Alpine in RMNP

Tim Stich wrote: Charlie, I have keep off Hallet Peak due to the horrendous route finding issues I have read about. To this day I haven't tried anything!

Tim, for $100 I'll make myself available for phone consultation throughout the duration of your ascent of Culp, Jackson-Johnson, or Northcutt-Carter. I have the route-finding on those dialed ;)

Charles Vernon wrote:

Tim, for $100 I'll make myself available for phone consultation throughout the duration of your ascent of Culp, Jackson-Johnson, or Northcutt-Carter. I have the route-finding on those dialed ;)

Also, the approach hike is way too short. Pfffft. But I do like the blow by blow cell phone beta idea. Can I send you pictures on route and you can tell me where I am and what pieces I can expect to get in? 

I want to be climbing in Lumpy or the South Platte right now. :’( 
When I climbed Culp on Hallett I was super nerves about getting lost so I made myself a power point of directions (multiple pages when printed) with excerpts from many sources and convinced myself all the climbing would be 5.8 or below. I was very on route, still got pretty scared but it was great.
I had a similar experience getting way to in my head when I climbed the casual route and found it easier and less scary then a lot of 5.9s in Lumpy and the solo up to Broadway was not that bad. The waiting behind parties was horrible when I did it (on a Wednesday but with great weather) I timed when we were waiting and it totaled 5 hours. Also the weather is often kind of scary as is that hike, I am not in that good of shape.
I mention these b/c both of these climbs I almost let peoples talk get in my head and make me think I didn’t have the skill set when I was plenty ready.  

Buck Rio wrote:

But Charlie, the stories that are now yours to tell forever made it worth the price of admission, right?

We all have stories of getting cliffed out, descending in a lightning storm, getting way off route on grim unprotected rock, spending the night in the open in JTree because you got lost...but we survived. Kind of the Brotherhood of the Rope type thing.

Never trust anyone who doesn't have any stories like this. My opinion only of course.

Well that makes me feel much better about my first foray into RMNP. 14 hours car to car, 1 pitch below the summit on Zowie when the hail came in, watched a party bail after pulling off a huge block, and getting sort of lost on the descent. Sounds pretty typical!

Chris Johnson wrote:

Well that makes me feel much better about my first foray into RMNP. 14 hours car to car, 1 pitch below the summit on Zowie when the hail came in, watched a party bail after pulling off a huge block, and getting sort of lost on the descent. Sounds pretty typical!

Awesome! Full value! We were one pitch below the summit when one of my buddy’s arms seized up. Made it to the summit of Zowie when the hail got us. Rapped the wrong side of the tower despite researching the beta extensively. Added to a rap anchor set up by another confused climber. Tip toed down the ice filled gulley thanks to my buddy leading the way.  Sunny by the time we were back at packs. 

John Ryan wrote:

Awesome! Full value! We were one pitch below the summit when one of my buddy’s arms seized up. Made it to the summit of Zowie when the hail got us. Rapped the wrong side of the tower despite researching the beta extensively. Added to a rap anchor set up by another confused climber. Tip toed down the ice filled gulley thanks to my buddy leading the way.  Sunny by the time we were back at packs. 

Was it that nest of tat in that little alcove?! We saw that when we were waiting out the storm, but decided we didn't feel comfortable with it!

When Estes Park opens up get out and have fun Austin!!  We have all been noobs at one point and learned from our mistakes.  Its easy to criticize when you have made mistakes, learned the correct way, then get all wrapped up in yourself and think you are so amazing with your experience.  Its ok to be a beginner!  Get out there and figure it out!

Thank you for the comments everyone. Alpine sounds lame from what I’ve gathered. Not for me. I’m just looking for good, long, challenging rock climbing in scenic places. I’ll be skipping RMNP this lifetime, plenty of other good places. Cheers.

Austin Lokey wrote:Alpine sounds lame from what I’ve gathered. 

LOL

Austin Lokey wrote: Thank you for the comments everyone.....I’m just looking for good, long, challenging rock climbing in scenic places. 

Try Red Rocks or Yosemite.

Buck Rio wrote: The best rock is the shit that is in your backyard and you can climb the most.

I don't know about that.  I climbed some really good shit in the fjords of Norway!

Austin Lokey wrote: Thank you for the comments everyone. Alpine sounds lame from what I’ve gathered. Not for me. I’m just looking for good, long, challenging rock climbing in scenic places. I’ll be skipping RMNP this lifetime, plenty of other good places. Cheers.

Red Rocks really is a great place, and will be great again next spring, I bet.

Buck Rio wrote: Never trust anyone who doesn't have any stories like this. My opinion only of course.

Well, yeah.  But make sure they were a decade ago instead of last week.
You want to make sure that the lesson has sunk in and is not still in 'active' mode.

Tony B wrote:

Well, yeah.  But make sure they were a decade ago instead of last week.
You want to make sure that the lesson has sunk in and is not still in 'active' mode.

Also important to have some success stories since the epics.  I've climbed with a couple folks whose resumes were nothing but epics. Do not recommend.

Tony B wrote:

Well, yeah.  But make sure they were a decade ago instead of last week.
You want to make sure that the lesson has sunk in and is not still in 'active' mode.

I'm 53 and climbing things that may turn "epic-ee" doesn't really turn my crank anymore. 

Eldo, Lumpy, RRG and Yosemite free climbs are good enough for me at this stage. I like to be back on the ground for cocktail hour.

John Ryanwrote:

Awesome! Full value! We were one pitch below the summit when one of my buddy’s arms seized up. Made it to the summit of Zowie when the hail got us. Rapped the wrong side of the tower despite researching the beta extensively. Added to a rap anchor set up by another confused climber. Tip toed down the ice filled gulley thanks to my buddy leading the way.  Sunny by the time we were back at packs. 

Full details on our epic, shameless plug.

https://mojagear.com/journal/2020/06/26/the-epic-climbing-otis-peak-in-a-storm/?mc_cid=d6a1b34b6e&mc_eid=5352c86bf5

Have done a few routes in the park. No chains and retreat on routes can be tricky and there can be spicy runouts as with most alpine routes. On RMNP routes I would suggest only climbing well within your abilities. The biggest threat is the thunderstorms that come in the afternoon. You can go from bluebird to full-on nightmare in no time at all. Lumpy can be the same in many aspects. There are routes that sew up and some that are serious death runouts. Very few routes at lumpy have chains as well to retreat if bad weather rolls in. Few routes I have done at lumpy have bolted stations and protection. I have some frightful memories of being trapped on the side of the rock with full-on lightning and deluge around 1:00 on in Lumpy, I'm planning a trip to Pingora this august, contact me if you may be interested.