Couloir and Glacier Climbs in the Denver Area : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

Introduction

Snow climbing season is upon us and there is a lot of talk on SummitPost about a small number of popular routes. However, there are many more out there that don't get any attention. This is a list of couloir and other snow climbs within an hour or two drive of Denver. The sources are Gerry Roach's 14ers and high 13ers and Indian Peaks guide books as well as a few other sources.

About the Table

I've organized the table by access point and roughly north to south. Nearby trailheads are grouped under the same heading. I've arbitrarily not included certain areas due to lack of personal knowledge or because I deem them "too far away". Routes with a "*" are deemed "classic" in someone's (usually Gerry Roach's) estimation. Routes with a "-" are similarly "not recommended". The table has various fields explained below:

Aspect is what direction the climb faces. This can make a difference in what time of year you climb it; south-facing routes come into condition before north-facing ones.

Parent is the peak upon which the route lies. It's not always a summit route, but you can usually see it from there.

Rating is whatever difficulty rating is given in my source. "mod", "steep" etc refer to maximum slope angle where moderate is approximately 30-40 degrees, steep=40-50, and very steep is greater than 50. There are border cases which get multiple ratings.

Approach is the very approximate one-way milage to the start of the route. It does not include the route itself or distance from the top of the route to the summit.

Vertical is the approximate vertical extent of the snow climb itself, if known. I've made guesses on a number of these, so the values may be highly wrong.

The Table

Route	Aspect	Parent	Rating	Approach	Vertical
Cameron Pass TH (Never Summer Range)
Nokhuloir	E	Nokhu Crags	4, steep	3.5	550'
Grand Central	SE	Nokhu Crags	4, v/steep	3.5	500'
RMNP, Lawn Lake TH (Mummy Range)
Y Couloir*		Ypsilon	5.0-5.4 steep
RMNP, Trail Ridge Road THs
Cracktop Clr	NE	Cracktop	5.0-5.6 steep	5.7	700'
RMNP, Bear Lake/Glacier Gorge TH
Ptarmigan Gl	NE	Ptarmigan Pt.		4.2	600'
North Face Clrs	NW	Flattop Mtn	2, steep	3.5	600'
Dragonstail	SE	Flattop Mtn	4, steep	2	1500'
Dragonstooth	SE	Flattop Mtn	4, mod	2	1500'
Tyndal Gl	NE	Hallet	3, mod
"Chaos Couloir"	SE	Hallet	2, steep?	2.5	1000'?
Chaotic Gl	NE	Otis	2, v/steep	3.7
Andrews Gl	E	Otis	2, mod	4	580'
Taylor Gl	N	Taylor	3, vsteep	5	1400'
Powell Clr	NW	Powell	2, vsteep	5	1000'
McHenry's Notch	N	McHenry's	2, steep	6	900'
Pagoda/CH Clr	N	Pagoda/Chiefshead	2, steep	6	900'
Trough Clr	W	Longs	3, steep	6	2200'
RMNP, Longs Peak TH
Martha	S	Lady Washington	5.6, steep	4.7	700'
Lambs Slide	N	Longs	3, steep	5.5	1000'+
Notch Clr	E	Longs	5.2, steep	6
The Loft	E	Longs/Meeker	3, mod	5	1400'
Dream Weaver*	N	Meeker	4-5.6 steep	5.0	1500'
RMNP, Wild Basin TH
Keplingers	S	Longs	3, mod	7.5	1600'
IPW, Middle St. Vrain TH
Ogalalla Expr.	S	Ogalalla	3, mod	10	1000'
Ooh La La Expr*	E	"Ooh La La"	3, steep	10	900'
Vrain Drain	NE	"Ooh La La"	3, steep	10	800'
IPW, Brainard Lake THs
Northeast Ramp	NE	Mt. Toll	5.2 steep	3
North Clrs	N	Little Pawnee	3, steep	2	500'?
SW Clrs	S-W	Shoshoni	3-5.2, steep	4.2
Queens Way*	NE	Apache	2, mod	4.2	800'
Apache Clr*	E	Apache	3, steep	4.2	800'
Navajo SF	NE	Navajo	5.2, steep	4.2
IPW, 4th of July and Hessie THs
Streetwalker	SW	South Arapaho	3, mod/steep	2.6	1300'
Skywalker*	S	South Arapaho	3, v/steep	2.6	1600'
North Star*	W	North Arapaho	3, mod	3.1	1400'
Phoebe	NE	Mt. Neva	3, mod/steep	3.8	300'
Juliet*	N	Mt. Neva	2, mod	3.7	300'
Desdemona	NE	Mt. Neva	2, mod	3.7	300'
Snow Lion*	SE	Jasper	3, mod	4.5	700'
Snow Leopard	SE	Jasper	3, steep	4.5	500'
Gateraid	SE	Jasper	2, mod	4.3	400'
Challenger Gl	NE	Skyscraper	3, vsteep	6.5	500'
Skyscraper Gl	S	Skyscraper	3, mod/steep	6.5	400'
Central Front Range, East Portal TH
Ice Box Express	NE	Heartbeat	2, mod	3.5	500'
Central Front Range, St. Mary's Glacier/Loch Lomond/Mammoth Gulch Access
Starbright-	SE	James Peak	3, mod	3.4
Superstar*	E	James Peak	5.4, steep	4	1000'
Shooting Star*	E	James Peak	2, steep	3.5	1100'
Sky Pilot	NE	James Peak	4, mod	4	1100'
Starlight	N	James Peak	2, mod	4	550'
St. Mary's Gl	E	James Peak	1, easy	0.7	800'
Ice Lake Clr	S	James Peak	3, mod	1.5	500'
Central Front Range, Summit Lake TH
Goldfinger*	E	Spalding/Gray Wolf	3, steep	1.2
Badfinger-	NE	Spalding	5.7 vsteep	1.0
Windy City	NE	Spalding	2, mod	0.9	1100'
Chi-Town*	NE	Spalding	4, steep	0.8	1140'
Sunrise	E	Spalding/Evans	3, steep	1.0	700'
Diamond	N	Mt. Evans	4, steep	1	1000'
Crystal	N	Mt. Evans	3, steep	1	1000'
Snave	N	Mt. Evans	4, steep	1	1000'
Central Front Range, Stevens/Grizzly Gulch THs
Eroica	NE	Torreys	3, steep	2.1	800'
Emperor	NE	Torreys	3, steep	2	700'+
Dead Dog*	S	Torreys	3, steep	2.4	1600'
South Paw	S	Torreys	3, steep	3	1300'
Lost Rat	N	Grays	2, mod	2.5	800'
Goatfinger-	N	Edwards	2+, steep	2.5	1000'
Southern Front Range, Pikes Peak Road THs
Y Couloir*	N	Pikes Peak	3, steep	1.5	1300'
Railroad Clr	N	Pikes Peak	3, steep	1.5	1300'
Little Italy	N	Pikes Peak	3, steep	0.1	1100'
Central Front Range, Montezuma Access (West of Divide)
Edwardian*	S	Mount Edwards	2, mod	1.6	1080'
Tenmile Range, Spruce Creek TH (West of Divide)
Dyer Straits*	NE	Father Dyer Peak	2, mod	3.3	460'
North Clr	NE	Pacific Peak	5.5, vsteep	5.	700'
Tenmile Range, Quandary THs (West of Divide)
Atlantis*	S	Atlantic Peak	2, mod	2.8	600'
Quandary Clr	NE	Quandary Peak	4, steep	1.5	1600'
Cristo Clr	S	Quandary Peak	2, mod	0-1	2000'+

Future Work

This table is by no means complete and will likely be a work in progress for quite some time. Things I intend to add eventually include:

greater coverage in RMNP

links to SummitPost and/or MountainProject pages with more details

trailhead links

optimal climbing season

farther away routes

routes not covered in my personal collection of guide books (14ers, 13,800ers, IPW, RMNP)

I would love help in any or all of these areas. If you're willing to help and would like access privs to this page, drop me a line. Similarly, if you see something above which is incorrect, missing, or misleading, let me know.

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