The Spearhead.

I have to thank my wife for motivating this day.  Though I am very close to finishing off RMNP (only 15 things left!), it's going to be a full day to visit alot of those, and that full day spent to visit just one thing.  I guess it's been poor planning to leave those orphans behind, but I'd planned to visit this one multiple times, but wisely turned around due to weather on all of those.  

With other outdoor goals on my mind, it's been difficult to commit a whole nice weather summer day to just one thing when I can head elsewhere and check off multiple other goals.  But early last week, Katie was kind enough to ask, "What about RMNP?"

What about RMNP?

With a long outing on Tuesday, I was happy for a shorter drive and shorter day two days later.  Despite a good(ish) weather prediction, I decided to play it safe and get above treeline early, and back down by noon.  The Spearhead was the perfect choice for the day, just long enough that I'd feel accomplished, a little bit of scrambling, and great views, or so I hoped.

I started from the Glacier Gorge trail head just after sunrise, and passed a person on the trail shortly after, which would turn out to be the only person I saw until much later in the day.  Wanting to be as efficient as possible, I took the Fire Trail and popped out just below the Black Lake trail.  It was a short jaunt from there to the ever charming Mills Lake, aka sexy lake.  

One sexy lake!  Any time of the year, any time of day, except maybe for at night.
I like this lake alot, and I like that one can see the farther and higher destinations from it.  Always fun to know I'll be "over there" soon enough.
I continued along the trail to Black Lake.  While there's only 600 feet or so of elevation gain between the two lakes, it seems to take some time as there are lots of ups and downs. 

Nearing Black Lake, which is late to get sun due to being situated down in a bowl.  But the peaks to the east catch the early morning sun...

here, reflected in the lake. 
The trail takes another turn uphill here, paralleling a pleasantly gurgling stream.  Soon enough though, you'll top out into Glacier Gorge, a place of endless beauty.

The goal for the day directly ahead.
Once you get here, you can either follow the many cairns and hope you're going in the right direction, or just pick the way you want to go and do your best.  There's alot of cairns up here.

A favorite, McHenrys Peak(also).
I approached the monolithic northeast face, and followed a climbers trail to the right/west.  While I'd love to actually climb this peak one day, it was not in the cards today.  I planned to go up and back down the third class down climb.
The trail was easy enough to follow, and I soon helmeted up and started up the scree slope.  While I never saw anyone above me, I did see signs of recent rockfall throughout the day, and heard rockfall as well.  So a helmet is definitely a great idea, if you want to keep having ideas. 

Looking down the slope to Frozen Lake.  Also as a reference for later.
As I came down a different way, there is a place where you might face a choice to go left or right.  I stayed right going up, but came down the left option.  Both work fine, maybe a bit more technical movement on the left side, which is more direct to the summit.

Getting there, just a look at the terrain.
I was close to the summit ridge when I saw a cairn above me, so I climbed up a crack.  This was the most difficult movement of the day, and unnecessary as it turns out.  I got to the top and started to traverse over, but found a unfeatured slab in the way.  If it were right off the ground, no problem.  But at these airy heights, I decided to go back down and go around.

Looking over to Chiefs Head(also).
From here, it was a mostly easy scramble up to a thin catwalk, then a careful walk across this to what looked like the summit.  I sat for a minute, and then headed back.  Then I turned around, and looked back.

Now I could clearly see the summit was a few inches higher than where I'd just been.  The rectangular block on the left is it.  It's just a few third class but exposed moves to reach the top.

The view down all of Glacier Gorge.  Pretty spectacular!

A view downish the north ridge.
I turned back, and made the few moves back to more solid ground.
The Spearhead, Glacier Gorge- Rocky Mountain National Park from Andy Rose on Vimeo.
What a place to be!
On the way back I stopped at a window I saw in the rock.

Keyboard of the Winds reflected in Green Lake.

Looking back down Glacier Gorge from near the summit.
On the way back down, I stayed a little more east than I did on the way up.  It looked like both ways are down climbs, as there was a pretty obvious and occasionally cairned social trail.  The east route was maybe slightly more technically difficult, but not bad at all.

Looking up the pile of rubble I'd come down.

Near the bottom, Frozen Lake.
I stopped to take my helmet off and get situated, and then started the jog back to the trailhead.

A good view of McHenrys and The Arrowhead over Black Lake.

I saw alot more people on the way down than on the way up, but none on the Fire Trail.  It was nice to get back to RMNP, if ever so briefly.  It will be nice to finally finish this project/list.  I just need to remember to dedicate a few days to it here and there!

Link to hike map on Caltopo.

The Spearhead, 12575 feet: 13.25 miles rt, 5658 foot gain.  Third class.  Strenuous-.

*Do note, both the distance and elevation gain figures in the linked map which are cited here are very likely too high due to GPS having some trouble reading/connecting, particularly in the area of the summit.  A hand drawn line using the snap to feature on Caltopo gives around 10.25 miles with 3600 gain.   

Chiefs Head Peak via Pagoda/Chiefs Head Couloir.

Ahh, Chiefs Head Peak.  The last time I climbed it, it was one of the few remaining peaks in Wild Basin that I had to do.  We took the standard route that day- starting at Sandbeach Lake th and, after reaching the lake, making a short bushwhack up to North Ridge and then continuing on to the summit.  I have fond and cold memories of that day.

With the Pagoda/Chiefs Head Couloir being one of the few remaining named destinations in Glacier Gorge that I needed to check off, this one was a priority this year.  When we were on our way to Dragon's Tail, I could look up and see that the top of the couloir looked to be melted out already, so I decided to head for it next instead of waiting a little bit longer. 

Aspen in the early morning. 

The single most photographed tree in RMNP??

Sexy Lake.  The wind hadn't picked up too much yet and I was able to get a nice reflective photo.
The amount of snow on the trail steadily increased as Black Lake grew nearer.  At times route finding became a little bit of a challenge- was I sure those footprints were going in the correct direction?  That always becomes a bit of an issue this time of the year.

Nearing Black Lake, McHenrys Peak.

At Black Lake. 

I had a few views of it from farther down and away, but here I was in upper Glacier Gorge, and there it was looking intimidatingly steep. 

As I've said before, there are a ton of cairns in Upper Glacier Gorge which may lead you somewhere or nowhere at all.  I've had better luck just picking the general direction I want to go and working my way over.  Try to stick to the slabby rock in the area to avoid any bushwhacking.

Much to my surprise, it only took me three hours to get to Green Lake.  I thought the snow had slowed me up alot.  I was happy to see the north facing couloir was still in shade.  That mean the snow would still be pretty firm.

The Spearhead is the only destination in Upper Glacier Gorge that I have yet to climb. 

At the bottom.  It looks less steep from this vantage point.  I strapped on my crampons and got out the ice axe.  Upward!

The snow was rather hard, so much so that I couldn't kick in steps. 

About half way up, there was a small section where the snow had disappeared significantly.  I carefully made my way up the thin strip of snow to the right. 

Things grew steeper near the top, and I wasn't going to stop to take any photos there.  Here I have just finished the snow section.  There was a short scramble over some very loose rock to the top. 

Pretty good views!
I headed west towards the summit of Chiefs Head Peak.  While only .6 mile away, you do gain about 1000 feet per mile until there.  And it's on sometimes loose talus.  So it takes a little bit of time.

There is a flat rock on the summit on which you can sit and hang your feet over a whole, whole bunch of air into Glacier Gorge.

Looking back to Pagoda and Longs.  You can see the top of the Spearhead/Chiefs Head Couloir here.

I'd briefly entertained the idea of descending this couloir rather than going all the way back.  But it was the bottom that looked to be in the very steep snow category with a lot of air under it that kept me away.  Maybe once this region melts out this could be a more viable option.

Looking back down North Ridge.

The high peaks of Wild Basin.

On the descent, I carefully made my way down through some of the rocky stuff until I hit solid snow.  Though I was worried about the snow never softening up enough to glissade, a few hours of sunlight did the trick.  Once past the rocks at the top I got into the snow and started down in a side self arrest position.  I remembered that one area of thinner snow and knew I'd need to stop completely there and walk through it.  This is also where the climb is the steepest, and this position helped me to control my speed much more than the standard sit.
However, once I got past that thin area, I moved to sitting glissade and kept a moderate speed the rest of the way down.  There were still all those rocks at the bottom to avoid.

Back near Italy Lake.

In the early afternoon, I could see the couloir already getting back into some shade, this time provided by Chiefs Head. 
I made my way back down towards Black Lake.

I snapped this photo standing on the snow field that covers the trail to Upper Glacier Gorge.  It looks like CGI almost, but I can assure you it is real.

Looking north from Black Lake.  I wondered when I would start to see some people.  By Mills Lake surely, but would anyone have gone up to Black Lake?  I saw some footprints.  The answer was yes. 

At Mills Lake looking up.  I always enjoy being able to see a destination from below later in the day.  It seems improbable that I was up there just a few hours ago.  But I was!
This was a pretty fun and adventurous way to climb this peak for the second time.  This route is about half a mile shorter in distance and gains about 900 feet less than the route from Sandbeach Lake.  But of course, this method requires some special equipment and skills.  Due to the steepness of the couloir and the large amount of loose rock in it, I would suggest doing this route only in snow.  Even then, make sure you wear a helmet as there was visible and audible evidence of rockfall in addition to the chunks of ice whizzing by me from above.  And as always, Glacier Gorge provides spectacular scenery!
Chiefs Head Peak via Pagoda/Chiefs Head Couloir:
7.3 miles one way, 4399 foot gain (9180-13579).  Second class, steep snow.  Strenuous.

McHenrys Peak via Stone Man Pass.

McHenrys was high on my list for this year.  I love the off trail scrambly summits, and I have heard this one called the most difficult 13er in the park when done by it's standard route.  Last week I got a good glimpse of this peak and some beta on the route from Dan (his trip report can be read here, and it is worth a read!).  Naturally, my interest was piqued! 

The day before I mountain biked on a high altitude trail for all of ten minutes before hearing thunder and packing it in.  With similar weather predicted for the day, I set out early yet again, leaving the truck shortly after 3:50.  Actually my wife was still awake from the day before when I got up to get ready to go. 

 

The spot at Mills Lake, aka Sexy Lake.  See the last photo on this page.  

This is what it looks like to hike by headlamp.  Just that little cone of illumination.  I didn't hear any creatures stir in the woods, but did see eye shine at one point, or so I thought.  As my heart started to pound, I realized I was seeing the headlights of another early riser on Bear Lake Road through the trees!
A problem I was already having was that everything was wet.  All the rock on the trail, mud, dirt.  All wet.  I decided to slow my pace to give things up high a chance to dry out a bit.  Heading onto wet 3rd class in shoes that don't stick to anything wet very well was not something I wanted to do. 

I hit upper Glacier Gorge as the day started to lighten.  I headed directly for the peak, passing by the bivy cave on the way.  Upper Glacier Gorge is basically a shit show of cairns and climbers/game/hunters trails, some of which seem to go the way you are going, some of which seem to stand alone, and some of which seem to go no where.  Really, I have had better luck just picking a way towards the thing I am going for than following any of those.

A beautiful morning.  It was a similar view after all that inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write America the Beautiful.

Sunlight makes its way over the long north ridge of Longs Peak and hits McHenrys. 

The Spearhead.  I was hoping to add an ascent of this peak on to the day.  This would give me close to 100% completion of Glacier Gorge.

The Arrowhead in the early morning.

The Stone Man becomes visible as I get closer.  Stone Man Pass is to the north or right of this.  I made my way to it, meeting it near the bottom. 

It is a loose scree filled scramble up this.  The top comes quickly though.  Here is the view of Chiefs Head Peak from Stone Man Pass.

The Stone Man stands out against Chiefs Head. 

Mount Alice.  The ridge in front is what we climbed down to Lake Powell last week.
There was a little bit of a path beat into the tundra as I started to gain elevation on McHenrys.  When the ground became too rocky, I started to follow some cairns.  I did not always follow them directly, but tried to keep in their general vicinity.

Black Lake in the early morning. 

Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, Keyboard of the Winds, Pagoda Mountain, and The Spearhead.

This is what some of the terrain looks like.  This small section had you get onto the slab to the right and traverse across to continue up.  Though everything looked dry, the lichen held moisture and things were a little slick.  I made sure to hold on tight and find solid foot placements.  Despite this, I did have one occasion where I lost both feet at the same time.  My hands held, and my pants remained unsoiled. 
I found a few places where the route was not obvious or felt too hard.  It seemed that I tried to go up too early and by traversing to the climbers left I was able to locate a cairn and get back on route. 

And then the summit came.  It is funny, as it is actually a rather large and flat summit.  This is about as close I was willing to get to the edge.  I summitted shortly after 8:30, giving me about four hours and forty five minutes to reach the top.  Not too bad! 

Thatchtop and The Arrowhead. 

Summit cairn.  I didn't find a register anywhere. 

Looking at Alice and that ridge that drops way down to Lake Powell.

The descent was no less tricky.  The sun had yet to hit the western side of the peak and the lichen remained wet.  It was easier to follow the cairns down, as I could now see them all from above.  Here the route goes through the keyhole to continue around.

This is looking at the same area as above from farther down.  

As I neared Stone Man Pass, I started to see puffy white clouds that looked like the ones I saw the day before, moving in the same direction as the ones I saw the day before.  It was only 45 minutes or so after I saw those clouds that I heard thunder. 

The ridge to Chiefs Head looks pretty intense, but I am told the route you follow between the two stays low to avoid it all. 

Back at Stone Man Pass, some more clouds rolling in.

Looking back up towards McHenrys.

Stone Man and clouds.

I made my way down the pass, exiting at an earlier point than I entered.  My goal was to loose as little elevation as possible, and ring the bowl above Frozen Lake staying at around 11800 feet.  I was pretty successful at this.  I reached a point above Frozen Lake around 10:50.  This was my decision spot.
More clouds were building, and not just from the south, but the north as well.  They were looking thicker and more thunderhead like.  I calculated it could take me another hour just to traverse around to the base of the talus slope up, though it looked doable.  Then maybe up to another hour to summit.  Plus time to get down.

 

This peak would have to wait for another day.
It sucks to be so close only to turn around, and I really would have liked to climb this peak today.
I made my way down to Frozen Lake to get a few photos.

Chiefs Head Peak from above Frozen Lake.

Reflections of Chiefs Head in Frozen Lake.  This was a very pretty place to be. 

Longs just poking out from behind a slabby ridge. 

The Spearhead in Frozen Lake.

And the bowl of the lake once again. 

Okay, and maybe just once more.  It was pretty neat to sit here for fifteen minutes or so and watch the view change.  I did briefly entertain the though of swimming- the flat rock on the right here could've been used as a platform to jump into head deep water, but the intermittent sun put and end to that idea.  Jewel Lake I told myself. 

I was really regretting the decision to turn back as things started to clear a bit. 

Black Lake.

But when I stopped for a final snack at Jewel Lake, I heard thunder from back the way I'd just come.  And I still would've been on The Spearhead.  Right decision made. 

Sexy Lake.  Now see the general greyness of the clouds above Glacier Gorge.  It started to rain.  And then we caught some small hail stones.  And more rain.  It was never heavy, but enough for me to get my rain jacket out.
And of course, when I got back to the trail head, there were still people getting out of their cars and heading up the trail, thunder be damned!  Driving out of Estes, I saw several lightning strikes in my rear view mirror, and this storm dropped so much hail that Trail Ridge Road was closed down over night!  I was doubly glad to have turned back upon reading that news.
So, is McHenrys the hardest 13er in the park?  I guess there is the caveat of "by the standard route", but what is the standard route on Meeker or Ogalalla?
I would have to say two of the three routes to get to Ogalalla from RMNP are more difficult, with the traverse from Elk Tooth being more difficult than Cony Pass.  Both require a longer hike in, more elevation gain, harder technical moves with more exposure, and more route finding.  No cairns to be found on those, that is for sure.
Meeker via Horse Creek TH requires more elevation gain over a shorter distance, similar route finding (at least below treeline), and the traverse from Meeker Ridge to the true summit is more technically difficult and exposed.  I have yet to do The Loft or Iron Gates routes, so I don't feel I can comment on those, but I'd have to imagine they would be comparable in scope to McHenrys.
This is not to take anything away from a successful summit of McHenrys.  This is most definitely at an advanced level of difficulty as far as things go.  One needs to be able to route find and be comfortable with making some basic climbing moves with alot of exposure. 
Anyway, this can all be taken as one persons opinion.  There is no better time than the present to get out there and see for yourself!
Glacier Gorge is a special place, quite pretty and worth spending some time in if for nothing else than the lakes and the experience of being in a high alpine bowl surrounded by many of the highest peaks in the park.  Climbing any of the peaks that surround or are in the gorge from the gorge is certainly a heady endeavor.  All are going to require significant elevation gain, a good deal of hiking in, and in many cases some classed climbing.  But to those who make the effort comes the reward of standing in a place surrounded by the rawest and purest of beauty the park has to offer.
McHenrys Peak via Stone Man Pass:
Stone Man Pass, 12500 feet: 6.7 miles one way, 3320 foot gain.  Second class.  Strenuous-.
McHenrys Peak, 13327 feet: 7.1 miles one way, 4147 foot gain.  Third class.  Strenuous.
Frozen Lake, 11580 feet: 6.1 miles one way, 2400 foot gain.  Strenuous-.
Along the way you will pass by: 
Alberta Falls (9400 ft): .8 miles one way, 220 foot gain.  Easy.
Mills Lake (9940 ft): 2.7 miles one way, 760 foot gain.  Moderate.
Jewel Lake (9940 ft): 3.1 miles one way, 760 foot gain.  Moderate.
Ribbon Falls (10580 ft): 4.8 miles one way, 1400 foot gain.  Moderate+.
Black Lake (10620 ft): 4.9 miles one way, 1440 foot gain.  Moderate+.