The Four Aces and final headwall - the meat of the route

All Locations > Colorado > Alpine Rock > RMNP - Rock > Ypsilon Mountain > Blitzen Ridge (5.4 4a 12 IV 10 VD 3c)

The Four Aces and final headwall - the meat of the route

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Ally B. at the top of the gully that gets you on Blizen Ridge. Beautiful view, beautiful woman and all with Long's Peak in the background

Our route across the 1st Ace. Rob is at the crux here.

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3.0 from 2 votes

Bill Wright

Jul 8, 2002

“The Four Aces and final headwall - the meat of the route”

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Nearby Photos

Wade Morris near the top of the 3rd Ace, 2017 Winter.

Wade Morris on top of the 2nd (?) Ace in Winter.

A photo overlay of the Four Aces as seen on approach via the Lower Ridge.

Photo by Avery N.<br>
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The Aces as seen from the Y couloir.<br>
July 3rd, 2004.

Wow! Exposure at its best. 6/06.

Beautiful alpine forget-me-nots found below Donner Ridge. 6/06

The full cirque (with most of the traverse we did).

Wade Morris and I shouldered 40lb+ training packs and jumped on the Blitzen Ridge in the winter of 2017. It proved to be a very productive, and full-on AK training mission.

The clouds break over the Aces.

Approaching the First Ace.

Cruising the ridge just after the 4th Ace...SO GOOD!

A photo overlay of the Four Aces as from below near Spectacle Lakes.

Gorgeous columbine, 6/06.

From First Ace

A Google Earth overlay.

A small glimpse at some of the exposure and ledges.
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Photo by Ally B.

Just below the summit, on the descent. Blitzen on the left and Donner on the right.

The start of the route, just before dropping down to traverse across the First Ace.

Slabby dihedral on the left side of the 3rd Ace. I thought this was the best bit of climbing on the route.

Lower Spectacle Lake.

An unknown climber downclimbing the 3rd Ace. The 4th Ace is to the left of the photo. Shot from Spectacle Lake, 7/30/22.

Julia traversing to the right around the 4th Ace. The Third Ace is to the left of the photo. The rappel from the third ace goes straight down from the summit while the downclimb sticks to the ridge.

Halfway up the last headwall with the prominent 4th Ace behind us.

Fast and light afternoon ascent of Blitzen ridge with Stefan Griebel. Downclimbing one of the aces before continuing up.

Good view of the Aces.

Meaty part of the Blitzen Ridge.

Looking across to Blitzen Ridge as we start the descent down Donner Ridge.

Easy going so far on Donner.

Bill Duncan and the Blitzen Ridge.

Looking down Blitzen Ridge.

En route to the summit. Spectacular! 6/06.

Unnecessary anchors that have recently been added to the ridge. This are intended to "rappel" the easily protected 5.2 downclimb/traverse. My opinion is that these anchors should be removed.

Another view of Spectacle Lakes and Donner Ridge.

Blitzen track with Chapin TH descent.

Ally B. at the top of the gully that gets you on Blizen Ridge. Beautiful view, beautiful woman and all with Long's Peak in the background

The Four Aces and final headwall - the meat of the route

Our route across the 1st Ace. Rob is at the crux here.

Spectacle Lakes from the approach gully.

Approach gully from lower Spectacle Lake.

Kepley on the Blitzen's airy final approach.

'Aces high' and the final approach ridge of the Blitzen.

Donner Ridge (descent we used).

Beta shot for posing down hard on the summit of Ypsilon, Sam Flournoy and Ryne Greene.

Tony M. on Ace 1.

Progress so far.

Donner Ridge (routefinding was fairly easy; we made a couple of mid-class 5 downclimbing moves).

The Aces, July '04.

The final section of Blitzen Ridge, photo taken 7/4/2018. Minimal snow and blue skies all day for a great day of independence. It was at this point that I was feeling happy to see hikers on the summit - was able to hitch a ride from the Chapin side.

First Ace.

The Third Ace as seen from the fourth.

I took this while belaying a climber down the 4th Ace. In background see a lead climber on the final headwall.

Ryne Greene about done with the thousand feet of 4th class. Photo taken just before he couldn't take the exposure and asked to be short roped by partner, Sam Flournoy.

Narrow ledges around the left/south sides of Aces 1 and 2.

The upper section of Blitzen Ridge.

Hard to see the Aces from this angle.

Ypsilon from Chipmunk Lake.

Back to lower Spectacle Lake.

Final descent down to the Spectacle Lakes.

Looking across the cirque.

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