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options in rmnp or ipw

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:45 pm
by helmut
What's the best option for a nice hike/climb/scramble in either RMNP or IPW these days? There's a decent amount of snow so I'm guess that the north trending technical routes are out of the question, but what about the south facing routes, do they still go? What about going up the standard route on McHenry's? These early fall conditions are tricky, thin snow, verglas, etc, for sure so I don't want to get too in over my head, but don't mind dry tooling up verglas with crampons either.

Re: options in rmnp or ipw

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:00 pm
by Pete Castricone
I hate to be the one to say this but, since you "don't mind dry tooling up verglas with crampons," why you are asking this question?

Re: options in rmnp or ipw

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:08 pm
by Monster5
McHenry's via Stoneman right now would be okay for an experienced person. Via Arrowhead or surrounding peaks, it would be dicey. The W slabs above Black Lake would be hairy, so I would suggest taking the long way around via the gully heading E from the lake and wrapping around. Stoneman is a loose/snowy class 2 and the remainder of the ridge has sun-exposed bypasses to the south/left with only one real scrambly section prior to the summit.

Other decent scrambles with a bit of snow are Audobon's SE ridge>Paiute, perhaps the Arapahos (there is one tricky downclimb, but this can be bypassed), western RMNP peaks, Meeker, Lady Wash, Mummy range via non-technical routes, Wild Basin peaks, etc. Microspikes tend to be the name of the game in present conditions.