Early this summer, Allison, myself, and friend Scott Bennett organized a week-long "Alpine-Stravaganza" up in Rocky Mountain National Park. After 6 miles of beautiful hiking, we found ourselves in the Glacier Gorge cirque, surrounded by alpine rock climbs, elk, a huge array of food, perma-dry bivy caves, scrabble games, and a tug-of-war contest known as "hunker down". We did a little climbing as well, and Graham Zimmerman made a movie!
Fall Road Trip: Glacier Gorge
Since I'll no longer be frequenting Glacier Gorge, here is my list of the top routes in the cirque.
1. Chiefshead Peak - Cowboys and Indians (IV 5.11c) I never did this climb, but heard great things from those who did. I'm armchair ranking it #1. Longer than the diamond, trickier routefinding, less visited.
2. Arrowhead Peak - Ithaca - III 5.12a (or Eldo .11b) - Every pitch was rad. Just dont fall on the first one, which is 120' of slab with no pro of any sort.
3. Birds of Fire - Chiefshead Peak - III 5.10+ This climb was my first in the cirque. A bit monotonous, but still immaculate.
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4. Arrowhead Peak - AIrhead III 5.11+ - The crux pitch is the best I climbed in the cirque.
5. Spearhead Peak - Obviously Four Believers III 5.11 - Climbed this one with my wife and only got us lost a couple times!
6. Chiefshead Peak - Flight of the Kiwi III 5.10+ Bonus points for a new line sans pins or bolts.
I'm sure every route in Glacier Gorge is worthy, the above were just my personal favorites. Other routes I did while a Denverite: Stone Monkey (most of, pre storm, w/Lisa, Scott) Arrowhead (with Lauryn, Forest) Magical ramble tour (with Scott, Forest)
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