Colorado 13ers | Seven Summits

Mt. Bancroft: East Ridge Direct

by Brandon Chalk | Jan 2, 2012 | Colorado 13ers

I don’t venture into the Front Range very much, but with a very dry season thus far and a favorable weather forecast, Kristine & I met our good friend Jesse Hill from Denver at the Bancroft TH for some east ridge direct fun. I know so many skiers are bummed with the current Colorao snowpack, but honestly I have been enjoying all of this dry, warm winter weather and taking advantage of it by rock climbing some and getting out high on some peaks. The skiing is just not worth it to me inbounds or in the backcountry right now until we get lots of snow, which is absolutely fine. Just means more climbing. I’ve heard this was a fun route in summer by some friends of mine and is in Cooper’s Colorado Scrambles book, but I thought it may be more interesting & exciting in winter. The ridge definitely did not disappoint and provided awesome winter scrambling with some technical spice thrown in. After parking on the Stewart Road at 8:30am, we hiked the mostly bare 2.2 miles up to the summer parking TH at Loch Lomond. There was some semi-deep snow before Loch Lomond, but it was manageable in our plastic boots without snowshoes. The wind was whipping in the valley, so my hopes were that it would die down before we hit the east ridge. Thankfully, it did. We then made our way up to the base of the east ridge in the howling wind.

The east ridge direct route to Bancroft’s summit

The initial portion of the ridge (up to the infamous notch) was fairly straighforward with some fun class 3 moves if you stayed on the ridge proper.

Kristine climbing the initial class 3 portion of the east ridge

We then approached the rappel station on the east side of the notch and found a party of two climbers setting up their own rappel. We had been gaining on them all morning and decided this was as good a place to pass as any. So, I threw my 60m, 8mm rope around a flake of rock at the top of the east side of the notch and we all rapped down with me going last. In all honestly, I should have tied some webbing and set up a rap anchor, but we wanted to get ahead of the party of two climbers and the rock was smooth enough that the rope would easily pull, so I just ran it over the rock. Not pretty or textbook, but good enough for just one rap.

Jesse & I approaching the notch and rappel station

Kristine on rappel with Jesse below in the notch

Me rappelling down past the party of two climbers on the left

Once, we were all at the notch and pulled the rope, Kristine put me on belay as I led up the 1st crux 5.2 headwall pitch west out of the notch and back to the ridge proper. I only placed a #1 cam and the 25 ft pitch wasn’t too difficult and very fun despite climbing in my Koflach Vertical plastic boots. Great hand/finger holds and the rock was warm enough for me without gloves. I then set up an anchor, belayed Kristine & then Jesse up, and then coiled and stashed the rope in my backpack.

Me belaying Jesse up the 1st crux 5.2 headwall pitch out of the notch

Having passed the supposed crux of the route, the real difficulties seemed to be ahead of us. I was excited. What followed was a few hundred feet of mostly horizontal knife-edge ridges, some snow covered and some dry. This was some exciting scrambling for sure as there are serious drop-offs to the north & south. We never donned our crampons, though in retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea. This was the most treacherous section of the ridge, in our opinion, especially being in plastic boots on lightly snow covered rock. Obviously, in summer, you would just skip across this with approach shoes, and in spring, I can see this being much easier as there would be a large corniced snow ridge you can basically trudge across with your axe.

The remaining portion of the east ridge from the top of the 1st crux 5.2 headwall pitch

Jesse & Kristine on the ridge

Jesse crossing a knife-edge snow ridge

Me looking back at Kristine having crossed the knife-edge snow ridge

Jesse & Kristine almost done with the knife-edge ridge and to the base of the 2nd crux headwall pitch

I had read a route description of the east ridge which said there was a pair of chimneys that go at 4th to low 5th class on the ridge’s right (north) side. However, the ledges and holds were pretty snow covered, and not feeling the motivation to put my crampons on, I chose to head slightly left of the ridge crest just a few feet and found a doable yet severly exposed dry low 5th class route up to a snow covered ledge. This 30 ft headwall definitely had a few low 5th class moves over big air. In retrospect, I really should have led this on belay. With the damage done, I set up an anchor, threw down the rope, and belayed Kristine and then Jesse up to me.

Me scoping out the 2nd crux headwall – I climbed up around the corner to my left

Me belaying Kristine up the 2nd crux low 5th class headwall pitch

Once past the 2nd crux headwall, we spotted the party of two climbers just starting the knife-edge ridge after the 1st crux 5.2 headwall pitch. They were belaying the knife-edge ridge, which just seemed so painstakingly slow. Turns out they turned around shortly thereafter and likely descended down the couloir south to Lake Caroline from the notch. They returned to their cars at the trailhead 15 minutes after we did at the end of the day.

The party of two climbers seen from above the 2nd headwall crux

We then climbed some fun and blocky class 3 rock up the ridge to a tower. Jesse had scoped a small snow covered ledge around to the tower’s right (north) side and so we took the ledge route. In retrospect, we should have just climbed up the remaining 20 ft to the top of the tower and proceeded on the ridge crest as the 30 ft of climbing we endured on the ridge’s north side back up to the ridge proper once the ledge ran out was quite spooky and involved some pretty treacherous moves over slick rock. Once back on the ridge proper, we covered some more fun knife-edge ridge, which soon terminated into the easier class 3 climbing of the upper ridge.

Kristine back on the ridge proper – a large party can be seen approaching the rappel into the notch right of center

Jesse & Kristine back on the ridge proper

More knife-edge ridge

Kristine

The easier class 3 terrain of the upper ridge

We saw a large party rappelling into the notch from the upper ridge, though we’re not sure how long on the ridge they pressed and whether they made it or not.

Close-up of the large party rappelling into the notch

The east ridge from the class 3 terrain of the upper ridge

Kristine on the upper ridge

Jesse climbing a fun little class 4 section on the upper ridge

The easier class 2 section to the flat summit plateau

We finally reached the large, flat summit plateau below Bancroft’s summit and endured some pretty stiff west winds through the col.

Jesse bracing against the strong winds

We topped out on Bancroft’s summit around 1:30pm in clear skies but strong winds.

Kristine almost to Bancroft’s summit looking like a ninja

Mt. Bancroft summit (13,250′)

Looking north to James Peak from Bancroft’s summit

After 20 minutes on top, we descended the very mellow southeast ridge back to Loch Lomond and then hiked out the 2.2 miles down the road arriving back at the trucks at 4pm.

One last look at the majority of the east ridge with the obvious notch as viewed from the southeast on our descent

All in all, a wonderful day on a pretty challenging route given the conditions albeit very exciting and fun. For those looking for a ridge run with some technical spice, I would highly recommend this route as I am sure many others would as well. Hopefully, this TR may help others plan a winter ascent up Bancroft’s east ridge direct. I may just have to start venturing into the Front Range more often

Ripsaw Ridge

by Brandon Chalk | Sep 10, 2011 | Colorado 13ers, Colorado Traverses

As a Vail local, the more time I spend in the rugged Gore Range, the more appreciative & grateful I am to have these peaks so close to home. After over a decade of driving all over this state to climb 14ers over & over & over again, I think finally I’m more than content at exploring and climbing Gore Peaks for the time being. Also, after our Kilimanjaro climb this August, helping my wife, Kristine, finish climbing all of the 14ers this summer, and with Fall knocking on the door, I am extremely psyched to get back to our local peaks and in the heart of the Gore Range. I’d always wanted to traverse the Ripsaw Ridge from the first time I had heard about it. Upon reading Brian Miller’s (lordhelmut) TR on the Ripsaw from July 2010, I was extra energized to get this traverse. The Ripsaw is a ridge extending from Peak C (as its northern terminus) south to Peak G. However, in theory, this ridge continues south from Peak G onto Peaks H, J, P, West Partner (Peak U), East Partner Peak (Peak V) and so forth. The Ripsaw is a very sustained class 3/4 ridge over several miles where some low class 5 moves are almost unavoidable and typically welcomed in our case to add some excitement. It always seems my initial plan of traverses is a little over ambitious thinking we could do Peak C to West Partner Peak in a day or so…yeah right. But, we did complete the proper part of Ripsaw from Peak C to Peak G. Peak G to West Partner will have to wait for another day. We did the Partner Traverse (East to West Partner) last July 2010.

Ripsaw Ridge (Peak C – Peak G) from Meadow Mtn near Minturn in May, 2009

Good buds J, Caleb (RoanMtnMan), & myself backpacked in to the base of Peak C and set up camp on a nice rocky rib in the trees. Having climbed Peak C a few times via its SW couloir, I knew the turnoff pretty well and where we should camp to get an early start up Peak C. Amazingly, on the backpack in, I found my wife’s knit cap on a rock that she must have lost over a year ago on our climb of Mt. Powell when she took a stumble across one of the creeks.

Kristine’s dirty knit cap

We got a 5:30am start out of camp and made quick work of the hike into the upper tarn-filled basin below Peak C’s SW couloir in the dark. Climbing Peak C’s SW couloir is most definitely easier & more pleasant in the Spring when it is snow-filled as I have done before.

Caleb climbing Peak C’s SW couloir and almost to the notch between Peaks C & C-Prime

We then reached the notch between Peaks C & C-Prime and took a left up the fun class 4 rock which then turns into class 2/3 rock to Peak C’s summit.

J at the notch between Peaks C & C-Prime and Caleb starting the class 4 rock

We had a great view of our day’s work of the Ripsaw Ridge to the south.

J & Caleb climbing Peak C’s south ridge w/ Ripsw Ridge behind

Piney Lake from Peak C’s summit

Peak C summit (13,220′)

Descending back to the notch between Peaks C & C-Prime, we then climbed down the very loose Peak C SW couloir several hundred feet to the access rock gully up to Peak C-Prime’s south ridge. This access gully is about 1/3 of the way down from the notch between Peaks C & C-Prime. It is loose as well but soon splits and we followed the steeper yet more stable left branch (class 4 rock) to reach a point just south of Peak C-Prime’s summit block. From this point, it is a fun class 3/4 scramble to Peak C-Prime’s summit on its SE face.

The access ramp on Peak C-Prime’s SE face to gain some nice class 3/4 rock to the summit

J & Caleb climbing class 3/4 rock after the access ramp

Me sitting on top of Peak C-Prime’s summit block

Once we descended Peak C-Prime’s summit block, the ridge over to Peak D’s summit block is probably the easiest section of the Ripsaw (mostly class 2).

Downclimbing Peak C-Prime’s summit block to the Peak C-Prime/D saddle

On the ridge to Peak D

Once at the base of Peak D’s summit block, we scrambled up to a fun class 4 dihedral and then skirted a gendarme around to the southwest.

Our approximate route up Peak D’s north ridge

Ascending the class 4 didehral up Peak D’s north ridge

J looking up at our approximate route up the remaining north ridge of Peak D (after skirting the gendarme)

Caleb climbing to Peak D’s summit

Peak D summit (13,047′) w/ a subsummit of Peak E, Peak E itself, & Peak G behind (right to left)

The downclimb from Peak D’s summit to the Peak D/E saddle is fairly straightforward and mostly class 2/3. Once at the lowpoint between Peaks D & E, you can ascend a 5th class chimney for 15′ or descend 50-100 vertical feet to the west and ascend easier terrain. We then ascended up to a highpoint on mostly class 2/3 terrain and skirted another gendarme to the southwest to reach the base of Peak E’s subsummit. Taking Peak E’s subsummit straight on would be well into middle 5th class climbing and so as lordhelmut suggested in his TR, we skirted around to the southwest and ascended class 3/4 rock up a gully to the Peak E subsummit. From Peak E’s subsummit, we descended to the saddle before the final climb up Peak E. The route up Peak E I took was class 4 with maybe a few low 5th class moves but easier class 3 and some class 4 rock is further around to the right or southwest.

J on the Peak E subsummit with my approximate route up Peak E behind from the Peak E/Peak E subsummit saddle (Peak G is to the right)

Peak E summit (13,220′)

Peak E was the only summit we found with a summit register and the last person who signed in was from October 1, 2010. The person before her was lordhelmut in July 2010. Goes to show how little these peaks are climbed. The traverse from Peak E to Peak F is a bit complex but in general we stayed a hundred or more vertical feet to the ridge’s right (southwest) side and crossed over rock rib after rock rib and into gully after gully. Taking the ridge proper traverse from Peak E to Peak F would be impractical and unrealistic given its multiple mid-high 5th class gendarmes and towers. However, once we reached the base of the final ascent up to Peak F, we took the ridge proper and enjoyed some of the best class 4/low 5th class climbing of the day.

Looking back at the traverse from Peak E to Peak F

Climbing up Peak F’s north ridge

J topping out on Peak F

Another pic of J on the Peak E subsummit w/ our approximate routes up Peak F (right) and further south Peak G (left)

Peak F summit (13,220′) w/ Peak G behind

We then descended off to the south via class 3/4 rock to the Peak F/G saddle staying again slightly to the right of the ridge crest.

Caleb descending Peak F to the Peak F/G saddle

After eating a PB&J, we ascended the ridge up to Peak G and then skirted a gendarme to the left thru a notch on the ridge’s left (northeast) side. Tackling Peak G’s remaining ridge crest to the summit would be mid 5th class climbing with high potential for big rockfall, so again we skirted around to the ridge’s right (southwest) side and ascended class 3/4 rock with a few low 5th class moves to the summit (see our approximate route up Peak G in picture #23).

J climbing Peak G’s western slopes

Peak G summit (13,260′), our final summit of the day

Looking north at Ripsaw Ridge from the Peak G summit w/ Mt. Powell at far right

While we had the motivation in us to continue the ridge south to Peak H, it was 1:30pm and we could see thunderheads and rain falling to the west. Thus, we descended back to the Peak F/G saddle.

J looking south to Peak H and beyond from the Peak G summit

Per lordhelmut’s July 2010 TR, I knew we could descend the southwestern couloir to the valley floor from the Peak F/G saddle.

Our descent couloir from the Peak F/G saddle 3000′ down to the Piney River valley floor.

The couloir was indeed tough on the knees as expected, but eventually we reached the grassy meadows only about 1000′ above the valley floor and took a well-earned rest. Another 45 min to an hour of descending down steep, grassy slopes and thru forests brought us to the Upper Piney Lake trail where we took a right. Another 2 miles and 45 minutes later, we arrived back at camp pretty happy with our day’s work. All in all, it was a great adventure with two of my best buds in what is becoming my favorite range in Colorado. I am looking forward to a few more trips and traverses in the Gores this Fall. I hope this TR can be of use to potential Ripsaw Ridgers when combined with lordhelmut’s TR from over a year ago. I want to thank lordhelmut for his TR which provided us some direction on the Ripsaw.

Partner Traverse

by Brandon Chalk | Jul 31, 2010 | Colorado 13ers, Colorado Traverses

In trying to take advantage of the wonderful Gore Range in our backyard and link up a few more of these little-known traverses, my buddies J, Steve, Caleb (RoanMtnMan) & I set out for Pitkin Lake friday afternoon with the intentions of climbing East & West Partner Peaks (Peaks “V” & “U”) and linking the traverse between the two peaks.

After some rain on the 4.5 mile pack into Pitkin Lake, we dried things out at camp with the help of a campfire. Pitkin Lake & the surrounding basin are gorgeous and while we could have done this trip in a long day, we opted to spend 2 nights in Pitkin basin to enjoy some camping. We began hiking around 6:15am on Saturday up East Partner’s standard south ridge (mostly class 3 with maybe a few class 4 moves). The ridge was very fun and we topped out around 7:45am.

Camp at Pitkin Lake (11,400′)

East Partner Peak (13,057′) from Pitkin Lake

Me on East Partner’s south ridge before the class 3 rock begins

J & Steve starting up East Partner’s class 3 rock on the south ridge

J & Steve on East Partner’s south ridge

J getting ready to cross a mini knife-edge on East Partner’s south ridge

J & Steve before the mini knife-edge

Steve on the mini knife-edge

East Partner Peak summit (13,057)

The traverse to West Partner Peak

We then started the traverse over to West Partner Peak. There were many initial towers to climb up and over coming down off East Partner’s west ridge which did not exactly make the climbing “fast” by any means. However, the rock is solid, for the most part, and there were some exciting downclimbs with decent exposure. I would say most of the climbing on the 1st half of this traverse from East Partner is class 3 with some class 4 moves. We stayed on the ridge proper for the most part unless a cliff blocked a descent and we had to find a way around.

J downclimbing an exposed section to the next notch while descending East Partner’s west ridge

J climbing up and over another tower

Me on the traverse

This saddle almost represents the halfway point on the traverse and is about the only “easy” terrain on the entire traverse

Caleb was not feeling well due to a likely stomach bug, so he descended from the saddle between East & West Partner Peaks back to our camp at Pitkin Lake to rest. The real difficulties occured after the saddle and the 2nd half of the traverse on the ascent up to West Partner Peak. The climbing involved many exposed initial downclimbs and then some tricky traverses/upclimbs around and up several towers. I would say most of the climbing is class 3/4 with some potential low 5th class moves and all pretty exposed.

J climbing with Caleb on top of the last tower right before he descended back to camp

J & Steve downclimbing into a notch on some low 5th class rock

Steve downclimbing into another notch

Me climbing another tower out of the notch

Steve on an exposed traverse on the ridge proper to the top of another tower

Me slipping thru a crack we used to traverse to the next tower

Finally, we get on easier terrain on West Partner’s southeast slopes (East Partner & the traverse in the background)

After the majority of the traverse and the real difficulties behind us, we hopped on West Partner’s standard south ridge route and followed the fun class 3/4 ridge to the summit. I think we topped out around 10:45am yielding a traverse time of about 2 3/4 hours.

J & Steve climbing down into a notch on West Partner’s south ridge

J & Steve climbing up and out of the notch on the south ridge

The remaining portion of West Partner’s south ridge to the summit

West Partner Peak summit (13,041′)

We then retraced our steps back down West Partner’s south ridge for some distance past where we hopped on the south ridge from the traverse. After some fun “easy” scrambling down lower on West Partner’s long south ridge, we exited left (east) and made our way back down to our camp at Pitkin Lake. We found Caleb feeling better after he took a nap and we had a great afternoon and evening of swimming and fishing as well as a raging campfire that evening. The rain held off the entire day and night.

Heading back down the lower part of West Partner’s south ridge (Pitkin Lake below)

The Partner Traverse on the descent of West Partner’s south ridge. The most difficult sections are in the center (East Partner on the far right)

Close-up of the most difficult sections of the traverse on the West Partner half of the traverse

Caleb showing us how its done

Nothing like a refreshing dunk into an alpine lake

A great weekend with my buds in one of my most favorite ranges. The Partner Traverse was very exciting and I highly recommend it for the experienced scrambler. It was great to get to the tops of the Partner Peaks and really see how to link up Ripsaw Ridge to the north and then to Peaks W, etc and over to the Grand Traverse to the south. We always love getting into the Gores where you will likley see very few people and have the peaks all to yourselves. I hope this report is useful to some who would like to try this traverse.

Peak C

by Brandon Chalk | Nov 3, 2007 | Colorado 13ers

I have been wanting to climbing the awesome Peak C in the Gore Range as a snow climb and thought w/ the early snow this year in the high country, it may be a good climb. So, I hiked up Meadow Mtn near Vail to get a glimpse of it and neighboring Mt. Powell this past Friday and sure enough looked like its prominent southwest couloir should be a good snow climb.

Peak C and its southwest couloir on the approach up the Piney River Valley

Along with my good friends Ryan (Baba), Mikey, and my golden retriever, Rainier, I set out this past Saturday morning at 7:30am from Piney Lake and had a spectacular climb of Peak C. We followed the Piney River trail for 3 miles to the base of Mt. Powell & Peak C and beared right towards upper Piney Lake. I knew we needed to get to the upper tarn filled basin at 11,400‘ below Peak C‘s southwest couloir, and so we took a left off the trail and bushwacked and climbed spines of rock and gullies for over 1000‘ from the valley floor until we reached the snow filled tarn basin.

Piney Lake as seen from almost to the tarn filled basin below Peak C’s southwest couloir

So, we put on our plastic boots, crampons, and got our axes out and traversed across the tarn filled basin to the southwest couloir.

Peak C’s southwest couloir as seen from the crest of the tarn filled basin

Then, we climbed the 1000‘-1200‘ couloir, which was a great snow climb – better than I expected.

Baba & Rainier entering the couloir proper

The boys making their way up

A good snow climb

Looking down the southwest couloir from the very small notch at the top of the couloir between Peak C and Peak C Prime

Then, we left our axes and crampons at the small notch and took a left and climbed 30‘ of fun class 4 rock to start Peak C‘s south ridge.

The class 4 rock we climbed to gain the south ridge above the notch

Baba climbing the class 4 headwall above the notch

The gnarly Peak C Prime as seen from Peak C‘s south ridge

Then, we climbed the very exciting class 2-3 south ridge all the way to peak C‘s summit.

Mikey on the south ridge

Mikey downclimbing a section on the south ridge

Baba on Peak C’s south ridge

At about 12:30pm on a beautiful Saturday, we reached Peak C‘s summit.

Me & Rainier on Peak C’s summit w/ Mt. Powell in the background

Peak C summit (13,220′)

Rainier on Peak C’s summit w/ Vail and Holy Cross in the distance

Vail Mountain from Peak C’s summit

Me on Peak C’s summit on a stunning November day

We were getting cold and the wind was picking up, so we descended the south ridge.

Me downclimbing the class 4 section to the notch at the top of the southwest couloir w/ Mikey and Rainier below

Me plunge-stepping my way down the southwest couloir

Once at the bottom of the southwest couloir, we snacked and had a great bask in the sun and enjoyed the view for 30 minutes. Then, we packed up and headed out.

Rainier, Baba, & Mikey crossing the tarn filled basin

Then, after bushwhacking and finding our route back down to the valley floor and Piney River, we made our way leisurely back to Piney Lake and the trailhead at about 5pm. All in all about 9.5 hrs roundtrip and a fantastic day out on a great, seldom-climbed peak!

One last look at Peak C and its southwest couloir from Piney Lake. The south ridge heads up and to the left from the top of the southwest couloir all the way to Peak C‘s summit