Prince of Darkness 5.11a
- 3 Sylvia's Bush 5.8
- 4 Sirens of Titan 5.9
- 5 Ice Nine 5.6
- 6 Bushwhack Crack 5.8+
- 7 Speakeasy 5.7
- 8 Laughing at the Moon 5.10b
- 9 The Bat 5.9+
- 10 Muscular Dystrophy 5.11a
- 11 A Cut Above 5.12a
- 12 Fading Light 5.10a
- 13 Fade To Black 5.10a
- 14 Blackout 5.10a
- 15 Between the Cracks 5.10+
- 16 Jericho 5.11c
- 17 Knight's Move 5.7
- 18 Cornerstone 5.11c
- 19 Superstone 5.11
- 20 Red House 5.11b
- 21 Chock Suey 5.10a
- 22 Chockstone 5.10a
- 23 Joke Crack to Superstone 5.11a
- 24 Purple Haze 5.9
- 25 Friends in High Places 5.10a
- 26 Born Under Punches 5.10a/b
- 27 Ministry of Fear 5.11d
- 28 Modern Defense 5.12b
- 29 Jeep 5.9+
- 30 Android Tilt 5.10b
- 31 Tilt Right 5.11d
- 32 Whiplash 5.10b
- 33 As We Liked It 5.10
- 34 S&M 5.7
West Ridge - part F - The Potato Chip
- 1 Petite Giraffe 5.9
- 2 Chives 5.9
- 3 Sour Cream 5.8
- 4 Ruffles Have Ridges 5.8+
- 5 Potato Chip Route (Regular Route) 5.10c
- 6 French Fry 5.12b
- 7 Mr. Potato Head 5.11c
- 8 Idaho Express 5.6
- 9 Poor Man's Wendego 5.9
- 10 Treetop Flyer 5.10a
- 11 Ground Control 5.8+
- 12 Eye of the Potato 5.10
- 13 Don't Peel 5.9+
- 14 Mountain Jam 5.8
- 15 Hypothermia 5.9
Also within 3 km
- Hawk-Eagle Ridge131 m · 71 routes · 6,281 ft
- Quartzite Crag164 m · 1 route · 6,207 ft
- Kloof Alcove167 m · 12 routes · 6,344 ft
- Shirt Tail Peak213 m · 20 routes · 7,281 ft
- Redgarden Wall236 m · 324 routes · 6,836 ft
- Rincon240 m · 58 routes · 6,993 ft
Straight line between the two crags' map points, each of which can be some way from its rock. For when this wall is full, or the sun has found it.
Photos from climbers
No photos here yet. If you're at the crag, yours would be the first.
Taken at the crag by climbers and published as they sent them. Each one's own location had to be within 0.5 km of this crag before we accepted it. See something that shouldn't be here? Use Report this photo under it and it's hidden at once. Anything else, write to us.
Conditions reported
Nothing reported recently.
Report what you see
Reports are dated and fade on their own: wet rock after 3 days, a bad bolt after a year. No names, no text.
Access & safety
The map point for this crag is on land managed by Colorado Parks & Wildlife (state), in Eldorado Canyon State Park. It lies inside state park.
Land manager from USGS PAD-US (public domain), read 2026-09-29. It is the manager of the crag's map point, which can be a long way from the wall. What you may do on the rock is the manager's to say, not ours.
- Managed by
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife (Eldorado Canyon State Park)
- Fees
- $10-12/vehicle (CO plate), $15-17 (out of state), $4/person on foot or bike. Annual vehicle pass $80, family $120, Aspen Leaf (64+) $70.
- Reservations
- Timed-entry vehicle reservation required Saturdays, Sundays and summer holidays, May 1-Oct 1 (cpwshop.com, 30 days ahead, 2-hour windows). Not needed on foot, by bike or on the free Eldo Shuttle.
- Hours
- Park: sunrise-sunset daily. Visitor center 9am-4pm, closed Thursdays.
- Dogs
- Leashed dogs permitted.
- Parking
- No reliable cell signal at the gate to book on arrival; reserve before you drive.
- County
- Boulder County
Checked 2026-09-29 against source 1, source 2, source 3. Rules change: confirm with the land manager.
Rules for all Colorado Parks & Wildlife land
- Fees
- Every Colorado state park requires an entrance pass for motor vehicles. A daily vehicle pass is $4 to $17 depending on the park; an individual pass covers entry on foot or bike.
- Reservations
- Eldorado Canyon runs timed-entry vehicle reservations on summer weekends and holidays; see the park's own page. Other parks do not require one to enter.
- Permits
- A daily pass is valid until noon on the day after purchase. The annual Keep Colorado Wild pass is $29 and is bought with a vehicle registration.
Read on Colorado Parks & Wildlife's own pages, checked 2026-09-29 by John Crawford. What they require, in full, or their own climbing page. These apply to the manager's whole holding; anything specific to this crag is above.
Nearby, from OpenStreetMap
- Toilets
- 344 m away (map)
- Mapped parking
- 278 m away, 10 spaces (map)
Distances are a straight line from this crag's map point, which can itself be hundreds of metres off; a road may be much longer. Mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), so a toilet missing here may simply be unmapped. Parking here is what OSM has drawn nearby, not a guidebook's directions.
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