Climbing one of the steeper sections of the ridge. Note the footprints on the ridge section far below.

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All Locations > Colorado > CO Ice & Mixed > Indian Peaks &… > Mt. Bancroft > East Ridge Direct (5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a M2-3 Steep Snow R)

Climbing one of the steeper sections of the ridge. Note the footprints on the ridge section far below.

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Knife edge snow crossing. Click to enlarge and see our footprints. Left foot on the south face, right foot on the north face!

Eddie coming up the first section of headwall before hitting the ridge proper.

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3.5 from 2 votes

Eric Klammer

Jan 24, 2014

“Climbing one of the steeper sections of the ridge. Note the footprints on the ridge section far below.”

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Swirly rock on the approach.

Eddie traversing one of the narrower sections of snowy ridge.

Knife edge snow crossing. Click to enlarge and see our footprints. Left foot on the south face, right foot on the north face!

Climbing one of the steeper sections of the ridge. Note the footprints on the ridge section far below.

Eddie coming up the first section of headwall before hitting the ridge proper.

Eddie traversing the first section of ridge.

White-tailed ptarmigan (<em>Lagopus leucura</em>), camo view.

Reynolds and Stewart Lakes.

Fall River Reservoir (notch on the left is the crux).

The glissade.

Rappelling into the notch.

Part of my anchor atop P1. I used a piton and my ice tool in frozen turf. The anchor building options are slim and I ran out of gear!

Fall River Reservoir.

Getting closer.

Climbing out of the notch.

Erick on the approach.

Enjoying some exposure.

Brett high on the ridge.

Low on the NE headwall, gaining some rock to begin the roped section of climbing. 1/31/09

Look for this sign on Alice Rd. and park here!

James Peak.

Beginning the lead on P1.

James Peak from the summit of Bancroft.

Gearing up to lead P1.

View from atop our P1 looking down the route. Scottish grade probably with all the snow/ice and frozen turf.

More easy scrambling to the false summits.

Looking north on the approach.

Another view of the lakes to the north.

<em>Mertensia alpina</em> (alpine bluebells).

<em>Claytonia megarhiza</em> (alpine spring beauty).

The pyramid-shaped formation is the NE Face of Bancroft.

The descent.

The scrambling starts (I traversed climber's right of the route proper to make things more interesting).

<em>Hymenoxys grandiflora</em> (old man of the mountain).

Caroline, Reynolds, and Stewart Lakes.

White-tailed ptarmigan (<em>Lagopus leucura</em>).

Lots of easy ridge scrambling.

Looking back at the route.

More easy stuff.

Another view to the north.

The 5.2 notch upclimb.

Rapping into the notch.

The 5.2 notch downclimb.

Eddie about halfway up the ridge.

Looking down to Caroline Lake.

Climbing out of the notch.

Looking back down the route.

A marmot eating the webbing for the rap anchor.

The green line shows a direct start, but to me it seemed rather short and not worth bothering with ropes etc. especially since there's such a nice snow climb up around it.<br>
<br>
We climbed the snow (1st red line) to the base of the wall, then our P1 (blue line), the P2 (2nd red line).<br>
<br>
P1 was a full 60m.<br>
P2 was ~45m.<br>
<br>
Many variations exist.