RMNP Permits

Posted on here a few weeks ago. Anyways, I'm planning on hitting up the Petit early Oct. Wanted to know about permits.. best way to set them up out of the area. Just park and go in, I know this would be a bad idea. Don't want to piss the rangers off.. etc..

Thanks in advance,
Rhett Burroughs

Here (thought so, but wanted to make sure - car to car doesn't need a bivy permit; don't know why they define it as 3.5 miles & 4+ pitches; I've spent all day trying to get 1 pitch):

Climbing opportunities range from bouldering for a few hours to multi-day big wall experiences. Day use in the park requires no special registration or permit. For those climbers planning multi-day climbs, 3.5 or more miles from a trailhead, consisting of 4 or more technical pitches, a bivouac permit is required. Contact the Backcountry Office for information on permit procedures, backcountry conditions, and climbing regulations.

Backcountry 970-586-1242

There's really no need to bivy for the Petit, or any route in that area for that matter. Sleep well in a bed and get an early start on a weekday. The park gates are open all night, incidentally.

Awesome on the gates. That was one of my concerns. Well, I would love to sleep in a bed but thats no going to happen because we are doing a road trip. I guess my question would be, would it be fine to park the vehicle at the trail head lets say at 11pm... hike in .. sleep for a few hours.. climb and come back out with out a ticket?

If you sleep in your car at the trailhead, and a ranger happens to see you, you will likely be ticketed for illegal camping. The trailhead is right on the Bear Lake Road, I dont know if they patrol that in the middle of the night in the off season, but it wouldn't shock me. I think Moraine Park campground is open all year, that would put you within 10-15 minutes from the trailhead.

Is it too late in the season to do the Petit? How hard is it to get off without a rope?

wilcox510 wrote:If you sleep in your car at the trailhead, and a ranger happens to see you, you will likely be ticketed for illegal camping. The trailhead is right on the Bear Lake Road, I dont know if they patrol that in the middle of the night in the off season, but it wouldn't shock me. I think Moraine Park campground is open all year, that would put you within 10-15 minutes from the trailhead.

Ok, I guess we need to camp at Moraine Park then. wakeup and hike in

Seasons... ehhh.. makes it funner.. you have to have ropes to get off. It will just be bitter cold.

Anyone want to join in with the festivities :)

Good call on Morraine Park - I'd lay odds that the rangers would drive thru that parking lot on any night of the year.

Incidentally - you could also do a backcountry campsite - If your later in teh month (can't remember your exact dates) winter regs might have begun and thus registration for backcountry camping is self-registration, no fee. Under winter regs - you may camp anywhere you like - once snow cover is on the ground, you no longer are required to use the designated sites. :) Tis a wonderful thing.

Last year in late Oct the winter regs had begun. Check with the backcountry office as the time approaches - it'll depend on when the snows come.

Ian wrote:Is it too late in the season to do the Petit? How hard is it to get off without a rope?

How well can you downclimb??

Ian wrote:Is it too late in the season to do the Petit? How hard is it to get off without a rope?

Here's Eli's pic, it should help:

mountainproject.com/v/color…

Ian wrote:Is it too late in the season to do the Petit? How hard is it to get off without a rope?

Come on Ian, don't take the soloing too far now. I know someone you can always drag up!

To answer the question about October being too late in the season, I would say it is a day by day thing. Last year I went to do Sharkstooth at the beginning of September only to find full on winter conditions that weekend, but it was fine several weeks later.

With RMNP at any time of the year, just be prepared to bag it if the weather does not participate. This is especially necessary for that part of the park since the weather changes so rapidly and you can not always see the approaching weather. Either way, bring winter gear just in case.

I live at 10,600ft and it was 21 degrees this morning and we have had light, non-sticking, snow off and on for a couple of days. I can only surmise that this may be true of RMNP's high routes as well.

Good luck!

Well there is already plenty of snow in the Petit area and most likely on all of the big ledges. A few sunny days in a row will probably melt it off, though the route may still be wet. Just be ready to do something else if the weather is still bad. Good Luck

There's quite the visible dusting of snow up in the Park this week. It snowed a little last night as well.

I'll be up on the Saber tomorrow and will post what we find with photos on climbinglife.com by late pm.

The south faces still look pretty dry and no new snow up on Longs or Meeker after this storm- looks like trailridge, Notchtop, and Flattop got most of the action but we'll see manana!

Lumpy was sweet today with a bit of a cold wind up high but perfect temp.'s overall.

E