Clear Creek intermediate goal climbs

[sean]

Little background:
Last winter my wife and I decided we were going to relocate to Denver in the summer (from NJ). I used moving as an incentive to train hard all winter to finish off a bunch of gunks classics I had been saving. Training really worked and I had a great spring season. Between moving and changing jobs, my whole summer ended up being a wash, practically taking the 2.5 months off. Now I'm back at it and starting to claw my way back into shape.

I've set my sights on some classic sport climbs in CC for the upcoming year. My main goal will be anarchitect (hopefully by next fall I'm in shape enough to do it. Question for all the locals around here, what are good goal routes to use as stepping stones? I guess I'm looking for climbs between 11d and 12c that exemplify the type of climbing (or contrast it to help become better overall). I'm also hoping to pepper in some classic trad and alpine (the diamond, naked edge, black canyon), so becoming a better overall climber will be most helpful.
Thanks for your help/advice and if you're in the area and are looking for a partner, let me know (living in Lakewood). Slainte

[MarkAnderson]

Hey Sean, welcome to the Front Range!

Here are some recommendations, but I keep in mind that I haven't done a ton of climbing in that grade range in CCC. There are probably others on this board with a better perspective. Th

Curvaceous, 11+
Kum & Go, 11d
Eiger Direct, 11d
Wet Dream, 12a
Love Your Enemies, 12b
Monkey Bars, 12b
The Reward aka Convicted Felon, 12b
Ken T'ank, 12c
Ten Digit Dialing, 12c

There are also a bunch of routes at Anarchy in that grade range that are mini-versions of Anarchitect. Any of those would be good simulators, but if you only climbed those you wouldn't see much of the canyon. The above list will give you a good tour of most of the best crags.

[sean]

Thanks for the list Mark! Looks like I'll have a good long list to crawl my way through. Psyched on being in the area now, I picked a goal in CC specifically for the increased ability to convince my wife to give me a couple belays on great weather days. Access here is almost overwhelming compared to out east!

[jrblack]

Sorry to necro this old thread, but just thought I'd say that I saw Kevin's new guidebook for CC (2nd edition of the same guide you already have). It's looks like there are a LOT of new routes in the 5.12 range, many of which are 3-star and 4-star routes. So for you crushers out there... get psyched!

The book is due in stores next month, I believe.

A significant number of the new hardman routes were put up by Mark in the last year or two!