Keystone a.k.a. Montezuma Climbing

With the blistering summer setting in, the search for a cool shady to spot to climb rises up in the agenda, and Keystone offers one good solution to the relentless heat in the Front Range. While Keystone is not a great "destination spot" overall, it does offer a reasonable range of sport climbs at 10,000 feet elevation and as cool as one is likely to find one hour from Denver. The crags at Keystone are South facing but get good shade for part of the day nonetheless. The rock is alpine granite, quite solid overall, and bolted sport climbs range from 5.9/5.10 to middle 5.12. 

Several years ago all of the old anchors and tree belays were replaced by double bolt lowering stations. More recently many anchors at the more popular crags have been replaced with mussy hooks. N.B.: if you top rope, do it through your own draws. All of the routes on the main crags can be done with a 60 meter rope, and while the bulk of the climbing consists of bolted sport routes, there are some cracks also available. The hump up the hill is not too strenuous and when combined with the scenic venue is well worth a day's visit. There are at least a couple of routes with enough character that they should not be missed.