Nothing like waking up at 4:00am to make you appreciate those late mornings of the weekly grind! Add to that a heavy pack and some mountaineering boots for a hike and you realize the reason why alpine-ice routes aren’t a crowded zoo. Last Saturday a few friends got word that the ice was finally forming in Rocky Mountain National Park so we headed out with the plan of climbing The Middle Finger of Dr. Wazz. We left Glacier Gorge parking lot around 6:00 am hopping to find good ice as we made our way up the Gorge. We got to Mills lake about 30 minutes after the sun was up to find what looked like thin ice on All Mixed up and the top pitch of Dr. Wazz having a small curtain of ice but nothing that looked climbable. As we made our way around Mill Lake we thought that we would give AMU a good shot as the ice through binoculars looked like it would go and it would be a real fun climb. But as we came around the lake we has some serious concern that the sun would melt out the top pitch before we could get there and more threatening that the snow bowl on the top would just be soft unconsolidated fluff that either would be impossible to get an axe in to pull over the bulge or that it could even slide on us. So in lieu we decided to head back to Black Lake and see if any of that ice looked better. As we hiked to the back of the Gorge we were seeing some really good bonding in the ice alongside the trail and the Slabs looking like they might go. But as we got to Black Lake the West Gully was looking like our best option and the top pitch was looking really fat. Also the approach was looking much better than a knee-deep slough to the Slabs. After taking a short break to fuel up on some food and throw on our crampons we made our way up to the ice and my buddy led the first pitch to just below the curtain of the second pitch. Although it was ice the whole way up and he did place a few screws it was clear that it was nothing like the thick gully of ice that it should be and like pictures show. To add to our realization that it just might not go we were hearing and seeing ice fall down all around us on similar aspects. Since we were climbing in a group of 3 after an anchor was set my buddy and I set out just slightly staggered from each other. As I pulled over the bulge to the mellow slope I saw ice spewing out of a pick hole like a little fountain. I had a little chuckle as I thought to myself that I continually head out to do water fall climbing and need to start doing water ice climbing, maybe this winter I can get around to that. After getting up to the anchor we decided that down was the safest way to go; aside from all of the water flowing underneath the ice my buddy that was belaying had some of the ice from above come crashing down on him. So trusting in my friends’ expertise a V-thread was setup and we started to rappel back down, watching the anchor carefully. Just shortly after the first person was about 10 feet off the anchor a huge air whooshing noise came down the Gully from above shortly followed by the sound of ice crashing, yep we were making the right decision but trusting the Abalakov was completely nerve racking! But we all made it back down to the ground safe. The hike out was very uneventful aside from the fact that the ice covered trail was still very slippery and maybe the best ice we found on the entire trip. Overall like most trips up Glacier Gorge it was beautiful and winter could slowly be seen coming in with snow on the higher points in the park and ice in the shade. I do think though that the ice will have bonded much stronger over the week and the melt freeze cycle will have been really good. Get ready for some thick ice in the future, and some great winter adventures from High Altitude Adventures as we move into the amazing winter season with epic excursion brewing in our minds. Cheers!

The Sharkstooth: Northeast Ridge

After the weather for the past few weekends had been very uncooperative, acting like it would rain but not, or being forecast for clear sky’s then raining I decided that I would have to take the chance of a 20% showers and do some alpine climbing. And after talking it over with one of my climbing partners we decided that a Saturday attempt at the Sharkstooth via the Northeast ridge was necessary.

As I peeled myself out of bed at 1:30 in the morning and choked down some chocolate cake, a favorite breakfast item of mine on alpine starts, I dragged myself to the car for the drive to Glacier Gorge to meet my buddy coming down from Fort Collins. As I made my way out of Boulder I felt a little loony in my grogginess, as cars came towards me I felt like a bug being sucked into one of those bug zappers not having a choice but to continue driving towards the light.  But somewhere around Lyons I think I finally woke up and realized that there was not a cloud in the sky.

As I pulled into RMNP and made my way up to the parking lot I was extremely excited because there was a full moon lighting my way up the road, but naturally right as I pulled in and saw a shooting star go whizzing by out my window a group of clouds came over Flattop and Halletts and completely engulfed the moon, it got really dark really fast.

After sorting gear and ropes we were on the trail by 3:30. Winding our way down into the canyon towards the short cut we could see the lights of a group heading to The Spearhead and the Petit in front of us. But soon it just became the woods and us and the next 2.5 miles to the Loch was just one quite step after another of awesome morning mountain air. 

By the time we reached the turn off to Andrews Glacier we were both awake and charging at a pretty good pace.  But once we reached tree line up near the start of the gash we realized that we were completely in a cloud.  Instead of trying to find our way through the boulder field in the fog we decided that it would be best to take a break in the trees and see what the weather would do.

At around 5:15 or so just as we could see Zowie peak through the clouds a group of climbers passed by us not even noticing us in our warm tree camp. We decided that we did not want to give our spot in line up for this climb and we had hope that with the warming sun the clouds would be broken up and possibly give us a chance for a climb, or at the least we would be able to see Sharkstooth and a great sunrise.

We made our way up through the gash still in fog and clouds not actually being able to see any of the Spires until we were nearly on them. But then just like clock work the clouds lifted and we knew we were in for a great day of climbing.

After our slow approach we finally got on the 1^st pitch around 8:30. Route finding was relatively easy and the climbing was good 5.6 moves.  The second pitch went up a crack and over a small little roof; this was definitely my favorite move of the climb although each pitch had a fun spot or two.  From the second belay ledge we had to take a moment to orient ourselves and debated going right around the corner and then up or continuing straight up the slab.  We decided to continue straight up which was a good choice it allowed for easy moves and good gear placement. Pitch 3-4 were very similar slab climbing that took you to a large belay ledge at the base of an off-width.  Climbing the off-width was actually very easy and you other than the first few moves to get off the belay ledge you hardly had to climb in the crack, as there was great face holds. Above the crack you come to a really airy traverse that lets you get a sense of the exposure.  The last belay ledge was just above this and from here it was just a run out scramble to the true summit where the views were amazing of the entire Glacier Gorge area and Longs Peak as well as the Mummy’s and the Estes valley.

The rappel is off the South East of the top and is made of old pitons and new slings. Two ropes were necessary to make it completely from one anchor to the next and it is 3 raps to reach the gully between The Saber and Sharkstooth and from here just a small scramble back down to the start of the climb.

After gathering our stashed gear we made our way back down through the gash, which felt like it would never end. From here the trail back out to the Loch and then to the parking lot was a happy sight.

We got back to the parking lot at 6:15 making it a great 15-hour day of classic climbing. 

Overall this was a great alpine route with really fun mellow climbing and it allowed for spectacular views throughout all of it.  Also I would say that we could have easily knocked off an hour or two if we did not have to wait to see what the weather would do and I did not lead one of the pitches as slow as I did.

Cheers!

Memorial Day weekend was a buys weekend so I thought I could share in two past.

TOMMY CALDWELL PRESENTATION

First I would like to start of by saying congratulations to the Mountain Shop in Fort Collins, Odell’s Brewery and Tommy Caldwell.  Together they were able to raised over $1000 for the Craig Leubben fund.

Tommy put on a really great presentation about his adventures climbing Mescalita; this is the free route that he has been working on for years on El Capitan’s southeast face and now with Kevin Jorgeson hopes to complete one day.  Once complete the 900-meter route which links sections of the Dawn Wall and Mescalito is said to be the hardest big wall free climb in the world. In his presentation Caldwell shared with us his experiences in attempting to put up such a hard route, and how he started alone on this project and would spend months on the wall alone.  He went into detail about the trying conditions the wall has made the team face, everything from climbing at night and bivying in the day to having to learn how to climb wet slab and cracks because it was impossible to do without.  He also shared some really cool videos, which can be found on Black Diamonds site here and here, along with a great article Tommy wrote. This event was such a great success that Odell’s was easily 50 people over capacity and to say the least it was standing room only.  Thanks Odell’s for donating the time, space and beer that helped bring in such a great event!

LUMPY RIDGE

Friday after Tommy’s speech I headed out to Lumpy Ridge in Estes Park to do a little multi-pitch trad climbing.  I was in need of a mellow fun climb so my climbing buddy suggested that we head over to the Pear wall and put up the fun Magical Chrome Plated Semi-Automatic Enema Syringe, and with a name like that I had to be interested in what this mellow 5.7 would put us through.

Although this was a bit further down the Lumpy Ridge trail than I usually go it was a very mellow approach, not nearly as much vertical hiking to reach as the Book Ends, or the Owls, and it was a beautiful day so hiking was not a complaint on my part.

This climb is a 5-pitch route that starts out on a fun hand crack and then moves over to easy slab climbing which takes you to the first belay.  Belay one is not very comfortable as it is an anchor built in a right-facing dihedral and it is a hanging belay with not great feet.  The second pitch takes you up some moderate and fun slab climbing it is a short pitch that takes you to a nice tree and a ledge where we could really enjoy the sun.  From here you can apparently walk off to the left and make it a short two pitch. The third pitch starts to become more vertical and introduces you to a fun fist crack that is almost unexpected after climbing such mellow slab, but it is still mellow fun crack.  The fourth pitch is certainly the crux of the climb and offers a handful of options.  We chose to go up to the right-facing dihedral.  This offered a really fun finger crack with good feet, but you had to search for them.  The crack is probably 60 feet tall and once on the top we traversed right to an open area where the then scrambled pitch 5 up to the huge top which is a big flat opening with a hot tub looking indent in it.  I would suggest also looking at the “butt-crack” line as I had it introduced to me for pitch 4.  This is directly above the belay ledge and offers a fun looking off-width if you have the gear with you.

At the top we assessed our sun burns realizing that the winter pale was starting to turn to a summer red no matter how much sun-block we used, and coiled the rope for a really fun rappel down a vertical wall into a canyon.  From here it is just a mellow scramble/walk back to the start, I would suggest bringing a pack with shoes in it for this but it could be down in climbing shoes.

Cheers!

10 Mile Tour: Conditions are Superb in Rocky Mountain National Park

After some great climbing in Boulder Canyon at the beginning of the weekend I decided I needed to get up to Rocky Mountain National Park and check out some of the spring mountaineering lines. To my disappointment anyone who would normally come along on a spring climb or ski was crammed with end of the year school work, so I decided I would just have to go on a fast hike and check out a few spots.

I got up to Estes in the late morning around 10:00 am and after getting some coffee at Kind coffee decided I should head up to check out the Loch, Sky Pond and Taylor Glacier.  After pulling into the Glacier Gorge parking area and seeing a lot of cars I decided that the trail would be fastest in just boots.  Although there were a lot of people on the trail I did not see a sole after I left the Loch lake until I reached Sky Pond, the trail was packed in really hard, and the conditions were really good except for where the winter trail followed the summer trail up the roll over to Glass Lake, this was a prime avi slope at 38* and looked like it was begging for a wet slide in the afternoon sun, but this did not stop 3 groups of hikers from going straight up it instead of skirting the easy rocks off to the side.

As for Taylor Glacier it looked like it was in prime condition at the time, although I figure an early morning ascent would be crucial since the sun was really baking the snow and softening it up.  There was a line going up the glacier that you can see in the picture highlighted in red.  Also the Cathedral Spires looked like they would be really good for climbing right now, the rock was getting good sun all day, but still might be cold up towards the top.

After a short break below Glass Lake I decided that I had enough time to head over to Emerald Lake and check out the Dragon Tail Couloirs and Hallett Couloir.  Both of these were looking excellent and I was really excited to see that the snow on the Dragon Tail was much softer than when I had been up there earlier this winter for a run at it, but found it to be a hard wind blown sheet.  Also I talked to a couple coming off of the lower part of Dragon Tail who skied it before it actually turns into a narrow steep Couloir and they reported that the conditions were great.  I did notice thought that all of the lakes in the Bear Lake area had become very soft from the sun and I actually put my foot through the ice on the far side of Emerald Lake so an early morning start is a good idea unless you want to hike around the lakes, but it might not matter regardless in a few weeks if these warm conditions continue especially if there are some cloud covered nights.

But overall the conditions in Rocky Mountain where looking excellent especially for the more east facing snow slopes and much of the rock that was not north facing.  It will be a fast spring ski season of steep lines before it’s time for some good alpine climbs in this area.

Cheers!

Hidden Falls Ice Climb

A few weeks ago I decided to go check out the ice climbing at Hidden Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is accessed from the Wild Basin entrance, which is the southern most entrance in RMNP located off of Highway 7; this is the same entrance for Mount Alice from a previous post.  From the Wild Basin entrance follow the road all the way to the dead end.  This is where the winter trail head starts, from here it is just an easy mostly flat two miles into the falls.

These are great falls and usually hold ice most of the winter.  This area also offers a variation of mixed routes along the wall as different ice curtains form.  The main attraction here though is the main fall, which is approximately 24 meters tall and contains mostly WI-3 routes.  On this main flow there is roughly for different routes that all top out in the same area. There is also an easier section to the left of the fall that is great for beginners or the less experienced.  Also the top of all of the ice can be accessed by foot so it is great for top roping with plenty of trees for anchor building.

Since this is such an easily accessible area and not particularly large it can get very busy on the weekends. My advice is to get there really early in the morning and enjoy it before it gets crowded or, as I prefer to do sleep in and show up later in the afternoon when everyone else is getting tired and heading out.  You can climb until dark and then make the easy hike back out.

As far as our trip it was great.  We showed up later in the day and had only one other group on the falls.  We were able to climb a few variations of different lines on the main falls, which were in very thick. We also played around bouldering on the easier ice on the left, which was very plastic or soft.

Cheers!