First time mountaineers

Hey all,

I've been talking with some friends about doing the cables route on Longs during the winter. I've got a few years of climbing and mountaineering in lots of conditions both in the Rockies and the Cascades, but my potential partners are much newer to climbing, especially in winter.

Because of the seriousness of the route, I pulled the plug for now and decided it would better to do a few less technical routes around the front range just to get out, get everyone on the same page, practice moving as a group, etc. before reconsidering the cables route. I'm new to this part of the climbing scene out here, does anyone have a few favorite winter routes of varying degrees of difficulty around the front range?

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat. New to the Denver area and have some newbie-ish pals coming out. Any suggestions for more mellow winter "training" type routes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I did Quandary Peak this past weekend, it's about as easy as a 14er gets in winter. Mt. Sherman has a relatively safe snow route up the White Ridge-Sherman saddle, and Mt. Yale is considered a beginner winter climb. St. Mary's Glacier is great for ice ax practice, or so I've heard. You might want to head over to 14ers.com and do a forum/trip report search, there's a ton of information about winter ascents in Colorado on that site.

SummitPost has a pretty nice compilation of winter 14er information: SP Winter Colorado 14ers

Hey fellas,
Not trying to high jack your post here but i've been looking for mountaineering partners out here in Co. Have some high altitude experience and looking to get out and get some winter climbing in. If you guys need another partner down for some thin air and freezing temps lets do it! Would love to get out with some solid people.
d1retz@gmail.com
or the cell
949-235-1988 (text or call)

Hope to hear from you guys!
Dave Retz

- relatively short approach (alpinewise), snow ridges, short 5.2 crux but still a lot of fun

It's also in the CO Scrambles book if you want more details.

Here's a preview.

+1 on Bancroft. Kelso Ridge on Torreys is a little mellower but careful of cornices along the upper ridge line. Talked to someone who had their partner take a big slide when a cornice broke and pulled a part of the entire ridge off (~10 feet on the opposite side)

Grizzly is a nice, non technical, outing but watch the avi hazard and how you cross from Loveland Pass over to Grizzly.

Take a look at Dave Cooper's CO snow climbs.

davecooperoutdoors.com/Colo…

+1 for Dave Cooper's book. Grizzly is a fun day - especially with novice climbers - not technical at all and the views are great if you catch a bluebird day. I posted a TR on summitpost a couple years back with some pics.

Do that route. Women did it in dresses a years ago. Its perfect for first time go around. Just make sure everybody is in shape its a pretty long round trip if you going from parking to top and back to parking lot in a day. Also think about going up spearhead it also a great first time place for alpine their is a 5.6 or maybe 5.5 slab thats great. If your outside denver up 70 are two 14ers you can get in the same morning. greys and torreys two freebee walk ups

1+ for Kelso ridge on Torreys

Kelso Ridge on Torreys would be a horrible novice alpine climb.
The route crosses high avalanche terrain and the ridge is
littered with major wind loaded cornices and loose rock.

That summit post list is good although check out Lou Dawson’s
CO 14er books for a more comprehensive guide to start off with.
Some of the best beta you will not find online.

Hey all,
Many thanks for the suggestions! Thanks for the avy beta also, even though I tend to be very conservative with that hazard. We'll check'm out...and hope for bluebird weather...

leo costillo wrote:Also think about going up spearhead it also a great first time place for alpine their is a 5.6 or maybe 5.5 slab thats great.

That's a nice summertime route, but I wouldn't take a beginner up there in winter.

Martha Couloir is always fun. Hard to beat Bancroft for a fun winter scramble though.