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The Needles and Lumpy Ridge Traverse |
Lumpy Ridge is known as a world-class climbing area, and The Needles are the highest point on Lumpy Ridge. This hike takes you up a long, narrow and steep gully to the summit block, and then an easy 4th class climbs gets you on top. There are sheer drops on 3 sides of the summit, which provide wonderful bird's eye views of Estes Park and surrounding Rocky Mountain National Park. The "traverse" section of the hike takes you along the rocky backbone of Lumpy Ridge. |
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Oldman Mountain |
This beehive-shaped peak is a blast with no long hike to get to its base. A half hour of scrambling, by numerous different possible routes, take you to its summit, where you'll have views of Estes Park and surrounding Rocky Mountain National Park. Go to Lists of John for our trip report. |
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The Gemstones |
Surrounding little Gem Lake are three rock knobs often referred to as the 'Gemstones'. All three summits can be climbed without the aid of ropes, but it takes some route finding to do so. One could spend all day scrambling amidst these awesome rock knobs. For a trip report for the westernmost and highest Gemstone, you can go to our posting at Lists of John. |
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Palisade Mountain Scramble |
Palisade Mountain's south side is one of the steepest and rockiest terrain in the Front Range foothills. We found a non-technical way right up the middle of it! |
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Windy Gap Peaks |
These five rocky unnamed peaks form a semi-circle around Windy Gap Lake (in the Mount Margaret area). A couple peaks provide easy scrambling, while a couple others require scrambling nearly from base to summit. |
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Greyrock Weenie Route |
Most people climb Greyrock from the standard class 2+ trail; however, there are several long class 4 ascent routes, including the Weenie Route. |
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Teapot Dome |
This huge rock, named because in big rain showers the grooves of the dome shoot out water spouts in a few locations, has lots of fun scrambles to explore. |
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Red Mountain |
This peak has a challenging ridge traverse if attempted from the south, including multiple class 4 sections. For a trip report for this peak, you can go to Colorado Climbers. |
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Dinosaur Mountain |
This minor summit in Boulder Mountain Park is composed of huge tilted rock slabs, and finding your way up to the summit is a great challenge in route finding and scrambling. Be sure to also do the 4th class scramble up to Mallory Cave, during the season that it is open. Go to Lists of John for our trip report for this summit. |
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Palisade Mountain |
A climb of this peak can have as much scrambling as you could want, or if you want to practice your route finding, you can make it all the way to the summit block without using your hands. The views from the summit are amazing, and the nearly shear south face of the mountain allows impressive views down into the Big Thompson Canyon below. Go to Lists of John for our trip report. |