Hidden Falls are not so hidden!
Mark Warming Up to Climb
Clare, Slava, Mark, and Doug at Hidden Falls
On Saturday, I went ice climbing with Slava, Mark, and Doug at Hidden Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. From the trail head, it takes about 30 minutes to get to the falls. The forested trail was well tracked and we didn’t need snowshoes. The weather looked superb, so I was psyched to climb.
Slava placing a screw at the top of the first climb, a moderate WI3 climb. After climbing the route, he then rigged a top rope, using several trees near the edge of the cliff as anchors.
Here’s Mark leading the moderate WI3.
There is a challenging mixed climb to the left of the waterfall. The guys did a bit of dry tooling at the base, before the ice starts. Here’s Mark making it look easy, this guy is a wiz!
This is my 4th lap on this route. I really had a blast climbing it. I also climbed the harder route to the left, WI4, which is also fun. The WI4 climb ends with a set of bolts, so the top rope rigging is a piece of cake.
Around the same time that I was starting to fatigue, so was everybody else. After 5 climbs, I was ready to call it a day. The hike out was much warmer and before long, I was down to short sleeves!
Featured in the picture above are: Doug, Mark, and Slava, my “primary” partners! The pun referring to their colored parkas is totally intended.
What a fabulous day of climbing. Oh and thanks to Slava for letting me try your new ice axes…those were really fun to use. I still can’t believe there was nobody else climbing at the crag. We were lucky to have the place to ourselves.
Tags: CO, Hidden Falls, Ice Climbing, Rocky Mountain National Park