Upper Great Face  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  3,965. Good page?    Administrators:  Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Leo Paik on Jul 5, 2004 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

The Upper Great Face.

Description 

This is the highest of the commonly climbed rocks of the Crags lying on the W slopes of Twin Sisters just S of Estes Park. It is easily visible from many points in EP. A walk around Lily Lake or a drive on Hwy 7 draws your eye. This W-facing crag is a wide swath of rock of varying quality divided by a protruding pillar of stone. The routes here range from 300 to nearly 600 feet in length. The routes are generally trad but there is a new bolted line. Routes here include: Over Thirty Club, Old & Forgotten, High Clutch, A Few Moments of Pleasure, Sky King, Tom's Travesty, The Big Steep, Kor-Northcutt, Erac's Crack, Right Buttress, Southwest Face, Middle Buttress, Indian Peaks Arete, Gone So Long, Funky Island Traverse, & Hindenberg.

Getting There 

There are 2 approaches to this crag. Neither is a trail. Expect an hour at least to approach. Get your bearings before heading into the trees. Both will require some reorientation once you clear the trees. The first starts from the Twin Sister's Trailhead off Hwy 7, past the Lily Lake Visitor Center, S of Estes Park, just across from Lily Lake. Hike along the trail for perhaps a half mile to the third switchback, then head up the hill. Not very specific but that is what it is. The other approach is signed as private property just past the Baldpate Inn, off Hwy 7, across from Lily Lake. There is a chained-off dirt road that indicates you can hike private property lines the road. At some point a short distance down the road, you can break off uphill from the dirt road, go up through the forest, and reorient when you clear the trees.

The Classics

Featured Route For Upper Great Face

The Golden Monkey 5.10b/c R  CO : Estes Park Valley : ... : Upper Great Face

This indistinct line begins about 25 feet left of the huge buttress in the middle of the Upper Great Face, between the Kor-Northcutt on the right and The Big Steep on the left, and finishes with the beautiful headwall beneath the summit.Pitch 1: Turn a small roof on the left or right (gear) and climb past two bolts to a ledge. Continue upwards (gear) past two more bolts (crux) to a left-facing corner that defines the left side of a "V"-shaped wedge (the right side of the "V" is the obvious slot...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO

Photos of Upper Great Face Slideshow

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UGF as seen from Castaway Crag.