Mary's Bust CLIMBING
Dates: 2020(x1 day), 2021(x4 days), 2022(x2 days), 2023(x2 days)Partner: Giles Eperon, Nate Arganbright
List of Climbs I've Done, 4 Trip Reports, & Some Photos
Photo Trip Reports for
The Brown Palace (5.11a, 6p, sport)
The Broadmoor (5.10b, 4p, sport)
The Devil's Backbone (5.11c, 3p, sport)
Violet Blue (5.11c, 3p, sport)
Mary's Bust is a large south-facing cliff towering above the north side of US 34 about 8 miles east of Estes Park. The rock is granitic with lots of quartz intrusions and pockets of mica. The routes range from 1 to 6 pitches, with difficulties from 5.6 to 5.13. Most of the climbing is sport but there are some trad climbs as well. The approach is quite quick.
The first time I climbed at Mary's Bust was in August 2020, during a stretch of weather where early afternoon thundershowers were shutting down bigger alpine objectives. My partner and I climbed two of the longest routes at Mary's Bust: The Brown Palace followed by The Broadmoor. I returned in January to climb The Devil's Backbone, another great multipitch route in the area. I've returned since then to do more cragging in the area.
On this page, I keep a list of the climbs I've done at Mary's Bust. Below the list, I've included photo trip reports for some of the longer and more popular multipitch climbs I've done at Mary's Bust: The Brown Palace, The Broadmoor, Devil's Backbone, and Violet Blue. Below that, I have random photos from cragging at Mary's Bust.
Table of Contents for this page
List of Climbs I've Done at Mary's Bust
4 Trip Reports
Four short trip reports for four of the longer climbs I've done at Mary's Bust.
The Brown Palace (5.11a, 6p, sport)
MAIN BUTTRESS- Date: August 3, 2020 (Mon) Partner: Giles Eperon
- Date: September 18, 2021 (Sat) Partner: Nate Arganbright
- Date: June 28, 2023 (Wed) Partner: Nate Arganbright
The Brown Palace climbs the entire length of the 400+ foot southeast face of Mary's Bust. The route's six pitches range in difficulty from 5.9 to 5.11a and are entirely bolt protected. For the most part, the route follows a 4-foot wide dike.
Giles and I were up and down this route in a couple of hours. I led the odd pitches while Giles led the even pitches. It looked like the afternoon thundershowers would hold off for at least a few more hours (after all it was still mid-morning when we finished!), and we had enjoyed The Brown Palace and weren't yet ready to end the fun, so we decided to head back up via The Broadmoor.
The following gives a pitch-by-pitch breakdown for our climb of The Brown Palace.
September 2021 update: I climbed this route again in September 2021 with Nate, as a bonus route after climbing a short route at a more crowded Lumpy Ridge that morning. I led the even pitches this time.
June 2023 update: I climbed the route yet again in June 2023 with Nate, as a quick 6-pitch after-work cragging session. Two hours and ten minutes base to base.
The Broadmoor (5.10b, 4p, sport)
MAIN BUTTRESS- Date: August 3, 2020 (Mon) Partner: Giles Eperon
- Date: May 23, 2021 (Sun) Partner: Nate Arganbright
The Broadmoor climbs four pitches of relatively sustained 5.10a/b bolted face. It is possible to continue up to link with the final pitch of The Brown Palace for a six pitch route to the top. But Giles and I had just climbed The Brown Palace so we just did the four pitches of The Broadmoor and then rappelled.
The following gives a pitch-by-pitch breakdown for our climb of The Broadmoor.
I climbed this route again in May 2021 and linked it into the final pitch of The Brown Palace for a nice 6-pitch route to the top. Photos below are only from my first climb of The Broadmoor in August 2020.
The Devil's Backbone (5.11c, 3p, sport)
LEFT BUTTRESS- Date: January 17, 2021 (Sun) Partner: Nate Arganbright
The Devil's Backbone follows the extreme right edge of the large buttress that sits immediately left of the main formation of Mary's Bust. The route follows the backbone of rock and is fairly well-bolted, with every pitch offering a cruxy 5.11 section and good movement throughout.
Nate and I climbed this on cool day in January. We had hiked up to the top and rapped into the route with plans to crag on the wall called Golden Hall which sits directly above Devil's Backbone, but it was cloudy and in the high 30's so we just did the single route.
The following gives a pitch-by-pitch breakdown for our climb of The Devil's Backbone.
Violet Blue (5.11c, 3p, sport)
MAIN BUTTRESS- Date: April 16, 2022 (Sat) Partner: Nate Arganbright
Violet Blue runs up an old aid line on the west face of Mary's Bust just adjacent to the gully that separates the two main crags. The route was installed ground up, solo, and on the lead using hooks and some other related tricks. But now it is fully bolted, providing a quality 5.11 line on steep featured rock. Nate led all of the pitches, cruising through the 5.11 with ease. This is my favorite route at Mary's Bust to date.
The following gives a pitch-by-pitch breakdown for our climb of Violet Blue.
More Photos
Some random photos from other days of cragging at Mary's Bust.
Main Buttress Left Buttress The Sugar Cube
Nate and I had planned to go to Lumpy Ridge for the morning, but a last minute phone call from Bernard asking if we were interested to join in a first ascent of a new 3 pitch-route at Mary's Bust caused us to change up our plans. We joined Bernard and Paul on the first ascent and climbed a couple of other pitches as well, and then called it a day before the impending rain moved in.
Spring weather had been so wet that the best place for a short dry window of weather was Mary's Bust. We climbed Broadmoor into the last pitch of The Brown Palace and then capped off the short day with Deceiver, a surprisingly fun 1-pitch climb with a crux undercut but well-protected start.
We had tried to climb at Palisade Mountain, but bailed due to too much snow at the base of the rock and on ledges. We salvaged the day by climbing 3 pitches at The Sugar Cube and then four more at Performance Park (a crag in Estes Park).
Climbed Violet Blue (5.11c, 3p) and Crusty Old Curmudgeon (5.12a, 2p), for 5 awesome and challenging (at least for me) pitches of climbing. Photos and trip report for Violet Blue are given earlier on this page.
The forecast was for "heavy rain" so we squeezed in a few morning pitches at Mary's Bust.
