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New Mixed Pitches at Hidden Falls, Mt. Warren

December 23, 2009 Climb, Firsts No Comments

Ryan Bogus and Eli Helmuth climbed a wild-looking mixed pitch through the big roof left of Hidden Falls in Wild Basin (Rocky Mountain National Park). The two attempted the route on December 16 (in the video), and then returned on December 21 and led it cleanly with a few preplaced cams and a preplaced screw. “Firhang” awaits a traditional lead, which Helmuth hopes to complete soon.

“The route is all trad protected, somewhere in the M8 range, and feels like a boulder problem after stepping out of the top of a tree…pretty fun stuff,” Helmuth said. If the tree weren’t there, he added, it would be “one of the more amazing (and much harder) all-trad mixed lines in RMNP. In the meantime, it is a ‘tree assisted’ ascent. It could probably be climbed without ice as the crack is good enough to the top and with solid gear.”

Looking up Road Less Warren. Courtesy of Kevin Gillest

Looking up Road Less Warren. Courtesy of Kevin Gillest

Meanwhile, on Mt. Warren, below the Mt. Evans road, Kevin Gillest and Eric Lashinsky climbed Road Less Warren (WI 4-5 M5), a steep 100-foot pitch of water ice with a mixed exit, left of the finish of The Road. The route likely isn’t worth the 12-mile round-trip hike on its own, but Gillest said it makes a good finish to either The Road or Concrete Shoes.

Gillest and Lashinsky did the latter on December 20 before climbing Road Less Warren and said Concrete Shoes had sublimated substantially since the first ascent but (somewhat surprisingly) was still climbable and “well worth the walk.”

See more photos and a route description at Mountain Project.

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