Beginner Mountaineering Routes in RMNP

Hello,

I am looking for a nice beginner mountaineering route that is fairly safe in Winter and is a good, fun mountaineering rout in Rocky Mountain National Park. I have a friend that wants to get out and learn the ropes. Stuff that we can do with a mountaineering axe and crampons? I just can;t think of anything good. Does anyone have any ideas? I have climbed a lot of the ice and mixed routes but am just not familiar with pure snow/easy ice routes.

Any help would be awesome.

thanks

tom

Hey Tom,

What time of year do you expect to head up into the hills? In general, spring time can yield the easiest and more enjoyable conditions for snow climbs. The snow pack stability is generally better, and is far easier to predict (morning = good, afternoon = bad). The weather tends to be nicer in the spring, and this can have a tremendous effect on peoples ability to make good decisions and stay safe.

I'll take a guess that you or your friend don't have well practiced avalanche safety skill. Correct me if I'm wrong. If not, you'll likely want to stay on slopes that are no more then about 30 degrees or so until things transition into a more springtime snowpack. That may not sound like a fun time, but there are plenty of challenging peaks that fit this description. The East ridge of flat top up to the divide, then over to the summit of hallets peak could make for a good beginner outing.

If your thinking more springtime, then lots of route start to look really good. Just about any snow shoot in the park is a great day out. Dragon Tail Couloir, The Loft, Dreamweaver, The north face of longs... For these, the key to safety is to get an early start and be off of the route before the snow gets too soft. If you can pick up a ball of snow and squeeze water out of it, you need to be heading down, not up.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Hey Chris,

thanks for the reply. I do know a lot about avy conditions and the current state of snowpack in RMNP. Went up to ski the dragontail couloirs this weekend as a matter of fact- ran away because I was scared of the wind slabs. Anyway, yeah I was just looking at if there were any routes that would be good now, for a beginner. I have done all the routes you have mentioned but I was looking to see if anyone had any other ideas.

thanks