Eldorado Canyon- Vertigo

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June 22, 2026

Vertigo is a classic standout trad climb in Eldorado Canyon, with two distinct pitches featuring a pumpy dihedral and a burly roof crack, all while topping out at a great position on top of Tower One on the Redgarden Wall.

Routes climbed

Name	Grade (YDS)	# Pitches	Quality (1-5)	Type
Vertigo	5.11b	4	5	trad

Peaks/Towers climbed

Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
Redgarden Tower One	6,800 ft	40 ft	39.93190, -105.28589

Gear

- 60m rope

- cams: doubles .1-2, single 3

- small to medium nuts

- 9 alpine draws

Total Stats

0.9 miles

800 ft gain/loss

Approach

From the main entrance, cross the bridge onto the north side of South Boulder Creek and take the trail west past a large concrete pad and onto the switchbacks up the Redgarden Trail past a metal ladder. Continue up to Yellow Spur Ledge, accessing it on its left side. Walk/scramble to the right side of the ledge, just before it cliffs out. Pitch 1 starts here.

Pitch 1 (5.9, 60 ft)

This great warm-up pitch ascended a dihedral with cracks in its center, ending on a large belay ledge. Gear belay.

Pitch 2 (5.9, 90 ft)

Although the same grade, this was a notch higher in difficulty than pitch 1. The pitch started off with an awkward slightly overhanging bulge which took good gear. Above this the terrain dramatically eased up and I continued up a low angle corner to some belay bolts on the right, just below an obvious chalked up dihedral.

Pitch 3 (5.11b, 50 ft)

A short but stout pitch. An initial easy bit of climbing brought me to the base of the chalked up dihedral, where I placed a couple cams and did a scrunchy move to establish myself in the dihedral. Several pumpy lieback and stem moves followed, with thin and fiddly but secure gear. The dihedral abruptly ended at some belay bolts to the left. 

Brent following pitch 3

Pitch 4 (5.11a, 90 ft)

I stepped out right from the belay and went straight up the very obvious roof crack, finding it more sporty than what I expected. Above the roof, the crack continued into an easy chimney. I built a belay here with hand sized cams. 

A short 30 ft scramble brought us to the top of Tower Two with excellent views of the canyon below.

Descent

We descended class 4 terrain north (climber's left) for about 40 ft to a notch, then looked left to find a bolted rap anchor just west of the notch. Two raps with the 60m rope brought us back down to the starting ledge.