A Fine Line on Arrowhead

The south face of Arrowhead in May 2008. Deborah takes the obvious vertical snow couloir. Photo by Greg Sievers

Climbers Scotty Nelson and Gil Weiss have discovered (or maybe rediscovered) a great-looking moderate mixed route in Rocky Mountain National Park that might take pressure off overcrowded climbs like Dream Weaver or Martha. The line, which they called Deborah, splits the south face of Arrowhead above the high bench to the west of Black Lake in Glacier Gorge, with almost 1,000 feet of steep snow and short mixed steps (M3/4); some ice might form in the spring. At the top, two exits give a hard or easy finish, and Arrowhead’s superb 12,642-foot summit is just a few yards away. Descend by following the ridge west toward McHenrys and look for rappel anchors near the saddle; rappel to the south. This route may have been climbed before, but no previous winter ascent has been reported. It’s likely in good mixed condition from January through early May. … Continue Reading

Shelf Road’s Hardest Route Climbed

Mark Anderson just below the boulder-problem crux of Carnage (5.13d). Photo by Kate Anderson

Colorado’s Shelf Road , a network of vertical limestone cliffs near Cañon City best known for sunny moderates, has a new 5.13d pitch and may soon get its first 5.14. On Sunday, March 7, Mark Anderson redpointed a striking, super-technical arête at Cactus Cliff that was bolted in the early 1990s but apparently never free-climbed. Listed in the guidebook as Wild Virus, the newly redpointed climb has been renamed Carnage (5.13d).

Carnage ascends 5.11 ground to a big rest ledge, followed by sustained 5.12 climbing up the prow, with the desperate crux coming below the eighth bolt in the form of an “ultra-subtle V10-ish boulder problem [that] slaps directly up the arête.” Anderson, an engineer who lives in Morrison, spent four days working on the route and sent on his ninth attempt. … Continue Reading

New Route Likely Platte’s Hardest

Jason Haas entering the crux of Comprometido (5.14a). Photo by Ben Schneider

Jason Haas, who’s working on a new guidebook to South Platte rock climbs, has just redpointed what’s likely the Platte’s hardest pitch, a roof seam that’s protected with removable pro and might be 5.14a. The new route, Comprometido, took about a year and a half to complete. Here, Haas tells the story.

While researching routes for the upcoming South Platte guidebook through Fixed Pin Publishing, I came across an old aid climb simply named A3 Route on Dome Rock, a few miles from the Cathedral Spires. The formation is similar to a mushroom, with a small stalk on the bottom leading up to a massively imposing roof that actually dips down at the lip, like a crashing wave, followed by a long slab to the summit. Working the route in summer was sketchy due to the deep, pushy river, which would dump you out 100 feet downstream from where you started, making you swim it with dry bags. The winter was heinous—not only was the river scary to cross when it was partly frozen, but also the rock faces north so it was an icebox. Fall was best, when the water was low enough to wade across at about thigh height. … Continue Reading

Fun New Mixed Routes in Vail

The new route Dragons Tongue, left of Spiral Staircase. Courtesy of Rob Ginieczki

Let’s say you’d like to try some sport-mixed routes, but you aren’t into fruit boots and cranking figure-nines. Until recently, your options have been limited at East Vail, the mecca of modern mixed climbing. But this season, several new climbs have been added to the Firehouse West and Spiral Staircase areas, and at M6 to M7 these should be very attractive to experienced ice climbers looking to dabble in dry tooling.

… Continue Reading

Wild New Route in RMNP

Chris Sheridan approaching the ominous first chockstone. Photo by Andy Grauch

On Saturday, Andy Grauch and Chris Sheridan completed a wild line on the south face of Mt. Otis in Rocky Mountain National Park—almost certainly a new route. Chockstones of Unusual Size (C.O.U.S.) is a three-pitch route (plus snow slogging) that surmounts two stupendous blocks by tricky dry tooling: III M6/7. We asked Andy Grauch to write up a first-person account of this crazy-looking climb:

“Chockstones of unusual size? I don’t think they exist….”

A few years ago, Eli Helmuth at Climbing Life Guides mentioned a surprising fact in one of his regular posts about Rocky Mountain National Park snow and ice conditions: The south side of Mt. Otis had no recorded winter routes. After learning this, Chris Sheridan and I quickly developed a fascination with the gullies around Wham and Zowie spires. In 2008, he and I climbed the improbable-looking Brain Freeze to the west of Zowie. In 2009, Chris climbed the more moderate Wham Couloir. With an increasingly rare two days off and a dubious weather forecast, we decided it was a perfect time to check out the third of these gullies: the one right up the middle, splitting Wham and Zowie. In pictures from previous trips, it looked easy enough except for big, troubling chockstones at the start and finish. … Continue Reading