The Spearhead
1.
Date: July 9-10, 2019 (Tue-Wed)Trip Report #: 352Partner: Doug Hutchinson2.
Date: September 5, 2022 (Mon)Trip Report #: 579Partner: Nate ArganbrightRoute: The Barb (5.10, 10p)
This route is the definition of enjoyable climb: awesome bivy, stunning views, and over 1000 feet of climbing on great alpine granite. One of the most popular alpine rock climbs in RMNP. So good I have climbed it twice.
Trip Report #1 (July 2019)
(first time climbing The Barb)
Trip Report #2 (September 2022)
(second time climbing The Barb)
Intro
After a rather wet summer, September had arrived with a splitter forecast—warmer and sunnier than it had been for weeks. For Labor Day weekend, Nate and I snatched this late-season opportunity to spend a few days in the alpine. I secured a bivy permit for Upper Glacier Gorge (need to be climbing a route that is at least four pitches to qualify for a bivy permit), and Nate and I bivied up there for three nights (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) below The Spearhead. (As a sidenote, after this Labor Day weekend trip, I realized that Nate and I had spent a total of 20 nights bivying in RMNP in Summer 2022.) Nate and I climbed three routes: Bequeathed (5.10d, 6p) on Arrowhead, The Kingfisher (5.11, 7p) on The Spearhead, and The Barb (5.10b, 10p) on The Spearhead. We also enjoyed a couple of sunny afternoons hanging out in this spectacular area.
This page gives a trip report for The Barb on The Spearhead, the third of three climbs during our Labor Day weekend in Upper Glacier Gorge. This route has become one of the most popular alpine rock climbs in RMNP. I had climbed it just after I had moved to Boulder in 2019, and it was well worth climbing again.
The following gives pitch-by-pitch photos of my second time climbing The Barb, and below that a photo smorgasbord from our three-day, three-night Labor Day weekend hanging out in Upper Glacier Gorge. Enjoy!
Time Stats
Bivy to base of route: 12 minutes
Climb route (base to summit): 3 hours 13 minutes
Descent (summit to bivy): 47 minutes
Total camp-to-camp (includes breaks): 4 hours 17 minutes
Pitch-by-Pitch Photos
Approach
2nd
Hike Glacier Gorge trail to Black Lake and continue up into basin below base of The Spearhead.
Pitch 1
5.6 or 5.8, 160'
Climb the left (5.6) or right (5.8) side of the flake. Continue to the lower tier of Middle Earth Ledge.
Pitch 2
4th, 130'
Scramble up to upper tier of Middle Earth Ledge and traverse 50 feet let to belay at a flake. (Without the final traverse, it is possible to link this with Pitch 1 with a 70.)
Pitch 3
5.4, 120'
Wander up the face and climb a left-leaning 16-inch slot and belay at its top.
Pitch 4
5.6, 100'
Move left on face moves and climb the left of two right-facing corners.
Pitch 5
5.9, 110'
Climb a left-leaning thin crack and belay on a ledge beneath a roof.
Pitch 6
5.9, 130'
Climb up a corner to the left, and then through an A-shaped roof and follow a crack to a stance in a left-facing corner. A better belay is to continue up and right to a comfortable ledge below a 5.9+ crack leading into the crux crack of Pitch 7.
Pitch 7
5.10b, 150'
Start up the corner, then move right into a crack angling up and right. The crux is some thin moves protected by a piton. End at a belay on the crest of the Barb Flake.
Pitch 8
5.7
Climb straight up a crack through a small roof and then go up a ramp for about 40 feet. Step right around the edge of the Barb Flake at a tiny horn and get onto the North Ridge route. Alternatively, climb runnout but easy face all the way to the top of the Barb Flake and then execute an exposed and somewhat tricky downclimb to the notch.
Pitches 9-10
5.6
Climb the last two pitches of the North Ridge route.
Top
12,575 ft
Yay!
Descent
3rd from summit
From the summit, scramble down 3rd class scree slopes on SW side.
other photos
It was Labor Day weekend and the forecast was for splitter weather, so Nate and I snatched the opportunity to spend three days and three nights in the spectacular Upper Glacier Gorge. We had secured a bivy permit for Upper Glacier Gorge (need to be climbing a route that is at least 4 pitches to qualify for a bivy permit), and we bivied up there for three nights (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) below The Spearhead. What a spectacular place to hang out for the long weekend.
Our bivy
Upper Glacier Gorge has some of the best bivy locations in RMNP. We stayed at what I decided to call the "Under the Dome" bivy, which is a roomy cavern under a giant boulder. This is one of the coolest spots to bivy in the area, but it is usually filled with snow or ice until late in the summer. Earlier in the summer, Nate and I had made a note to try to return to Glacier Gorge in the late summer and stay at this bivy once the snow inside had melted. We were glad we got the opportunity to do so!
Scenery
Upper Glacier Gorge is a picturesque place.
Flora and fauna
Early September is usually when the mountains start to display the transition between summer and fall. We enjoyed late-summer wildflowers and early fall colors.
Rocks
I've always been fascinated by rocks (my undergraduate degree is in geology, in fact). Nate took several rock photos too.