If you rock climb, you know how amazing it feels when you can get out of the gym and put your skills to the test in the great outdoors. While we are all stuck inside for now, here are some of our favorite spots to toprope climb in the Denver area from this fall!
1. Castlewood Canyon State Park
If you’re looking for accessible toprope climbing with a wide range of difficulty, you need to check out Castlewood Canyon State Park! We visited twice this fall, once with our high schoolers at STRIVE Prep-RISE, and once with our outdoor adventure enrichment class at Kepner Beacon Middle School.
How to get there: Enter Castlewood Canyon State Park at the west entrance, and park at the Cherry Creek Trail (the first parking lot after passing the homestead site). Follow the trail for around .5 miles until you reach a trail branching off to the right. Follow that trail until you reach the wall! On AllTrails this wall is called the Grocery Store Wall. There are a few different ways to reach the top rope anchors at the top of the rock, and you will have your choice of climbs ranging from 5.4 to 5.11c, making it the perfect spot for a group of varied skill levels!
Mountainproject page: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105744579/the-grocery-store-walls
2. Staunton State Park
We enjoyed a beautiful day at Staunton State Park with students from AUL Denver! Since we had a small group and the wall all to ourselves, we even got to give our kids some hands on belay lessons!
Staunton State Park has a variety of climbing spots, which you can learn more about at https://www.mountainproject.com/area/107838839/staunton-state-park
3. Alderfer/Three Sisters Park
This is another great spot that doesn’t require a long hike to access! Although this park is mostly known for its bouldering, there are some great beginner toprope routes as well! We brought our outdoor enrichment class at Kepner Beacon Middle School here in September, and they had a blast on the walls!
How to get there: Take Hwy 73 to the trailhead for Hidden Fawn Trail. Follow the trail about 10-15 minutes until you reach a large bouldering area! Topropes are accessible by scrambling around the rock