The Spearhead

Other routes I've climbed on The Spearhead: 
Age Axe (5.10b, 6p)    •    All Two Obvious (5.11d, 8p)    •    Barb, The (5.10, 9p)    •    East Prow (5.9+/10b, 6p)    •    Kingfisher, The (5.11, 7p)    •    North Ridge (5.6-5.8, 6-8p)    •    Scimitar + Stone Monkey (5.12a, 5p)    •    Spear Me the Details (5.11d, 9p)   •    Sykes' Sickle (5.9+, 7p) 
Category: Colorado (RMNP)Summit Elev: 12,575 ftRock Type: Granite
Date: July 16, 2022 (Sat)Trip Report #: 557Partner: Nate Arganbright

Route: North Ridge (5.6-5.8, 6-8p)

The first of two climbs on a two-night, two-day weekend in the spectacular Upper Glacier Gorge.

Intro

The previous weekend, Nate and I had spent two nights and two days in Upper Glacier Gorge, climbing two routes: Refugium (5.10a, 5p) on Arrowhead and East Prow (5.9+/10b, 6p) on The Spearhead. We had such a good weekend that we decided to return the next weekend and climb two more routes. 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 two nights (Friday and Saturday nights) at our favorite bivy location below Spearhead.

The forecast for Friday afternoon was for heavy rain. We felt we got lucky when we arrived at our bivy completely dry, the skies threatening rain but nothing materializing. But overnight the heavy rains arrived, and on Saturday morning the surrounding summits were shrouded in wet clouds. We opted for a lazy morning reading and drinking coffee. Mid-morning we seemed to be getting weather window, so we headed out to climb the North Ridge (5.6-5.8, 8p) of Spearhead. The North Ridge route ascends the long ridge (really a narrow face) just right of the Northeast Face of Spearhead. The rock is excellent and the climbing is exhilarating. Several variations exist. Neither Nate nor I had climbed this moderate classic and we figured the weather made it a good day for a lower commitment route. It began to rain on us two pitches from the top, but we finished the route, and then spent the afternoon drying off back at our bivy, under improving weather. 

On Sunday we climbed Step-in-Stein (5.10a, 4p) on Dark Tower in the Keyboard of the Winds. Sunday had a splitter weather forecast.

This page gives a trip report for our climb of North Ridge of Spearhead. I also give some photos of our two days and nights hanging out in this spectacular area. Enjoy!

Route Overlay

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd

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

Pitches 1-4

5.4 to 5.8 depending on route (several variations and linking possible)

We climbed this as two long pitches.

PITCH 1 (Rossiter): Scramble up and left across an easy slab and belay at the bottom of a steep slot. This is the left of two similar slots; the right slot is considerably more difficult. 

PITCH 2 (Rossiter): Climb the slot and belay at the base of a V-shaped dihedral.

PITCH 3 (Rossiter): Work up the  and another similar feature, then continue up an easy, right-facing corner to a belay.

PITCH 4 (Rossiter): Continue up the easy corner to a big ledge and belay at the left end.

Looking up from the base of the route. Nate is nearing the first belay. I believe we did the direct start (5.8) variation and linked the first two pitches.
A nice corner on our first pitch. This felt like 5.8.
Steph nearing the top of our first pitch. Photo by Nate.
Looking up the start of our second pitch. This is probably around Pitch 3 in the Rossiter description.
A nice V-slot on our second pitch.
Easy corner/chimney climbing on our second pitch.

Pitch 5

5.5, 150'

(Rossiter) Climb a flawless slab and belay on a small ledge.

Nate starting off our third pitch. This seemed to fit the description of Pitch 5.
Nearing the top of the pitch.

Pitch 6

5.5, 150'

(Rossiter) Follow a shallow right-facing corner and step left to a belay on a square-cut ledge.

Looking up the start of our fourth pitch. This roughly fit the description for Pitch 6, or at least ended at the same place level with the top of The Barb Flake.
Nate nearing the top of the pitch. As you can tell from the photo, at this point it had started to rain.

Pitch 7

5.6, 150'

(Rossiter) From the left side of the ledge, climb an exposed left-facing dihedral, then traverse right to a larger left-facing dihedral that is followed to a small stance on the ridge crest. This is a great pitch.

Nate starting up the pitch. The rock is pretty wet.
This is a continuation of the pitch. We broke it into two short pitches since there was another party on the route. Due to a brief lull in the rain but thunder threatening on the horizon, Nate led the pitch about 50 feet behind the other party's leader.

Pitch 8

5.6, 150'

(Rossiter) Climb an awkward slot to a level section in the ridge, then tackle a short crack to reach a belay on a big bench.

The climber in the photo is the follower from the other party. We were climbing staggered because of the threatening thundershower.

Top

12,575 ft

From the top of Pitch 8, scramble 150 feet up broken 4th class terrain to the summit. Or just start the descent.

Looking up towards the 4th class scramble. Due to the wet conditions and thunder we decided to descend and not head to the top. However, I had climbed this way to the top in 2018 when I climbed The Barb. I have included a couple of photos from my 2018 trip report here.
2018 climb of The Barb: 4th class scrambling to the summit.

Descent

3rd

The best way to descend from the North Ridge is via 3rd class slopes on the SW side.

The descent scramble. Frozen Lake below.

other photos

We had 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 we bivied up there for two nights (Friday and Saturday nights) at our favorite bivy location below The Spearhead. What a marvelous place to hang out for the weekend!

Our bivy

Upper Glacier Gorge has some of the best bivy locations in RMNP. We stayed at one of our favorites, which we have stayed at a few times before. It is sheltered enough to keep one dry in a storm (as we found out on this trip....) and has a nice flat area for sleeping. 

Hanging out inside the bivy during a stretch of inclement weather.
A side view of the bivy.
Drying out our stuff after climbing the North Ridge and getting caught in the rain for the final two pitches.
A beautiful evening light show.
Nate enjoying some Brandon Sanderson in the evening.
My dinner: oatmeal.
Nate's dinner: chicken and dumplings with hot sauce.
My mom had given Nate some Canadian chocolate on my parents' recent visit to Colorado. We decided we liked the $1 Wal-Mart Swiss-imported dark chocolate the best so far!
Reading in the bivy during a stretch of inclement weather.
Relaxing after a morning of climbing.
Relaxing after a morning of climbing.

Flora

The wildflowers were out.

Alpine columbine.
Alpine columbine.
Elephant's head.
Elephant's head.
Parry's Primrose.
Parry's Primrose.
Thistle.
Sunflowers.
Fernleaf Lousewort.
Alpine phlox.

Elk

The Upper Glacier Gorge area often has elk in the summer. We spotted several elk in the area.

 A herd of elk near our bivy.
A couple of young elk just outside our bivy.
Zoomed in.

Scenery

Upper Glacier Gorge is a picturesque place.

Longs Peak and Keyboard of the Winds as seen from our bivy. This was the morning after the night of heavy rain.
Spearhead.

Checking out a new route on The Spearhead

A new 7-pitch 5.11c route—called The Kingfisher—had been completed on The Spearhead the previous weekend. We went to check out the start of the route, since we are interested in climbing it later this summer. It may be problematic getting to the first bolt once the snowpatch melts back though....

The base of The Kingfisher. The first pitch is 11c. 
Looking down below the top of the snow. Once the snow melts the route will start with about 20 feet of 5.11 climbing with no protection until the first bolt.

Hiking

It's a pleasant hike from Bear Lake / Glacier Gorge Trailhead to Upper Glacier Gorge. 

Leaving the Glacier Gorge Trailhead on Friday afternoon.
Nate's favorite rock: a boulder of gneiss just above Mills Lake.
A boardwalk just above Mills Lake. Glacier Gorge in the distance.
Gneiss.
There are several downed trees on the trail between Mills and Black Lakes. The root structure is quite shallow due to the granite slab bedrock just below a thin layer of soil.
I always enjoy this section of trail, which is riddled with polished roots.
Back at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.
Temperature in Boulder at 5pm. A good weekend to be in the alpine!

previous and next adventures