ROCK OF AGES

Intro

Fern Canyon represents the two miles of terrain between the west end of Morraine Park and the confluence of Fern Creek and Spurce Creek with the Big Thompson River. The Fern Lake Trail wanders up this forested canyon and reveals a fairly impressive line of cliffs to the north. Relatively few climbers visit these crags, instead drawn to the bigger objectives in the area. However, this area is a good place for some sunny low-commitment or earlier-season climbing in RMNP. The most popular zones of climbing are Rock of Ages and The Lost World. This page is for climbs I have done at Rock of Ages, an area of rock sitting high on the slope above Arch Rocks Campsite. I have another page for The Lost World.

Route Overlays

Overlays for the routes I have climbed at Rock of Ages. Photos of these routes are given in the trip reports on this page.

Intro

Dow had arrived in the Estes Park area the evening before, so to kick off our trip together, we climbed the route Days of Heaven on Rock of Ages. Dow's friend Tristan joined us as well for a team of three.

Rock of Ages is a 200-foot granite wall in Rocky Mountain National Park, with a lower elevation and shorter approach than peaks further into the park. This area is a good choice for a half day or a day with possible thundershowers, or when you want to crag on a harder (5.10 or higher) route, or both. Days of Heaven — which climbs the left side of the main buttress of Rock of Ages — is perhaps the best route in the area, featuring clean splitter cracks from fingers to hands, with some wild 5.10 moves to access these cracks. 

I led the first pitch, while Dow led pitches 2 and 3 as a single pitch, and Tristan enjoyed the opportunity to follow the route. The first few moves of Pitch 1 pulling over the bulge are rather committing, but on cool juggy features. Pitch 2 is a very technical pitch, involving some face climbing and hand traversing. Pitch 3 is the money pitch of the route, up an obvious vertical splitter to the top. The pitch ratings seemed a bit off to us. Pitch 3 (10d) is the supposed crux pitch of the route, but actually seemed to be the most straightforward climbing, with great jams and locks; to me, Pitch 3 felt easier than Pitch 1 (10a), which had some committing and more insecure moves. Pitch 2 (10c) was definitely the hardest pitch for us, as it felt significantly more technical and tricky than any other section of the route — specifically, the step left at the end of the hand traverse was the crux move of the route for each of us. 

Even though only 200 feet long, Days of Heaven was a satisfying objective for the day (plus, it began to thunder and spit droplets of rain just as we topped out, a sign that it was time to head out). This page gives a route overlay and some photos from the climb.

In July 2020, I climbed Days of Heaven for a second time, this time via toprope solo. I had been on the upper cliff toprope soloing The Wasp. The top of Days of Heaven on the lower cliff is easy to access from the base of the upper cliff, so I decided to fix a rope on the tree above Days of Heaven and run a lap on Days of Heaven before hiking out. With a single 70 and a handful of directional placements, I was able to do the entire route as one long pitch from the ground. Because of the way the rope was hanging, I climbed the steep 11c/12a fingercrack of Pitch 2 of Celestial Gate which starts at the top of Pitch 1 of Days of Heaven and rejoins Days of Heaven halfway through Pitch 2. Fun!

For more excellent beta from this climb, see Dow's summitpost page for Days of Heaven.

Intro

When I climbed Days of Heaven in Summer 2018, it was during a road trip to Colorado that was supposed to be for one week and turned into a month when I discovered it difficult to leave. It was on that trip that I decided to move to Colorado. So when I finally returned to Rock of Ages in May 2020, it was a mere hour's drive from my doorstep in Boulder to the trailhead. As another interesting tie-in to my momentous 2018 trip, on this second trip to Rock of Ages, I climbed with Will Starks, who I had met and climbed with on my 2018 road trip and had now become one of my regular climbing partners.

Will and I climbed three routes. First we climbed Nameless Demons, which climbs the large, left facing dihedral just left of Days of Heaven. Super fun and punchy climbing on great rock. Next we moved rightward a couple of hundred feet to Center Dihedral, which climbs the obvious right-facing dihedral that splits the upper wall just right of Days of Heaven. This was a bit mungy, but I thought it was a good route with some engaging heads up climbing. Last, we toproped Heavenly Daze, since this steep and sustained edgy 12b had intrigued us every time we rapped down it on the rappel descent. After climbing this in the hot sun, we were satisfied with the day and hiked out.

The following gives photos from each of the climbs.

Intro

Nate and I had gotten into the pattern of 2-3 alpine days a week plus a couple of days of hard cragging between. The Wasp (once 13a and now downgraded to 12d) on the Upper Cliff of Rock of Ages was a perfect objective. The Wasp climbs a zig-zagging crack system up the steep face, and is a candidate for the best single-pitch route at its grade in the state. It is trad and takes pretty good gear, and would be a proud lead. We toproped the Wasp, each doing a few laps. We returned a week later in the early morning before work to do a couple of more laps. I returned the next day alone to do a few more laps via toprope solo. We plan to return again, since Nate plans to lead it soon and I am still working on getting the whole thing on toprope without hangs.

We also toproped Greensleeves, a bolted face on the left side of the wall. It stats with an easy finger crack, and then launches into sustained crimping with no rests. Although rated 12b, it felt harder than The Wasp to me.

The following gives just a couple of photos from each of the climbs. 

Intro

It was finally summer and time to start climbing in RMNP. Rock of Ages is a good early summer location. Nate and I spent the day here climbing four routes for a total of six quality pitches. Fun in the sun!

The following gives some photos from each of the climbs. 

previous and next adventures