The Spearhead

Other routes I've climbed on The Spearhead: 
Category: Colorado (RMNP)Summit Elev: 12,575 ftRock Type: Granite
This page contains two trip reports:

1.

Date: July 9-10, 2019 (Tue-Wed)Trip Report #: 352Partner: Doug Hutchinson

2.

Date: September 5, 2022 (Mon)Trip Report #: 579Partner: Nate Arganbright

Route: 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.

Route Overlay

Also shows Sykes Sickle, which I have also climbed.

Trip Report #1 (July 2019)

(first time climbing The Barb) 

If the content appears to be truncated here, you may need to put your cursor in the region of text above the red line and scroll down to see more!

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

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd

Hike Glacier Gorge trail to Black Lake and continue up into basin below base of The Spearhead.

Arriving in Glacier Gorge. Hiking time from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead to our bivy in Upper Glacier Gorge was about 2.5 hours.Photo by Nate.

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.

In this photo, Nate is leading the right (5.8) option for Pitch 1. We went this way to pass a party that was starting up the left (5.6) option. Fortunately, even though the other party had arrived at the base 30 minutes ahead of us, we never held them up. They were on the crux 10b pitch when we arrived back at camp.

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 2. (Photo from July 2019 trip report for The Barb.)
Middle Earth Ledge. (Photo from July 2019 trip report for The Barb. The ledge had some fall colors in Sept 2022 but I sadly did not take a photo.)

Pitch 3

5.4, 120'

Wander up the face and climb a left-leaning 16-inch slot and belay at its top. 

Start of Pitch 3.
The fun and easy 16-inch slot.

Pitch 4

5.6, 100'

Move left on face moves and climb the left of two right-facing corners.

Nate starting Pitch 4.

Pitch 5

5.9, 110'

Climb a left-leaning thin crack and belay on a ledge beneath a roof. 

The start of Pitch 5. All fun in the sun now!
Steph starting up Pitch 5. Photo by Nate.

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.

The A-shaped roof of Pitch 6.
A nice hands splitter on Pitch 6.
Steph nearing the end of Pitch 6. Nate had belayed on a comfortable ledge below a 5.9+ crack leading to the crux crack on Pitch 7.Photo by Nate.

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. 

The 5.9+ crack leading to the crux 10b crack of Pitch 7.
Nate cruising up the crux 10b section.

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.

Looking up at the start of Pitch 8.
Nate starting up Pitch 8.
This is where you step around the right side of the Barb Flake.

Pitches 9-10

5.6

Climb the last two pitches of the North Ridge route.

On the North Ridge route shortly after stepping around the right side of the Barb Flake.
Fun 5.6 climbing on the North Ridge.
Looking back down at the top of the Barb Flake.
The start of the final 5.6 pitch on the North Ridge.
The 5.6 corner on the North Ridge.
The final roped section to the top.

Top

12,575 ft

Yay!

The summit.
Steph on the summit. Despite having climbed The Spearhead multiple times, the last time I tagged the summit was on my 2019 climb of The Barb.Photo by Nate.

Descent

3rd from summit 

From the summit, scramble down 3rd class scree slopes on SW side. 

Descent towards Frozen Lake below. (Photo from July 2019 trip report for The Barb. There was no snow in Sept 2022.)

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!

Our bivy was underneath this giant boulder. Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds and Pagoda are above.
A view under the boulder. You can stand up in here.
A view from under the boulder.
Evening at the bivy. Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds and Pagoda are above.
Enjoying late afternoon sun at the bivy.
Nate enjoying late afternoon sun at the bivy.
Reading in the last rays of afternoon sun.
Hanging our food when we leave to go climbing. Marmots and pika are the main concern.
We were back at camp by around 2pm each day. I worked a nonogram one afternoon.
After the nonogram, I read a bit. 1984 is a kind of depressing book.
We collected water at a tarn a few hundred feet from camp. I did not treat my water, as I am on a yet-unsuccessful-four-year quest to discover Giardia in RMNP.
Trash bag comparison. I'm too embarrassed to say which one is mine.Photo by Nate.
Nate's dinner. Some sort of freeze-dried spicy chicken with cheese on top. He decided he probably wouldn't have this one again. He thought that the next two nights (biscuits and gravy, chicken and dumplings) were much better.Photo by Nate.
Nate's breakfast: maple and brown sugar cream of wheat, walnuts, and bacon. A new favorite!
My standard dinner: cinnamon roll flavored oatmeal. I will never grow tired of oatmeal.Photo by Nate.
My mom had sent us some Canadian chocolates. Nate really liked this one (peanuts and toffee). Fortunately for Nate, I preferred the pure chocolate bar instead, so he got the entire peanut brittle bar.

Scenery

Upper Glacier Gorge is a picturesque place.

The last rays of the sun as it sank over the ridge. Sun left our bivy at around 6pm. Official sunset was around 7:30pm.
Evening light on The Spearhead.
A beautiful evening in Upper Glacier Gorge.
Colorful clouds. I think these are Mammatus clouds.
Mammatus clouds above Longs Peak.
Mammatus clouds above Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds.

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.

Water droplets on leaf.Photo by Nate.
Water droplets on leaf. This was my photo but idea credit goes to Nate.
I think these are King's Crown.Photo by Nate.
I think these are Queen's Crown.
Elephant's Head. These flowers were out in July, so I was surprised to still see them in early September.
Star gentian.
Harebell.
Some sort of seed.
A cute fungus.
Another fungus.
And another.
Some yellow needles. In the North Cascades, larch trees turn brilliant yellow each fall, but I think in this case it just means the tree branch is dying.
Fall colors underfoot.
Fall colors underfoot.
Fall colors.
Fall colors.Photo by Nate.
Elk in Upper Glacier Gorge. We only spotted these three. Soon they will all be moving to lower elevation for the fall and winter.
A sizable vertebrae. Maybe from an elk?Photo by Nate.
Tree art. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip.Photo by Nate.
More tree art.Photo by Nate.
A beautiful root wad.Photo by Nate.

Rocks

I've always been fascinated by rocks (my undergraduate degree is in geology, in fact). Nate took several rock photos too. 

Cool rock fractures.
A rock puzzle.Photo by Nate.
An interesting dark spot on the granite slabs in Upper Glacier Gorge. The dark spots may be xenoliths that were partially melted and absorbed by the magma of the surrounding granite pluton.Photo by Nate.
Another interesting dark spot on the granite slabs in Upper Glacier Gorge. The dark spots may be xenoliths that were partially melted and absorbed by the magma of the surrounding granite pluton.Photo by Nate.
A nice chunk of quartz near our bivy.
A fracture/joint perhaps.Photo by Nate.
Nice gneiss.Photo by Nate.

Hiking

Beginning the hike on Friday afternoon from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. Gotta hoof this 40 lb pack about 5 miles and 3000 feet uphill! (In reality, the pack is feeling pretty non-eventful by this point in the season, after several weekends bivying in the mountains.)Photo by Nate.
Leaving the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.
Arriving in Upper Glacier Gorge a couple of hours later. Hiking time from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead to our bivy in Upper Glacier Gorge was about 2.5 hours.Photo by Nate.
Hiking out after a glorious weekend. I like this section of trail—easy travel on granite slabs unearthed from the thin soil cover. There are several downed trees on this section of the hike due to the shallow soil.Photo by Nate.
A bridge crossing.Photo by Nate.
My standard timestamp photo when we arrived back at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead on Monday afternoon.

previous and next adventures

(July 2019)
(September 2022)