The SHARKSTOOTH

Category: Colorado (RMNP)Summit Elev: 12,630 ftRock Type: Gneiss & Biotite Schist
Date: July 1&2, 2023 (Sat&Sun)Trip Report #: 624Partner: Nate Arganbright

Route: NE Ridge (5.6, 5-6p)

A RMNP classic to a cool summit.

Intro

It was already July and Nate and I had not done a single alpine climb or spent a night up high in the mountains. It had been a cool and wet spring. So when the 4th of July weekend forecast looked sunny and warm, we decided it was high time to head into the mountains for a night. If you are climbing a route that is at least four pitches, you can get a bivy permit to camp up high in the park. Neither one of us had ever bivied in The Gash bivy zone, so we decided to go there, with the objective of climbing the Northeast Ridge (5.6, 6p) on The Sharkstooth. This classic route ascends the narrow buttress at the right edge of the east face, with fun climbing on good rock and great exposure and views. 

A bit of trivia: Sharkstooth is the highest peak in RMNP that does not have a non-technical route to its summit.

The following page gives an overlay and pitch-by-pitch photos of the climb, as well as photos from our evening hanging out in this beautiful area. I really enjoyed this 24 hour mountain adventure. It was so nice to be climbing in the mountains!

Time Stats

Route Overlay

Route Overlay #1

Route Overlay #2 

(Approach detail)

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

3rd

Approach from the Andrews Glacier Trail and The Gash. The Gash is a rugged valley of oversized talus on the "backside" of Cathedral Spires, about 0.7 miles up the Andrews Glacier Trail. The Gash provides access to the East Col, The Sharkstooth, West Col, and Northeast Spur of Taylor Peak. It also provides a safe (but long) return fromt he summits of The Foil, The Saber, and The Petit Grepon. A low cliff hand blocks access to the upper valley. Climb a narrow snow gully trough the middle of the cliff, or scramble up a series of big steps to the left. The valley splits above the cliff. The left branch heads to The Saber, the East Col, and the East Face of the Sharsktooth. The right branch leads to the West Col, West Fin of The Sharkstooth, and the Northeast Spur of Taylor Peak. 

For the Northeast Ridge route, begin from sandy ledges 300 feet below the East Col and 75 feet left from the edge of the North Face.

On a summer day, expect a long line at the entrance to RMNP. 
Just after taking a right after The Loch onto the Andrews Glacier Trail.
Breaking above treeline in Andrews Creek. With our heavy packs, it took us 1 hour 40 minutes from the trailhead to get to here.
Heading towards the Gash. The Sharkstooth and Taylor Peak tower above. Our bivy was up on the flat rocky bench in the middle of the photo.
Ascending a snowfield. We are just below our bivy location here. You can see the summit of The Sharkstooth above.
Ascending a snowfield. We are just below our bivy location here. Photo by Nate.
Approaching The Sharkstooth the next morning from our bivy in the lower Gash. We took the snow gully to get through the cliffband above.
The snow gully to get through the cliffband. Although I had brought spikes and we both brought lightweight axes, we did not need either.
The upper Gash, with The Sharkstooth towering above.
Nearing the base of the route.

Pitch 1

5.6, 155'

The standard start is a nice right-facing corner. After this, ascend easier terrain to a ledge at the bottom of an inset.

Shoeing up at the base of the route. Pitch 1 takes the right-facing corner on the right side of the photo.
I had just retired our old rope into a rope rug. This was the debut for our new 8.5 Beal Opera. After having climbed on an 8.5 Opera for a few seasons now, I don't want to climb on anything else!
Just a couple of days before this climb, I had retired my old 8.5 Beal Opera and made a rope rug (rope rug how-to page here!). This is the green rope in the photo above. This rope had lasted Nate and me three seasons of climbing (as our multipitch rope). And we climb a fair bit.

Pitch 2

5.6, 155'

Climb the inset, then work up easier ground until a short lieback leds to a belay in a left-facing dihedral.

Looking up the start of Pitch 2.
The 5.6 layback crux at the top of Pitch 2. This was probably the crux of the route.
Nate at the 5.6 layback.
Gear anchor at the top of Pitch 2.

Pitch 3

5.6, 130'

Climb the dihedral a short ways, then move right and ascend a steep, shallow left-facing corner. Turn the roof at its top and belay on a ledge after about 30 feet. Or continue up and link with Pitch 4.

Looking up the left-facing corner that starts Pitch 3.
Nate leading Pitch 3.

Pitch 4

5.4, 80'

Wander up to a big step in the ridge. (We combined this pitch with Pitch 3 for a nice 210-foot lead.)

The nice ledge at the top of Pitch 4.

Pitch 5

5.5, 100'

Climb up featured face beside the obvious wide crack and easier rock above to a second step in the ridge.

Looking up the wide crack. This is a fun section of climbing.
As long as you are comfortable on runnout 5.5 knobs, you don't need to bring a #6 to protect this section.
Looking down from above the wide crack.

Pitch 6

5.5, 160'

Climb up the airy ridge until the terrain is 3rd class.

Nate leading the final pitch to the top.
A view down the final pitch from near the top of the pitch. Photo by Nate.

Top!

12,630'

Scramble over easy terrain to the summit.

On the summit. This is the highest summit in RMNP that does not have a non-technical route to its top.
We relaxed on the summit for awhile and enjoyed the views. There was another party ahead of us and we wanted to give them a bit of time to begin the rappels.
Otis Peak spires. There are several routes on these spires. The most popular is Zowie, which I climbed in 2018. I have not climbed any of the other routes, which are probably more adventurous than quality climbing.

Descent

4 Rappels and scramble

Make four rappels down the east side towards the East Col and hike out via the Gash. We used a single 70m rope, which was sufficient with a couple of short easy downclimbs between rappels. The first three rappels were bolted anchors and the last was a sling on a couple of old pitons and nuts. Our rappels are as follows:

Rap 1: Head southeast from the summit and down a little gully to rap rings. Rappel to the end of rope and then scramble down a series of ledges to the next bolted rap station. 

Rap 2: Rappel from rap rings directly to the next set of rap rings.

Rap 3: Rappel from rap rings. At the base of the rappel, look for a piton/nut/sling anchor on the wall to climbers' right.

Rap 4: Rappel from a sling on a couple of old pitons and nuts towards the east col. (It looks possible to downclimb low 5th and avoid the rappel, but the rappel is probably quicker/safer.)

Now scramble back to the base of the route to grab any gear you left behind and continue downwards and out the Gash. 

Rap 1 of 4. 
Rap 1 of 4. 
Rap 2 of 4. 
Rap 2 of 4. 
Rap 3 of 4. 
Rap 3 of 4. 
Rap 3 of 4. 
Rap 4 of 4. 
Rap 4 of 4. 
The ends are uneven by about 1.5m (5 feet)! (After the first couple of rappels I had noticed that the ends were uneven both times; on the third rappel we made sure to check the middle mark was exactly at the anchor, and sure enough the ends were uneven.)
Petit Grepon as seen from near the East Col.
Descending some snow after the rappels. Photo by Nate.
Descending some snow after the rappels. The people in this photo were another party that had also climbed the Northeast Ridge.
Nate took this photo of a talus spider. 
Talus spider. Photo by Steph but photo idea credit to Nate.
Talus spider and Nate.
Descending the snow back to our bivy.
An inviting pool in Andrews Creek.
Bark patterns.
A patch of daisies. These may be my favorite flower. They always look so cute and cheery.
Common bracken. Lots of these ferns along the trail near the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.
My standard "back to trailhead" timestamp photo.
As we drove out, the line of cars at the RMNP entrance was back to past the Visitor Center.

PHOTOS FROM OUR bivy in the gash

If you are climbing a route that is at least four pitches, you can get a bivy permit to camp up high in the park. Although the Northeast Ridge of The Sharkstooth can be easily climbed car-to-car, it is always nice to nab an opportunity to sleep up high in the mountains. The bivy zone for climbing the Northeast Ridge of The Sharkstooth is The Gash bivy zone. We found a flat pad of gravel nestled under a large boulder (convenient for hanging packs during the day), and with water nearby. We enjoyed a beautiful evening up high in the mountains.

We bivied on a nice flat pad of gravel below this boulder.
The location of our bivy. Elevation 10,928 feet according to the Gaia app on my phone. And look, I have a bar of service from up here!
Photo by Nate.
There was lots of water in the form of snow, but we managed to find a trickle close to camp and filled up all of our water bottles and bladders.
Nate's dinner.
Some Canadian chocolate bars my mom had given Nate on my parents' recent visit. Thanks mom!
Nate enjoying a Mr. Big.
Evening light on the tip of Sharkstooth. Photo by Nate.
Tree silhouettes. Photo by Nate.
A rainbow in the distance. This is looking east out of Andrews Creek.
Pretty evening light. Photo by Nate.
The Sharkstooth and Taylor Peak in the morning light.
Enjoying a sunny morning at our bivy before heading up to climb.
Hanging our packs off the boulder at our bivy.
Enjoying the granite slabs near our bivy after our climb. We had orignaly planned to stay up here two nights, but we could not get mutually psyched about another route in the area, so we decided to hike out and climb at Lumpy Ridge the next day. I spent the evening writing this trip report.

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