Steve Levin and his new guide to Eldorado adventure

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Steve Levin on his stellar and runout route Ghoul's Turn on Eldo's Redgarden Wall.

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Steve Levin on his stellar and runout route Ghoul's Turn on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. (Jeff Achey)

Few people dare to climb on Eldorado Canyon's Rotwand, a russet-colored wall at the mouth of the canyon whose vertical facade is a mosaic of puzzle pieces somehow tacked together. This fragile cliff is guarded by a steep approach gully even looser than the wall itself.

It was here, atop this house of heavy cards, that Steve Levin found himself "doing yet another dangerous route." Tied to his partner Chris Donharl, Levin noticed their rope graze across an unavoidable and enormous, loose block -- a danger to them and future parties.

Their safest option was to cut it loose. The boulder ricocheted thunderously down the gully, "then minutes later, a cloud of dust came up," Levin said, "that was actually smoke." Sparks from the tumbling rocks had ignited a dry patch of grass fortuitously surrounded by talus.

This Rotwand adventure was just another day in the office for Levin, a fiercely dedicated Eldorado climber, researcher and historian, and the author of the new "Eldorado Canyon: A Climbing Guide."

"Writing the guidebook was a tough job in many respects" -- he endured sweltering heat, bitter cold, overuse injuries and more loose rock than he cares to recall -- "but also a dream job."

In the last three years alone, Levin has logged more than 400 Eldo climbing days, and he's now done roughly 90 percent of the canyon's 1,300 different lines. But of all this labor, he says, "I've only grown to love it more."

The most obvious manifestation of Levin's "deep attachment to the place" is his voluntary tenure as one of Eldo's primary caretakers. Last year, as he was finishing his book, he recruited many friends to aid his research. I followed him on some forgotten but high-quality routes on the West Ridge, as well as a few new ones.

On our approach, he removed errant rocks from the trail, picked up micro-trash and obsessively referenced his tattered guidebook-to-be, double- and triple-checking its accuracy. After climbing, we moved some loose stones that were perched above a popular cliff, then Levin whipped out a pair of clippers to prune a tree that had overgrown a key descent trail. "I've been meaning to do that for a while," he said.

Levin was born in 1958 and lived in Philadelphia until he was 20. He first climbed in Eldo in the summer of 1976, when its few climbers wore white painter's pants, rugby shirts, swami belts (harnesses without leg loops), and EB's (one of the first shoes with sticky rubber).

His first route in Eldo was Bastille Crack (5.7), and he remembers the rock feeling "slippery and off-balance ... the slanting footholds and jam cracks were intimidating." But two years later, he moved to Boulder and began his career as an Eldo regular.

In addition to distinguishing himself as a local hero, Levin has proven himself in larger climbing arenas. Among his many significant ascents, he was part of the 1977 first free ascent of the iconic, 2,000-foot Lotus Flower Tower in Canada's Northwest Territories (V 5.10).

In 1996, he and Jeff Achey made the first free ascent of the difficult and runout Nose in Colorado's Black Canyon. Levin has also logged 40-plus ascents of The Diamond on Longs Peak, including many of its 5.12s.

Levin's climbing expertise illuminates the 450 pages of his new, color guidebook. Detailed photos with super-imposed route lines, plus meticulous information on the quality and severity of the routes, make for straightforward navigation and route selection. Route descriptions also include previously unpublished nuggets of the routes' history and character. Levin said, "It should get anyone who loves to climb excited about Eldo."

The book is available now through Sharp End Books at sharpendbooks.com for $39.95. The publisher is donating 10 percent of sales through October to the Action Committee for Eldorado, an organization dedicated to conservation and recreation in the park.

Contact Chris Weidner at cweidner8@gmail.com