Routes : North America : United States : Colorado : High Peaks : Rocky Mountain National Park : Spearhead
Spearhead
About Spearhead:
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800 feet of wonderful adventure climbing on this 12,000 foot peak. Very climber friendly with lots of cracks and incut handholds. The climbing season out here is short June to September so get on it while you can. Approach: Park at the Glacier Gorge parking lot off the Moraine Park road. Follow the trail signs for Loch Vale initially, and then turn left towards Black Lake before reaching the Loch. Hike past Mills Lake and then Black Lake, with wonderful views of Spearhead if you aren't doing this in the dark. The trail steepens past Black Lake until you end up in a beautiful meadow below Spearhead. Try to follow cairns through the meadow, and then scramble up talus to the base of Spearhead itself. Most routes are on the face directly above the meadow, and the North Ridge is around the corner to the right. The meadow has a lot of great bivy spots, but make sure to check in with the rangers to get a backcountry permit. The approach is about 6 miles, and takes around 2-3 hours. Descent: Tag the tippy top if you can - it is spooky but well worth the effort if lightning isn't blasting around you. Otherwise, head down the ledges and scree on the backside of Spearhead. After a few hundred feet, bear left before the gully cliffs out - a faint trail keeps heading down and you'll have to backtrack if you go too far. After traversing around for a few hundred feet look for a 30' steep 3rd class chute leading to low angle scree. Once past the chute follow easy but unpleasant scree down and right to the base of the North Ridge. |
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| Rock Type: | Granite |
| Type of Climbing: | Trad |
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Routes
Sequence Sequence numbers indicate the left (L) to right (R) order of the routes. |
Rating | Route | Difficulty | Ascents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
|
South-East Arete | 5.9 | 0 |
| 1 |
|
Age Axe | 5.10c | 1 |
| 1 |
|
North Ridge | 5.6 | 9 |
| 1 |
|
Spear Me the Details | 5.11d | 1 |
| 1 |
|
Stone Monkey | 5.12a | 0 |
| 1 |
|
Sykes Sickle (1) | 5.9 | 8 |
| 1 |
|
The Barb | 5.10c | 5 |
