Northwest Face

Route

Images (2)

Climber's Log (1)

Comments (0)

Additions & Corrections (3)

Contribute

Geography

Parents

Routes

Page Type: Route

Location: Colorado, United States, North America

Lat/Lon: 40.26830°N / 105.6497°W

Route Type: Mountaineering, Scrambling

Time Required: Most of a day

Rock Difficulty: Class 4

Loading...
Route Quality:
1
2
3
4
5
- 1 Votes

Page By: brenta

Created/Edited: Sep 1, 2004 / Feb 20, 2006

Object ID: 162002

Hits: 1862

Page Score: 86.79% - 3 Votes

Vote: Log in to vote

Table of Contents

Approach

From the Glacier Gorge trailhead follow the directions for Mills Lake. Once past Mills and Jewel Lakes, watch out for trees felled by an avalanche. Head West towards Glacier Creek and locate large flat rocks that make the fording of the creek easy. On the West bank locate the beginning of the trail that climbs toward Shelf Lake. The trail is faint at times, but it is worth looking for because the ascent is very steep and the vegetation very thick. Occasionally one has to scramble, but not much. True bushwhacking up that slope would be dreadful.
The trail is reasonably well marked, but it is not too difficult to lose it. Keep in mind that it only crosses to the South of Shelf Creek at the very end.
The trail terminates near the outlet of Shelf Lake at about 11200 ft. A bit of krummholz navigation is required to reach Solitude Lake at about 11400 ft. From there continue into the valley heading West until a small pond surrounded by very large boulders. This is where the route starts and is about half way between the head of the valley and Solitude Lake.

Route Description

The route attacks the Northwest face where the Arrowhead "mellows" considerably. Locate a ramp/gully that ascends diagonally towards the lowest point of the ridge. (That means that if you look at the NW face, the ramp/gully goes up and to the right.) Proceed diagonally until you reach a little platform overlooking a steep gully coming up straight from the valley floor. Climb this gully for about ten feet and then resume the diagonal ascent. You are soon on talus, and in due time you reach the ridge. Depending on your angle, you may reach the ridge at its lowest point (where runners mark a rappelling station that one could use to descend on the South side) or further up to the East. Once on the ridge, climb East on talus to a false summit first and the true summit shortly after. From the lowest point of the ridge the summit is about one fourth of a mile away and 200 ft up.
The crux of the route, at least as we executed it, is where it crosses the steep gully. There was snow on the rock when we climbed it, which didn't help in estimating the difficulties under normal conditions. Overall, Roach's rating of Class 4 felt about right. However, the main thing to watch out for is unstable talus. It is not pervasive, but rather common on both slopes and ridge.

Essential Gear

Standard hiking equipment. A helmet would add to safety. As with most other ascents in the park, early in the season crampons and ice axe may be necessary.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.