Moving to Denver

[avaserfi]

Something my SO and I have been working on for a while, it is finally happening. From Houston aka the climbing dead zone to Denver next month. Any suggestions on places to find climbing partners, gyms and other information I will need to know generally?

Once we get settled, I've already been giving permission to grow my home training gym from the second bedroom to something more dedicated. From simple woody, hangboard and campus board to a full fledged setup. I can't wait for the space! (Yes, I'm spoiled in this regard).

[MarkAnderson]

Sweet! You won't regret it. Any idea where you're going to live? The Denver metro area is a big place, so its worth considering what sort of commute you want, in terms of work and rock access.

Partners are really easy to find via Mountain Project. And there are a few front range folks on this forum, like ehowell and aikibujin . There are suddenly quite a few gym options in the Denver area. For most people proximity will be the most important factor. I don't really climb at any of the gyms, so I can't really say, but I hear that Earth Treks Golden is the best option for training-oriented folks. Except for a few of the typical pet peeves they have a really nice upstairs* training area.

(*classic pet peeve--heat rises, so training areas should be as low as possible; the birthday kids can have the balcony)

[ehowell]

Hey man,

I too once lived and climbed in the dead zone, so I know how that goes. I had a pretty sweet woody set up in Houston because I hated TRG, but I'm lacking in space now and the gyms are significantly better. To follow on with what Mark is saying (assuming you are even interested in gyms), Denver Bouldering Club is coming along nicely. They will be finished with a new additional training space by the end of the month, which will include a Moon Board and an old-school Euro-style training woody decked out with holds. Between this and their south location (short, powerful problems), they probably have the best space for trainers in my opinion. Plus they have a 24 hour membership, so you can go in really early (or late) and beat the crowds. As Mark mentioned, ET is a great gym though, but I haven't been there in over a year.

Anyway, yeah, Denver is great. Where are you living? As for outdoor climbing you've probably heard about crowds, but you'll find it no worse than the base of Prototype at Reimers on a Saturday! Get a big puffy, get up early, embrace the cold, and you'll find many crags virtually empty this time of year (and in the best conditions!). I don't know what styles of climbing you're into, but hit me up here or on MP. I keep an honest and up-to-date ticklist, so you can get a feel for what I'm after. Either way, if you are floating around on this forum, you're probably a fairly motivated dude. I'm always happy to have more of those on my partner list! 

Welcome to town!

[avaserfi]

We haven't exactly decided where we are living, the whole situation is pretty whirlwind to be honest. Its happening so fast! We will probably end up on the East side of town (closer to Aurora) because of work. Rock access is still fairly close, although there are closer options with my new work schedule dropping from 70 hours a week to 40 hours a week I feel like I'm going to have all the time in the world to climb and train!

Once I get settled, I'll certainly hit you up ehowell. I'll be honest, I don't have a ticklist anywhere (I've climbed v7 in 5-6 attempts and 11+ in a few goes - never really tried anything harder). Its my outdoors experience on real rock that typically holds me back, my training numbers suggest I should be able to send much harder. I'm hoping this move facilitates me getting the outdoors experience I need to jump in the grades.

[aikibujin]

I’m not very good with building stuff, so I’m limited to the climbing gym (and my wobbly hangboard) for training. Out of all the gyms I’ve been to in Denver, Earth Treks is my favorite for the variety of wall angles (from slabby to big horizontal roof) and their training areas (weight room, campus board/system wall, etc). But if you live in Aurora, ET will be very out of your way.

I don’t think there’s any climbing gym in Aurora, so depends on where you end up, Rock’n and Jam’n (RJ) 1 in Westminster, Denver Bouldering Club Central, or Movement Denver are probably all pretty similar in terms of driving time. If you’re close to I-225, RJ 2 in Centennial is probably about the same.

Movement Denver is actually a very nice gym, but it is so crowded that I don’t bother going there anymore. But it may be a good place to meet other climbers, since they do this “rope up” thing for people without partners to climb with each other.

I have never been to Denver Bouldering Club (DBC) Central on a weekday, but I imagine it can get pretty crowded too (probably not as bad as Movement though). I actually haven’t been there in a while too, but based on what Evan said, it sounds like they’re putting in a nice training area. I have been to DBC South after they expanded their training area, and it was definitely a nice addition.

I haven’t climbed at RJ 1 before since it’s pretty far from where I live and work, but I have climbed at RJ 2. My suggestion would be go to either DBC Central or Movement (even RJ 1) before thinking about RJ 2. The bouldering area is really small in RJ 2 (basically a single cave), and usually when I’m there, their youth climbing team basically take over the whole bouldering area (or whatever area they are using at the time). Kids will be sitting around in the cave, chatting or looking at their phones, right in the landing zone of pretty much all the problems. Same with the small training area, or the system wall/campus board area. The only nice thing about RJ 2 (and RJ 1) is that they have auto-belays, so if you want to do 30-min ARC sessions without bribing a belayer, it’s a great place for it. Just be prepared for little kids throwing looks of dagger at you for hogging the auto-belay.

There’s a gym called Mountain Strong along I-25 that’s not too far north from I-70, it’s co-owned by one of the authors of the latest Clear Creek guidebook. It’s more of a cross-fit gym with a bouldering wall than a full climbing gym, but it’s worth mentioning if you’re into cross-fit.

[avaserfi]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I'll have some exploring to do. Right now OI drive around 20-40 minutes one way depending on the gym I go to, so I doubt it'll get worse.

Once we find a more permanent place, I'm moving over my 40 degree woody (8x8 plus kicker and top section), hangboard setup, campus boards and some other supplemental exercise stuff. I'm also planning on adding a moonboard, small vertical area and less steep 15ish degree area. I have hopes to have a nice home setup, but still plan on hitting up the gyms to meet some people and of course, get outdoors!