Mountaineering Seminar Trip Report

Multi-day mountaineering seminars are a summertime classic here at CMS. We guides love having Rocky Mountain National Park as our playground and we’re always psyched to show off our best. I lucked out last week in having seven consecutive days to do this. Two of which were with the father-son team of Chris and Dave Gibbons from Denver; and all seven with budding mountaineer Becca Stubbs of Boulder.

The two day intro to mountaineering section had the three of us learning and practicing rock skills for a day in Eldorado Canyon, then meeting up for an alpine start early on day 2. We found some of the best remaining snow climbing in the Park on the Ptarmigan Glacier, where we worked on our trip planning, route finding, and snow/mixed climbing techniques. The Gibbons’ left feeling ready to safely tackle some of the more technical 14ers remaining on their list. Becca was in for the long haul, a 7-day mountaineering seminar.

After a great day of multipitch rock climbing at Lumpy Ridge, we snuck in a (reasonably) dry trip up and down Hallett Peak, via the classic Culp-Bossier route. The remainder of the week had us bivied at a high perch in Glacier Gorge, from which we climbed the 5.6 North Ridge of Spearhead, and completed an exciting traverse from Arrowhead to McHenry’s Peak.

It was my first time on this exposed traverse, and it’s got a bit of it all; some 5th class rock, lots of exposed scrambling, great summits, and killer views of Long’s Peak and Glacier Gorge. Becca was a great participant for this rigorous course. It takes plenty of motivation for back-to-back alpine starts, but the payoff is definitely worth it. Thanks to Becca, Chris, and Dave for a fantastic week out and about. We hope to see you back real soon!