South Face 5.8 : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

Approach

Park at the Glacier Gorge trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park and hike past Loch Vale to Sky Pond (about 4 miles). the normal approach leaves the trail just before the lake and heads toward the spires across a talus field.

Route Description

The first half of the route follows a major chimney system in the middle of the south face. From there, it diagonals right and ascends the southeast corner of the pinnacle. Begin 100 ft left of the low point of the main chimney. A short scrample up and right ends on a good ledge sixty feet above the ground.

Pitches:
1) Climb off the right end of the ledge up easy ground and continue for 200 feet to the First Terrace (a prominent ledge). 5.3.

2) Enter the chimney and pass a huge chockstone on the left. Belay at its top.

3) Climb the left wall of the chimney to the roof and exit out left at a wide crack. Follow the crack to the Second Terrace, 5.7.

4) Continue up the chimney (5.5), then step left when it ends. Angle right beneath a right-facing dihedral and belay at a sloping shelf at a piton, 5.6.

5) Angle up and right along a thin slab (5.7) and mantle onto a ledge with a boulder. Step left into a steep dihedral and follow it to a grassy ledge on the east face, 5.8. This is the crux.

6) Meander up the east face on a long 5.7 pitch. Protection is a little sparse. Stay at least 30 feet from the southeast corner until the very end of the pitch. Now traverse left to a small stance on the corner of the spire (this is the famous Pizza Pan Belay).

7) Jam a thin crack (5.7) above the belay to regain the east wall. Angle up and right until you find a belay ledge with a big boulder.

8) Climb straight up to the ridge (5.6), and follow that to the summit.