Ancient fossils still lie hidden in the bold and bronzen buttes of Badlands National Park, a protected wilderness penetrated by hiking and biking trails.
Colorado National Monument offers some truly great "Western" climbing on sandstone spires and exposed walls. Predominately a trad area, the monument still has a lot of unexplored climbing terrain which is just calling for attention.
Located a little to the south of I-70 and between Grand Junction and Fruita (which has a festival every year in memory of a headless chicken side-show mind you), Colorado National Monument is a great destination with some modest bouldering and sport routes and with most of the climbs falling into the 5.9-5.11 range. Definitely, the highlight of climbing here is topping out on one of the several hundred foot spires or climbing a crack all the way up a smooth sandstone wall. Try climbing an open book rather than reading one this time!
Details
Location
Just south of I-70 by Fruita on the western slopes of the Rockies
Rock Type:
Sandstone
Routes:
Years
Season:
Spring to Fall
Map + Directions
Basic Directions
Take the Fruita exit off I-70 and head south on HWY 340 into the park
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