When I moved to CO in April, I immediately became obsessed with perusing the internet looking for compelling climbs. One that caught my eye more that most others was the North Face (or NE, or E) of Notchtop in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unlike many of the climbs I came across, where the routes had an appearance straddling the line between alpine and cragging, this face looked distinctly alpine.

From North Face of Notchtop

In spite of the modest grade (something like M-easy, WI3-4), the climb is apparently quite fickle as the same conditions needed to bring the climb in to shape can quickly lead to unacceptably high avalanche danger. Thus, the climbing season is supposedly quite short.

Ever since the first glimmers of ice back in October, this climb has been near the top of my list. With the late october snow storm, and a few days of beautiful, warm weather it seemed like this past weekend was the perfect time to go check it out. Looking at the forecast, Chris and I didnt have the highest of hopes conditions wise. Temps in Boulder had been in the upper 70’s, and forecasted lows at 12k on Long’s peak were in the upper 40’s. Apparently I still have a lot to learn about CO weather, as conditions on Saturday were not at all Summery.

Chris slept over at our house, and we set the alarms for 3:15 AM. We were out of Boulder a bit before 4:00, and at the parking lot by 5:00. The car thermometer was not looking promising. As we drove up to the trail head, the temperature rose with elevation to 46 F at the 9400′ parking lot. In spite of the balmy air temp, I was pleasantly surprised to find water ice in parking lot; perhaps this would work out after all.

The approach was mostly a snow covered trail, that went by quickly. Soon, we arrived at lake Helene where we got a nice view of the face.

From North Face of Notchtop

Chris was skeptical that there would be any ice, but I was naively convinced that the white streaks in the steeper bands had to be ice. As we got closer, we saw quite a bit of ice in the surrounding basin. Even if conditions on the face conspired against us, it looked like we would at least be climbing some ice.

From North Face of Notchtop

We approached the face from the right side, unaware of the shortcut on the left side that would have saved time and elevation. Conditions leading up to the face ranged from nice compact snow to somewhat disconcerting wind slab. With the wind slab, we made a decision to mitigate some avalanche risk by using a running belay on the avy prone slopes leading to the first pitch.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

As luck would have it, chris ended up breaking trail for much of the wallowing on the route.

The bottom of the crux pitch looked poorly formed, and we both though it might be easier to bypass it on mixed ground to the right. This variation started up a nice crack, before abruptly reaching a piton and old bail sling. This should have been a sign to turn around, but I slowly pushed upwards, finding one more pieve of barely adequate pro to allow some mixed moves on to sloping slabs. At this point, I couldn’t see an more accessible protection, so rather than risk a dangerous fall, I opted to reverse the moves and lower off the piton.

From North Face of Notchtop

Needing a bit of a break from the excitement, I asked Chris if he wouldn’t mind going to check out the proper ice start more closely. Using double ropes, Chris was able to clip a fixed anchor up and right of the ice (which would provide for a very uncomfortable swinging fall), then move down to the base of the narrow fragile pillars that blocked the easier ice above. Both pillars appeared to have a crack across their top, but apparently it had refrozen, as they still held weight. Chris tenuously worked his way up while I held my breath, until finally he was able to step left to a good stance and some good screws. From here, the ice was more straight forward, with a mix of rock and ice protection, before snow slopes gave way to a fixed belay anchor.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

The next pitch was a fun simul pitch up moderate snow and easy ice. Very enjoyable, if somewhat unremarkable. We stopped just below the gorgeous fully formed upper WI3 pitch, where I found a fine protected belay with a fixed piton and #2 camalot.

Soon, Chris arrived, and he offered me the lead given that he had led the other noteworthy pitch. This was somewhat serendipitous for me, as I got to lead a classic pitch of WI, and it set Chris up for the long, deep wallow to the summit. The pitch turned out to offer 25 m of great ice. Steep enough for a calf pump, but not too hard given how early it is in the season. From the top of the ice, snow led to another rock anchor.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

From here, a long simul pitch through pretty arduous snow conditions, with a nice bit of turf and slab thrown in, led to the wild finishing ramp. The ramp looks improbable from below, but proves to be quite wide and secure. The final hurdle involves gaining enough purchase to pull over the lip and directly on to the flat summit.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

On top, we felt the full force of the wind that we had wpent the day protected from. It was not something I am really accustomed to, so it seemed pretty fun. Eventually though, the constant torque, as the wind blew against my pack, started to cause some back pain.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

The descent over to Flattop and down the Flattop trail seemed remarkably long, although it was scenic and we got to see a bunch of Ptarmigan’s sporting their winter feathers, and closer to the parking lot, the most spectacular CO sunset I’ve seen over Hallet Peak.

From North Face of Notchtop

From North Face of Notchtop

That night, we turned in early planning to get up early the next day for some more RMNP ice. However, our laziness got the best of us and we went back to bed after the 4AM alarm. Instead choosing some mellow sport climbing in Boulder Canyon.