This is the first route that breached the overhanging section of the cliff. Follow the trail along the wall and through the willow trees to the upper section of the wall. On the left edge of the that wall is a steep black wall leading up to some wild looking fins of rock. The route start here. Stick clip the first bolt and fire up a series of hard moves to stance below the fins.Maybe harder for shorter folks. Climb up past two bolts making some wild moves on the fin. Step left and climb/chimmey up between two fins reaching the anchor.

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Corneal Abrasion

Unknown Crack

Trads Are People, Too!

Disney on Ice

Bob, The Roofer

Frozen in Time

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

Friction Fix

Sub-Zero

The Iceboxer

Ice Age

Hemisphere

Queen Byron

The Microfridge

Brain Freeze

Ice, Ice, Baby

Named in honor of dorm residents everywhere, the Microfridge is a varied route that climbs a direct line through the steepest part of the north face of the Icebox.

The Microfridge starts with a lieback flake and moves through a small roof to a conspicuous and somewhat frustrating, right-leaning seam. Above this, climb through some more lieback moves to a bouldery sequence over the bulge. Finish with a fun tufa-like pillar to anchors on a slab.

For full disclosure, this route is still cleaning up. I tried to get the key features as clean as possible, but there is a good amount of potato chip flakes still on the faces.

This is the first pitch of

Brain Freeze

but is listed separately in

11 Miles to Freedom

. From that guide: "Interesting, well protected slab moves over great stone make this one of the best of its grade in the canyon!" I agree, no other sport route in the canyon at this grade is this cool! My 8 year old said maybe

Counter Strike

on 11 Mile Dome (his personal favorite).

While this route appears to be a bolted crack (and climbs like a crack in places), there is much less natural protection than one would expect, making its sport-climb status pretty reasonable. Start by climbing through slightly fractured rock for two bolts to a stance below the crack feature. Jam, stem, and even chimney your way up the initial crack to where it jogs right to the arete. Finish up the arete to the anchors below the large roof.

Climb a right-facing corner under a roof/chimney. Step right under the roof, and pull over it and left to a good ledge.  Start clipping some bolts up the thin face to anchors.  It is well protected, fun, and worthwhile.

Start about 15 feet right of "Ice on the Moon". Climb up to the first bolt, make a stiff move and then fire up past two more bolt to a ledge. Climb up the steep face past two more bolts to a small overhang. Clip a bolt and hump onto the whale tail. Several delicate slab moves take up past several past three more bolt to the anchor. A great lead by Kelly. Good route and like the others on this wall will only get better with more ascents.

Climb easy thin hands in a corner on gear to a roof with a bolt. Two more bolts get you to the chains. The crux is pulling the roof. This is short and powerful, with a cool dynamic move to a big jug - I'd say it is definitely worth doing if you're in the area.

This outstanding route climbs the steep arete on the far uphill end of the Icebox. It starts on a low overhang and climbs up a slab to the steep prow. Creativity will no doubt be an asset on this climb - the beta is surprisingly hard to figure out.

There are tricky moves both above and below the first bolt. It looks a bit easier than it actually climbs. After the first two bolts, just continue to the top.

Starts on the left side of the cliff near a small cave-like hole. Climb up just right of the cave to the first bolt, traverse out right (yellow alien) to the second bolt. Make hard slab moves reaching a ledge (yellow alien) Make a couple of steep moves past the last bolt, reaching a right-leaning corner. Climb the corner (gear) to a two-bolt anchor anchor. Great route!

As the name implies (at least to those who played early '90s video games), this route requires some Mortal Combat-style karate chop hand jams. With two bolts and bomber gear in between, Sub-Zero is one of the better (and possibly hardest?) traditional routes in Eleven-Mile.

Begin off a cheater stone, and climb slightly crumbly rock (a bit of a theme for the Icebox) up a flake, then undercling right through a roof to a stance below a trio of cracks up the bulging wall. Clip a fixed stopper and bust up and left via the "Mortal Combat" toss into the leftmost crack. Continue up with powerful moves on terrible jams to the anchor at the lip.

This route has got to be one of the better hard sport climbs in the South Platte, if not the whole Front Range. While there are still some potato chip flakes that will clean up with more traffic, the route is very aesthetic and demands good fitness, creative technique, and very precise footwork on solid rock.

Start with slightly awkward, scrunchy moves off the ground to a vertical face with long moves on crimps and sidepulls. Cop a rest, and then traverse right (even climbing downward for a move). Do a powerful and highly technical boulder problem over a bulge to reach a jug and a short slab section. At the top of the slab, rest up again for the heartbreaking final boulder problem to the anchors.

Ice Age shares the start and first two bolts with

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

then cuts right into a large dihedral. This dihedral is full of all manners of shit, which you cannot see from the ground and must grovel through to continue the climb. A long horizontal takes you out of shitland, and a few jugs take you up to easier, more fun terrain.

This is a great climb up the face, a few flakes, and along the left side of a jutting prow to a nice, bowl-shaped ledge with two anchors (see photo).

Begin above a large, broken flake on an arete. Climb the arete, and pull the crux bulge to reach an undercling and cruiser dihedral to the chains.

This route is located just above the lower slab area where the wall turns to vertical at a flat grassy area.

Climb a short slab pitch (5.6)to a two-bolt fixe anchor. Step right from the anchor a make a couple of hard moves up to a ledge. Fire straight up using a large flake on the right and thin crack on the left. Stem wide and up to a short traverse right to a good stance. Fire up steep wall clipping two more bolts and reach the anchor. Caution: a 60 meter rope will not reach the ground.

I did the route in one pitch but can easily be done in two.

This is a neat, little route that looks easy, then 'seams' tougher than it looks, and then ultimately ends up being somewhat in the middle of those extremes.

Begin on the right side of the cave, with fun climbing that arcs up and left to get past the first bolt. Cool, technical, flared seam climbing gets you through the next 2 bolts and deposits you at a short runout section. This looks a little daunting, but the climbing unfolds nicely to get you to the 4th bolt. Traverse right past a bolt, and then go straight up through a hand crack/bulge boulder problem that is protected by a bolt.

This little route deserves to get more traffic. It is fun, has a nice, little staging cave, and has zero approach. Do it!

Description

Protection

Routes in The Icebox