Simply put, Rifle Mountain Park offers the best limestone sport climbing in North America, especially at the 5.12 and up grades. This riparian mountain canyon 200 miles west of Boulder has undergone numerous evolutionary phases over the last decade, yet it still maintains its allure and is fairly crowded on most weekends from May through September.
The climbing at Rifle varies from slightly overhanging to very overhanging, and the routes are generally long, complex endurance-fests on large, flat holds, pockets, crimps and funky pinches. Constant traffic on some of the older routes, especially at the Ruckman Cave and the Wasteland, has turned the footholds black with shoe rubber. Many of the older routes have surely gained a letter grade or two from the grease factor alone.
Rifle hosts one of, if not the largest concentration of 5.13-5.14 sport routes in America, most of them natural, most of them quality. The rock itself, limestone of the Leadville formation, varies both in quality and aspect from wall to wall. The Wasteland, for example, offers short (50 foot) power routes on pocket and tufa-riddled stone similar to the good stuff in Europe; the towering Anti-Phil, with its perfect crimpers and smooth pockets reminds one of the Blasphemy Wall at the VRG; and the looming Arsenal offers blocky cave climbing on "pile" rock reminiscent of the good stuff at American Fork. But these are just a few of the walls.
It's important to remember that access to Rifle Mountain Park has been an issue in the past. The park is owned by the city of Rifle, and locals from town were going up there to camp, barbecue, fish and picnic long before we climbers ever showed up. The Canyon is open to new route development on a permit system only, and any rock owned by fish hatchery at the west end of the Canyon is strictly off-limits.
Pay your entrance fee, don't park where you're not supposed to, and keep a low, friendly profile. The climbing here is excellent, and there's more than enough routes to go around.
While Rifle does offer a handful of moderate routes, they're generally quite polished and uninspiring. The steep stone doesn't suffer from constant run-off like the slabbier stuff, hence the "good" climbing seems to start around 11a or so. Currently the hardest route at Rifle is 14b.
Ice Climbing
As well as world famous sport climbing, Rifle hosts some fabulous ice climbing. Ice climbers frequented the area long before it was a twinkle in a sport climber's eye. Several quality climbs form every year, however, due to temperatures and precipitation, conditions can be variable. Some routes do not form consistantly.
Difficulty ranges from WI 3 to WI 5+ depending on conditions. The canyon is a beautiful location and often sees less climbing traffic than other quality ice climbing areas in the state. Overall, when conditions are good, Rifle offers some of the best naturally forming, easily accessible ice in Colorado.
There is a $4 dollar parking fee in the park. The town of Rifle offers some fairly inexpensive accomodations and even a decent restaurant or two.
Getting There
Drive west to Glenwood Springs on I-70. Ten miles further west take the Newcastle exit. Turn right off the freeway and come to a stop sign. Continue straight (north) on a four-lane road that then bends west through Castle Valley, a housing development just outside of town. After a couple of miles this road dead ends at Grass Valley Road.
Follow Grass Valley Road west, passing the turn-offs for East Elk Canyon, Main Elk Canyon (home of the Fortress of Solitude), West Elk Canyon, and Harvey Gap. After about 6-8 miles Grass Valley Road comes to a T-intersection. Turn right and follow this paved road up up up past the fish hatchery, where it turns to dirt. You're now in Rifle Mountain Park.
Super-mega-ultra-classic! Possibly the best sport route in the universe.This route is rated 12b in the guides, but I think there is a broad consensus among everyone who climbs it that it is at least a letter grade harder than that. This line is on the far left side of the Arsenal. It can be easily recognized by the fixed, chain draws. The first difficulties are encountered early, where you do a series of 12a/b underclinging and sidepulling ma...[more]
Visited Rifle this a.m. and turned back, since what little was in existence this year was sopping, detached, decaying, rotten sludge today. 40 & 50 degree temps have nearly eliminated any decent ice for now. Dreaming of Red Rocks now....forecast calls for 70's all week!
Defenseless Betty is a great intro to moderate climbing here. good rests and great fun.
This limestone is awesome! This seems like a great place to build a foundation in the 5.12 range. No give aways though. Get ready for consistant climbing from bottom to top.
As for intimidation I found most people friendly. if not there are lots of routes to move on to. Sometimes a friendly hello will bring the same back. Just have fun!!!
Oh, one more thing, take longer rests here you'll need them ( up to 30 minutes or more)
Not much discussion about Rifle here. I thought I'd update everyone on the current conditions. The rock is super polished and chalk pretty much cakes up the positive holds so they are all slopers. Parking is a nightmare and camping is desperate on the weekends. I also heard about a bolt breaking/pulling. Don't get me wrong- there is some good climbing, but its no Boulder Canyon.
The free camping at the "dirt pile" appears to be no more. There are new No Trespassing signs there. This was a popular spot for climbers looking for a free spot to camp but now they'll need to look for other spots.
WARNING - there are at least 2 bears roaming the campgrounds at Rifle. The park people have done very little to post any signs warning campers of this. I have heard of tents getting slashed open for the last 2 weekends. Use all neccessary precautions.
I'm not a Rifle local, though I do make many weekend trips each summer from SLC, and I would like to continue to do this, so I thought some of you "locs" might be interested in a outsider's perspective:
This last weekend was only my 5th trip of the summer, but (just like every year) I've noticed that the Project Wall and the Arsenal seem to suffer severely from an infestation of leashless dogs. Dogs running unrestrained, doing there doggy things, all over the road while their masters blithely pose up some route that they have done 5 million times...never thinking that perhaps this is annoying to other climbers who are belaying, climbers who are smart enough to put their dogs on a leash and most importantly to the "local color" (remember they were there first) driving their enormous trucks at break neck speeds through the canyon on Labor Day Weekend.
Before you dismiss me as a dog hater, don't...I like dogs a lot and that is part of the problem for me...and I suspect some other people. I do not want to be subjected to witnessing the terrible scene of somebody's dog being run over right in front of me, and I cringe inwardly every time there is a near miss, which is often.
Unfortunately, it seems (why is this always the case) that it is the true hard core locals (you/we know who you are), the ones who should be the stewards of the area, who are by and large the worst offenders.
You peeps need to get it together, and set a better example to all the visiting fools who show up and think its just a big dog park!
I'll quit spraying now, and let the flaming begin...if anyone actually reads this...but even worse than watching a dog get killed would be to have a wall like the Project Wall get closed.Unlike most of you, I still have some routes to do there...and as we climbers are essentially a selfish and narcissistic lot, that really is the bottom line. I don't want my favorite climbing area closed down.
Neal, You're dead-on right. Dogs should be leashed at the Project Wall, or we could lose access. Climbers should take care not to belay, hang out, spray, whatever, in the road, too. This is one area that the City has thought of closing before, and if something bad were to go down, it would probably be the first area shut down--which would be a huge bummer, since this is the best climbing in the canyon, IMHO. I like dogs, too, but the sheer amount of dog fights in the canyon this year alone has been dismaying.
Also, climbers bringing vicious breeds to the Park ... shouldn't. Leave your feckin pit bull/Rotweiller/Akita at home if it has a history of biting other dogs or people. There's nothing worse than walking up to a wall only to have some dog snarling at you; the owner telling you, "It's OK, he doesn't bite"; then having the damn thing keep growling at or bite you. I was atttacked once by six German shepherds while trail running in Italy.. It wasn't entertaining. Neither are irresponsible dog owners at the crag.
I would like to point out, counter to the information in the Rifle survey linked to from this site, that as of late-September, 2004, there is no longer a "hypocritical" bolting moratorium at Rifle.
Through the work of Lee Sheftel, Dave Pegg, Jeff Achey, Scott Leonard, Luke Laeser, and myself (the Rifle Climbers Coalition), we were able to institute a 20-new-routes-per-year bolting-by-permit system, very similar to the FHRC. If you have a new route in mind, you need only email a digital photo of the route, proposed, guestimated # of bolts, and info about trails, access, parking, etc, to rifleclimberscoalition@yahoo.com, or leesheftel@comcast.net. The City has essentially agreed to let us do this in exchange for helping them with clean-ups, trail days, a brochure (to come out), etc., but is also asking that for every hard route that goes up, a moderate go up as well--a true moderate (5.5.-5.9), one that schools can teach on, guides can use, etc.
I'd hate to see the language in this survey jeopardize all the hard work we've put in with the City, and I apologize for not getting the word out sooner, but we haven't had time to get a website up yet.
My sincere apologies to Daniel Mirsky and anyone else who read my last asinine post. He used the word "hypothetical," not "hypocritical." I guess I have tunnel vision. No, I know I have tunnel vision. His survey is a very useful tool, which, in the long run, will help us all know a lot more about how we use the Canyon and spend our money on recreation.
In any case, the moratorium is still lifted, with bolting open on a permit system. You'll need to be patient, as it takes the City of Rifle some time to vet each request, but the wheels are in motion.
The survey has much emphasis on RMP and I'm wondering why? Is this because the surveyor goes to college near RMP, so he choose RMP for his project because it's close to him....... or, is there something "more" to the survey.
I'm not much of a climber anymore, but I am a Rifle local. Even theough I went to school (and learned to climb) in Southern California, we came to Rifle every year for summers, and now I live there.Rifle Mountain Park is just about the BEST way to get up to the high country north of New Castle once the snow melts off, so if you're climbing there after the melt, expect lots of traffic headed up and down the canyon to get up to spectacular spots like Cliff Lake and Meadow Lake (heck of a fishing spot-- you can watch bald eagles steal your fish-- not to be missed). Also upcanyon from the fish hatchery are some nice camping spots (where there's no climbing) and excellent spots to stop, eat a picnic, and gather watercress (yes, watercress -- Rifle creek doesn't freeze over in winter, so there's always watercress to be gathered).Generally (and having lived in Los Angeles, I feel that I can say this with a bit of authority) the people from the area around Rifle are a heck of a lot nicer than your average city-dweller. A smile and a wave goes a HELL of a lot further than a finger and a threat of a lawsuit.The businesses in Rifle really like the idea of climbers coming through and buying water and food and beer and other stuff.The people who enjoy the Park for whatever reason would probably sorta like the people there (for climbing) to be nice.Just nice.Try to remember that for the most part, the people of this area don't lock their doors at night, don't fear crime (there basically isn't any), and wave to complete strangers.
Now, personally, I've NEVER had any evil contacts with climbers up Rifle Creek (as we locals refer to RMP).
Quite a few of my friends and colleagues climb there regularly, and are nice sorts.
If you're nice, you won't have any problems with the "locals."
If you bring a big-city (L.A., New York) attitude, you'll be dismissed as an a-hole. Just a couple of cents from a local.
Rifle is pretty good now. There were a lot of people over the Memorial Day weekend. Seems like 75% of the stuff is dry, with the occasional seeping hold. It rained a lot Sunday and Monday which was a bit of a stinker.
Anyone been to Rifle w/in the past couple of days/weeks? How are conditions - lots of seeping or is it drying fast? I know this time last year a lot of stuff was still soaked....
Note about a few of the new "moderate" routes at Rifle:
Canine Wall: According to SplitterChoss.com, these were bolted by people from Climbing magazine. There are several climbs at 11a and below. While the sentiment is good, the execution is less so. Not enough cleaning was done, so there is alot of lichen and stuff, but more troubling is that there is a "a lot" of loose rock on these climbs.
For example, on Stem-o-Rama, the bottom two bolts are through a dirty garden-like area, with the only places aggressively cleaned are the bolt locations. In the upper dihedral, the crack and the left side of it are very loose: Several big blocks located directly on-route were pulled off accidentally (by experienced climbers), and several other on-route blocks are scarily loose and hollow.
My concern is that inexperienced climbers (who will be more likely to climb these) will likely pull stuff off onto inexperienced belayers. I can't recommend this area to newer climbers until some serious crowbar/cleaning goes into these routes.
Hey Robbie, Valid concerns, thanks for the input. Some of the routes at the Canine Wall are pretty damn dirty. I guess that's what you get on a shady, north-facing wall sometimes. Believe it or not, several folks have put a lot of time into cleaning these lines, including at last year's Rifle Cleanup. You wouldn't believe how dirty they were in the beginning.
I don't remember much in the way of loose rock, and can tell you from first hand experience the routes WERE picked over with a pry bar. Maybe some stuff came loose over the winter?
The mag is no longer in Carbondale, and with all the recent turnover there, it'll probably be impossible to get anyone out to finish up, so to speak. Maybe some civic minded folks will take up the task at this year's clean up.
I'll make a note of it in the info on splitter choss, thanks.
Conditions are good now. Most areas dry except for Wasteland and Project wall. On a side note, a grigri was left at the base of Purple and Green (Anti-Phil). Reward if returned.
Wondering about the conditions at Rifle. Well, look no further than the new, updated, conditions page at wolverinepublishing.com/rifle_beta.html. I will be updating the page periodically as conditions change.
Also, the 2008 edition guidebook is out! However, the Demons of Bosch are hard at work, putting up routes at a furious pace. Check out wolverinepublishing.com/rifle_new_routes.html for info on new routes and corrections, since the release of the guide.
Wow what a place!!! I spent my first weekend at Rifle and it was fantastic. It's definitely not for the weak of heart or the weak in body. If you want to be a stronger sport climber this is a great place to visit.
The other great thing about Rifle is the people. I love the climbing community but the dedicated climbers at Rifle are top notch. I felt so welcome and everyone was so friendly. Thanks to everyone for making my first (and not my last) Rifle experience awesome.
Rifle Mountain Park
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