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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