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| East Ridge   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 40.47700°N / 105.891°W Route Type: Scramble Time Required: Most of a day Difficulty: Exposed Class 3
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| Page By: Andy Created/Edited: Jul 12, 2004 / Jul 12, 2004 Object ID: 161482 Hits: 1337 Loading... Page Score: 86.45% - 2 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
Start at either the American Lakes trailhead or the top of Cameron Pass. Proceed up the trail to American Lakes. This is roughly 3.5 miles from the American Lakes Trailhead and a little further from Cameron Pass (but it’s less elevation gain from Cameron Pass).
Skirt around American Lakes on the south side and climb up the steep hill to Snow Lake (to avoid the willows it looks best to stay to the south of the stream that drains Snow Lake).
Route Description
From the eastern shore of Snow Lake make your way up the ridge to the south. Fairly early on you will encounter a headwall. Cairns lead you to your left (east) around the headwall. This worked well. Once above the headwall continue up the ridge. This should be all Class-2 scrambling with no exposure, but as you gain elevation it gradually turns to Class-3. It may be slightly easier to drop down a little onto the north side of the ridge, but stay close to the ridge proper. When you come to a gully you will be forced to gain the ridge proper.
When you’ve gained the ridge after the gully you’ve gained most of the elevation and are about a third of the way to the summit. Now the fun really starts as the ridge narrows and the exposure intensifies. Roach calls this “a very exposed knife edge.” And while I don’t think I’d go that far (it didn’t feel near as bad as the photos of Capitol Peak’s knife edge look), the exposure is intense and the ridge is narrow. For the remainder of the ascent you will stay on the ridge proper where intense concentration is required for every hand and foothold. One false move will send you to certain death down either the north or south side of the ridge. I found the rock to be more solid than Roach let on, but great care should be taken nonetheless.
After completing the exposed ridge the last hundred yards are a walk-up to the summit. Return the way you came.
It should be noted that this route is very committing. There is no other means of escape from Static Peak should the weather turn or something else go wrong. The north face is sheer and the south face is almost as sheer and cliffs out about halfway down to Box Canyon. The only easier route off the mountain is up and over Richthofen. However, if you’re trying to outrun weather this won’t do. It took me nearly two hours to descend from the summit of Static Peak down to Snow Lake. Granted I was moving pretty slow because I was being excruciatingly careful on the ridge and on the easier portions I was going slow because my legs were pretty tired. But for the sake of caution I would plan on a 4-hour round trip from Snow Lake.
Essential Gear
No special gear is needed, just standard gear for hiking in the mountains.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
Images
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Rocky Mountain National Park
