BETA PHOTO: The Direct South Ridge of Notchtop follows the lef...
Description
A spectacular mountain, offering climbing on par with anything in the Park short of Long's Peak. It offers a beautiful, steep South Ridge, an excellent mountaineering route, and some hard 5.11 testpieces. The only thing not to like is the dangerous and confusing descent. The mountain has 2 summits: that of the spire which is separated from the main peak by the namesake notch, and the summit of the main peak. If you value your life, DO NOT summit the spire! It is composed entirely of loose, fractured blocks which could (indeed have) easily give way at any moment. If your route leads to a point very near this summit, then find a 4th class scramble south of it that turns into a ledge, which in turn leads west to the actual notch. From the notch, go 3rd class west to the main summit. Then, find a 4th/5th class ledge SYSTEM which gradually descends below a craggy ridge, near the top of the peak's SW face. This ledge is very exposed in spots and cuts across the top of several very steep gullies (some of which have rappel slings-- DO NOT rappel these gullies, however!). Make your return to the base of the cliff ONLY when an obvious, wide, talus filled third class gully leads to the SE. This descent would be even more treacherous if it was wet or dark. Rope up if you are at all unsure. Richard Rossiter's guidebook (which is usually very good) contains some dangerous misinformation about this descent. NOTE: there is apparently a new rap route (not described in any guidebook) which offers passage down the SW face, but I know nothing about it. Possible beta may be had at climbing shops in Estes Park, et al...or not.
This subarea only contains rock routes.
Getting There
Park at Bear Lake, and follow the signs north of the lake to Odessa Lake. However, do NOT go all the way to Odessa Lake; after about 3 miles, when Notchtop is in full view, the trail begins to descend to Odessa Lake. Find an unmarked spur trail to the left which leads to shallow Lake Helene, then scramble through slabs and krummholtz west of the lake to treeline and some small tarns. The cliff is obvious from there.
The recommended variation to the original South Ridge route. An inspiring, steep line from below, it offers a surprising amount of crack climbing (Colorado style at any rate). We found it to be a relatively fast grade III compared to others I've done in the Park. Hike up a short ways past the mountain's SE corner, and find a ramp that cuts back to the right. Go up that to the base of the route. The first 2 or 3 pitches are easy 5th class, wi...[more]
A very dangerous [descent]. Did the [South Ridge Direct]. Found the climbing [unsustained]. It would be a great introduction to RMNP if the [descent] was not so convoluted. I found the crux climbing disappointedly short, yet this 5.9 crack was excellent.
Question-Would anybody complain is a installed a rap [route] from the notch? This would allow one to get off [safely] and climb another [route] since we toped [out before] noon and were moving at normal pace.
Dan, There is a rap route from the notch (see my description above). I don't know the details, however they may be described in the new [Gillett] guide. I really don't think the standard descent is that bad (you can always rope up!), but for a "walk-off" it is definitely more involved and exposed than Spearhead, [Hallett], and several others.
The new rap route goes like this...Get into the saddle between the spire and the main peak. Go down a loose and potentially hazardous gully for a brief scramble. If you want to rope up, have the first person belayed down on TR set gear behaind them, and the second is now "down leading." If you have a skittish partner, let them go first on TR. From the bottom most point of the [gully], before it drops away to the void, out to the right there are 2 large rap hangars on good bolts, but one of them spins a little. No big deal. These are located near the top of a boiler-plate that is just to the right of the rock-gully. Keep your eyes open.
This rap REQUIRES 2 ropes (my single 70M fell short) to rap as intended.
IF* you rap on a single 70 you can accomplish the task by...
1) Rapping to the climber's left left from the first one to a fixed belay (needs another sling added for margin) and then 2) back right to hit the next intended set of shuts. These two raps combined get you down the first rap.3) Down to a good crack and dihedral system 15' above the next rap. You will have to make easy moves to reach the next rap. Watch out for bad rock, because you will die or be as good as dead if you fall between. To solve for this potential problem, in the absence of any knowledge of what was below... I rapped, installed a gear belay 30' up and left of the station, lead down (placing gear) and my parner followed, pulling gear- essentially down-leading. We found the moves to be 5.4-ish with minimal suspect rock.4) A 70M rope hits the ground from the last rap station- with a few feet to spare.I'll reiterate my primary point- It would be best to just have two ropes.
This route was awesome to start. I did get off route and end up on Pessimisimus, but it was great too. Some scary run out pitches for sure, but really cool.
I did a line above the spiral ledge system that starts at the belay to continue on [Religion]. Instead of traversing left and then right, you head straight up the flake crack to a left facing dihedral. At the end of the dihedral you end up in the [Religion] gully. There was a piton with a rusted biner on the route, so It's been done before. It was loose dirty and had bad Pro. It didn't look like anyone had climbed in in years.Does anyone know what that was?
The regular descent gully leads down to the SW, not SE as stated above.
As of July 10 2003 there was still some snow in the gully, but not so much that we needed an ice-axe. Earlier in the season an ice-axe might be advisable.
A good alternative to the nasty [descent] is to top out and climb to the left. Head along the [Continental Divide] toward Flattop. (only of course if you feel comfortable bringing all of your gear). [Descend] Flattop and this will make for an awesome photo opp or two.
By Tim Stich From: Colorado Springs, Colorado Aug 22, 2005
Here's what happened to us when we tried the rappel line at the top of Instant Clarification on the Notch saddle. I built an anchor and had my partner lower me to look for the anchors. On the way down the narrow, steep gully, I noticed a slung rock with a webbing handline. Then, just before the gully dropped off into space, I noticed a rusted Chouinard knifeblade and a slung chockstone. I couldn't see the newer cold shuts. I reclimbed the gully and placed gear as I went per Tony's suggestion.
At that point, my footing gave way and a 20lb rock plummetted down the gully. I yelled rock very loudly continuously as it fell. Fortunately, no one below was hit. By then it was snowing.
I saw an emergency rap station a little below consisting of a blue Mammut sling, a nut, and some other webbing slung around a pinnacle. I missed the second cold shuts and ended up on a ledge 60ft above the third cold shuts. To our considerable dismay, the ropes would not pull through the anchor with the piton and chockstone at the top. Perhaps it was because they are around a corner. We have no idea what was going on with the snag, but after fully weighting the rope with Tiblocs, we got them to pull. Two 60m ropes will get you to the ground from the last anchors. These are a chrome plated cold shut and a regular hanger with a rap ring. They are very easy to spot, fortunately.
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