Rock Climbing

The Roaring Fork Valley is a historic center of that favorite Colorado pastime, rock climbing. Within an easy drive of Carbondale lie several nationally known climbing areas; the riverside boulders near Redstone, the limestone cliffs in Box Canyon in Rifle Mountain Park, and the airy crags alongside the winding road up Independence Pass are all great places to sample or observe the local rock climbing.

To visit the picturesque Redstone boulders, go south out of Carbondale toward Redstone, drive about 50 yards past the first Redstone entrance and park in the large pullout on the left; the boulders are visible near the river.  You can fish or swim there, too.  Several of the colorful rocks are small and kid friendly and this is a great place to experiment with the feeling of rock climbing without the acrophobia or need for equipment.

In winter, ice climbing is plentiful in the Carbondale area.  The Crystal River Valley near Marble and Redstone is home to over a dozen superb ice flows of all difficulties, including Marble Falls, the Redstone Pillar and Avocado Gully.  Rifle Mountain Park, north of Rifle and less than an hour from Carbondale, is among the best ice-climbing areas on the Western Slope.  Hays Creek Falls, near Redstone, offers short and easy roadside ice climbing, and is a favorite early season practice area for locals.

Carbondale itself is home to an international mountaineering magazine, Rock and Ice.  If you're a rock climber looking for a place explore in western Colorado, it would be hard to find a better base camp than Carbondale.