Peak(s):	Notchtop Spire - 12129
Date Posted:	03/15/2017
Modified:	06/09/2018
Date Climbed:	03/11/2017
Author:	mojah

Notchtop Spire: Forget the Beta
WE MAKE IT UP AS WE GO 2017.03.11 Notchtop Spire 5.6ish. Stress on the -ish, M? Partner: Robert Mascarenas It was shaping up to be another beautiful weekend in the mountains, so naturally I was wanting to see what kind of trouble I could get into. Robert and I were discussing various options, and it was looking like Little Bear could be a fun outing. However, word on the street was that there were going to be several celebrities on the mountain that weekend, particularly a high-profile duo on Saturday. Not wanting anything to do with the bromance, and thinking the limelight might be too much, we decide on something a little closer to home. Robert: "How about Notchtop North Face? Then we can ski Dragontail afterwards" Me: "What's that go at?" Robert: "WI3 5.7" Sitting at a computer is not a part of my day job, so I don't get much time to check stuff out during working hours. I sneak a quick look at the route. Seems reasonable. Looks like we can climb Notchtop, walk over to the top of Dragontail, then ski it back to the car for a big loop. Me: "Sure. Carpool and leave Golden at 3?" Robert: "3:20 and we got a deal" Me: "Cool" Robert: "I gotta be back in town at 6 for a study group though" That wonderful alarm comes, and along with it the usual crux of getting out of bed. I toss my gear into Robert's truck and we're off. We start getting our gear organized. I noticed he only brought a non-split board. Me: "You didn't bring your splitboard?" Robert: "The trail will be packed out, I'll just carry it on my back." Then I notice he's not wearing snowboard boots either. Me: "You're not gonna climb in your snowboard boots?" Robert: "Nope" Me: "Well I only brought my ski boots..." Robert: Wait, what?" Me: "Yeah, we're not climbing Notchtop then skiing Dragontail?" Robert: "Well yeah, we're gonna have to walk back to the car." Me: "Oh... I imagined we were doing a loop. I didn't bring my mountaineering boots." Robert: "Are you gonna be able to climb in those?" Me: "I'll be fine" I had no idea how I'd do actually. I had only done some scrambling in ski boots. Robert's skepticism was palpable. We get a not-so-alpine start of 6:30 AM. When we finally get our first views of Notchtop, we see the face is completely loaded with snow. No rock. No ice. It turns out we're about 4 months too late (or 8 months early) for any ice on that face. I learned later that it only comes into condition around November. Great. What now? We didn't really have a Plan B, so we tried to pull some some beta for other routes in the area. With the wonders of modern technology, we managed to pull up one photo on a infuriatingly slow connection, all the while fancying ourselves as "true alpinists." So now we know it goes. About 5.7 for one pitch, comparable to what we were doing anyway, just no ice. Cool, let's do it. We didn't schlep all the way out here JUST for the views, although they were quite nice indeed. We reach the end of the snow ramp and the start of the actual rock. Meanwhile, I'm spying ski lines err-wherre. That line, and that line, and that line! I'm eyeing lines of that white stuff like I'm Pablo Escobar's #1 customer. We decide to solo up as far as we can on the labeled 5.4 pitches. There are so many variations here! If you're not careful with your route choice, you can get yourself into a bit of trouble. Which I did. Robert is a smarter man than I. He offered to drop a rope for me. I declined. It was a bit spicy but not unmanageable, and I'd probably pump out waiting for it. So it goes. -Robert -Robert -Robert We eventually did rope up for about 30' of vertical just below the traversing ramp into the meadow below the upper headwall. -Robert The upper wall also has quite a few options as I'd come to find out later, in the safety of my own home. Seems like there's a lot of learning about the route post-climb. Some normally grassy ledges on the left provide the easiest way up. We didn't even see this. There was one obvious option up the middle, and another one to the left, but the easiest way up looked to be the chimney on the very right. -Robert -Robert -Robert Some pretty cool views of Longs, and soon Robert joins me. We're sitting in a little alcove here, and the correct way up isn't obvious. Either make a sketchy move around the corner toward the namesake notch, or head around the other side in the wrong direction on what seems like easier terrain. It's Robert's lead and he chooses to go around the corner. It's an airy move, with the terrain on the other side an unknown. He pulls it, goes out of sight and soon I hear the unmistakable scratching of crampons on rock. Robert: "Dude, there's a good chance I'm gonna whip here." Inner Me: "Well, just don't, for fcks sake" Me actually: "Alright man, you got this. I gotcha" Soon, the scratching ceases and the rope continues to move, then stops again. After a while... Me: "How's it going over there?" Robert: "Building the anchor now" Me: "Oh, sweet. Nice work" Inner Me: "Fckin' hurry, I'm getting cold" I follow up, on toprope, which I hate. It was a tough pitch actually, so I begrudgingly compliment him on the lead. -Robert The rest of the climb is non-technical, but fun. A quick traverse to the notch, we drop our packs and bring a rope up for the rappel off the summit. We're only at ~12,000'. I don't think anyone cares for anything even in that range. If it were maybe 2,000' higher, I'm sure it would be climbed weekly. We reach the summit at around 4:00, and the sun was starting to dive in the horizon like the Falcons, which is typically not a good thing, unless you're Bill Middlebrook. Me: "What time was that study group?" Robert: "6" Me: "I don't think you're gonna make it." Robert "Yeah..." Me: "So how do we get off this thing?" Robert: "There's a walk-off just over the highpoint over there." We rappel down the spire proper and climb over to the highpoint. I have a bad feeling about this. We were faced with several more spires. Sheer drop-offs on both sides. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I was now too busy trying to calculate the odds of us making it out before dark. Never tell me the odds. We considered rappelling down into a gully and walking back out the way we came, but we quickly dismissed that. With how warm it was today, it would likely be some miserable post-holing. We opt for the traverse, unroped to save time. After negotiating the ramps and chokes covered in sugary snow, we were still faced with a snow climb under some cornices to gain the ridge proper. It may have been a blessing to summit so late after all. The slope had been back in the shade for a while and the snow had firmed up. We regain our composure and quickly race up to the ridge, weaving around rock bands to avoid being under the biggest cornices. We manage to thread our way to the ridge left of some rocks, where the cornices were the smallest. -Robert We top out a little before 6:00. And what spectacular albeit unconventional timing. Moments ago, we were in a vertical world. Now we're on flat ground. It felt odd, but we were elated. The low-lying clouds were creeping back in, the setting sun was putting on a show, and the rising moon was bright in the sky. We find and hike down the trail, the whole valley submerged in clouds, and Longs Peak towering over the blanket of mist. I must admit, this wasn't so bad after all. We're back at the car around 8:30. We were surprised to see a couple fellas waiting at the ranger station. They had apparently lost their keys and were stranded up here, so they were looking for a ride down. Robert generously offered them a ride down to Estes Park. Inner me: "WTF dude they could be serial killers and hijack us or some shit." Me actually: "Yeah that's cool" Luckily, we didn't need to find out, as they caught a ride down with someone they were expecting to pick them up. Wanting nothing more than a cold beer and having nothing open in the near vicinity is the definition of hell. We end up forgoing the post-climb meal/beer and just head home to promptly pass out. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Notchtop Spire: Forget the Beta

WE MAKE IT UP AS WE GO

2017.03.11
Notchtop Spire
5.6ish. Stress on the -ish, M?
Partner: Robert Mascarenas

It was shaping up to be another beautiful weekend in the mountains, so naturally I was wanting to see what kind of trouble I could get into. Robert and I were discussing various options, and it was looking like Little Bear could be a fun outing. However, word on the street was that there were going to be several celebrities on the mountain that weekend, particularly a high-profile duo on Saturday. Not wanting anything to do with the bromance, and thinking the limelight might be too much, we decide on something a little closer to home.

Robert: "How about Notchtop North Face? Then we can ski Dragontail afterwards"
Me: "What's that go at?"
Robert: "WI3 5.7"

Sitting at a computer is not a part of my day job, so I don't get much time to check stuff out during working hours. I sneak a quick look at the route. Seems reasonable. Looks like we can climb Notchtop, walk over to the top of Dragontail, then ski it back to the car for a big loop.

Me: "Sure. Carpool and leave Golden at 3?"
Robert: "3:20 and we got a deal"
Me: "Cool"
Robert: "I gotta be back in town at 6 for a study group though"

That wonderful alarm comes, and along with it the usual crux of getting out of bed. I toss my gear into Robert's truck and we're off. We start getting our gear organized. I noticed he only brought a non-split board.
Me: "You didn't bring your splitboard?"
Robert: "The trail will be packed out, I'll just carry it on my back."

Then I notice he's not wearing snowboard boots either.
Me: "You're not gonna climb in your snowboard boots?"
Robert: "Nope"
Me: "Well I only brought my ski boots..."
Robert: Wait, what?"
Me: "Yeah, we're not climbing Notchtop then skiing Dragontail?"
Robert: "Well yeah, we're gonna have to walk back to the car."
Me: "Oh... I imagined we were doing a loop. I didn't bring my mountaineering boots."
Robert: "Are you gonna be able to climb in those?"
Me: "I'll be fine"

I had no idea how I'd do actually. I had only done some scrambling in ski boots. Robert's skepticism was palpable. We get a not-so-alpine start of 6:30 AM.

When we finally get our first views of Notchtop, we see the face is completely loaded with snow. No rock. No ice. It turns out we're about 4 months too late (or 8 months early) for any ice on that face. I learned later that it only comes into condition around November. Great. What now? We didn't really have a Plan B, so we tried to pull some some beta for other routes in the area. With the wonders of modern technology, we managed to pull up one photo on a infuriatingly slow connection, all the while fancying ourselves as "true alpinists."

So now we know it goes. About 5.7 for one pitch, comparable to what we were doing anyway, just no ice. Cool, let's do it. We didn't schlep all the way out here JUST for the views, although they were quite nice indeed.

We reach the end of the snow ramp and the start of the actual rock. Meanwhile, I'm spying ski lines err-wherre. That line, and that line, and that line! I'm eyeing lines of that white stuff like I'm Pablo Escobar's #1 customer. We decide to solo up as far as we can on the labeled 5.4 pitches. There are so many variations here! If you're not careful with your route choice, you can get yourself into a bit of trouble. Which I did. Robert is a smarter man than I. He offered to drop a rope for me. I declined. It was a bit spicy but not unmanageable, and I'd probably pump out waiting for it. So it goes.

We eventually did rope up for about 30' of vertical just below the traversing ramp into the meadow below the upper headwall.

The upper wall also has quite a few options as I'd come to find out later, in the safety of my own home. Seems like there's a lot of learning about the route post-climb. Some normally grassy ledges on the left provide the easiest way up. We didn't even see this. There was one obvious option up the middle, and another one to the left, but the easiest way up looked to be the chimney on the very right.

Some pretty cool views of Longs, and soon Robert joins me. We're sitting in a little alcove here, and the correct way up isn't obvious. Either make a sketchy move around the corner toward the namesake notch, or head around the other side in the wrong direction on what seems like easier terrain. It's Robert's lead and he chooses to go around the corner. It's an airy move, with the terrain on the other side an unknown. He pulls it, goes out of sight and soon I hear the unmistakable scratching of crampons on rock.

Robert: "Dude, there's a good chance I'm gonna whip here."
Inner Me: "Well, just don't, for f*cks sake"
Me actually: "Alright man, you got this. I gotcha"

Soon, the scratching ceases and the rope continues to move, then stops again. After a while...
Me: "How's it going over there?"
Robert: "Building the anchor now"
Me: "Oh, sweet. Nice work"
Inner Me: "F*ckin' hurry, I'm getting cold"

I follow up, on toprope, which I hate. It was a tough pitch actually, so I begrudgingly compliment him on the lead.

The rest of the climb is non-technical, but fun. A quick traverse to the notch, we drop our packs and bring a rope up for the rappel off the summit. We're only at ~12,000'. I don't think anyone cares for anything even in that range. If it were maybe 2,000' higher, I'm sure it would be climbed weekly.

We reach the summit at around 4:00, and the sun was starting to dive in the horizon like the Falcons, which is typically not a good thing, unless you're Bill Middlebrook.
Me: "What time was that study group?"
Robert: "6"
Me: "I don't think you're gonna make it."
Robert "Yeah..."
Me: "So how do we get off this thing?"
Robert: "There's a walk-off just over the highpoint over there."

We rappel down the spire proper and climb over to the highpoint. I have a bad feeling about this. We were faced with several more spires. Sheer drop-offs on both sides. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I was now too busy trying to calculate the odds of us making it out before dark. Never tell me the odds. We considered rappelling down into a gully and walking back out the way we came, but we quickly dismissed that. With how warm it was today, it would likely be some miserable post-holing. We opt for the traverse, unroped to save time. After negotiating the ramps and chokes covered in sugary snow, we were still faced with a snow climb under some cornices to gain the ridge proper. It may have been a blessing to summit so late after all. The slope had been back in the shade for a while and the snow had firmed up. We regain our composure and quickly race up to the ridge, weaving around rock bands to avoid being under the biggest cornices. We manage to thread our way to the ridge left of some rocks, where the cornices were the smallest.

We top out a little before 6:00. And what spectacular albeit unconventional timing. Moments ago, we were in a vertical world. Now we're on flat ground. It felt odd, but we were elated. The low-lying clouds were creeping back in, the setting sun was putting on a show, and the rising moon was bright in the sky. We find and hike down the trail, the whole valley submerged in clouds, and Longs Peak towering over the blanket of mist. I must admit, this wasn't so bad after all.

We're back at the car around 8:30. We were surprised to see a couple fellas waiting at the ranger station. They had apparently lost their keys and were stranded up here, so they were looking for a ride down. Robert generously offered them a ride down to Estes Park.

Inner me: "WTF dude they could be serial killers and hijack us or some shit."
Me actually: "Yeah that's cool"

Luckily, we didn't need to find out, as they caught a ride down with someone they were expecting to pick them up. Wanting nothing more than a cold beer and having nothing open in the near vicinity is the definition of hell. We end up forgoing the post-climb meal/beer and just head home to promptly pass out.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Monster5	SWEET 3/16/2017 12:38am Why Jomsy, I just might think you're getting over that weird 14er thing kids go through and cruising awesome stuff. Entertaining report and great pics! Nice work to you and Robert. Glad you didn't get serial-killed. Robert is below Mornin' in that E Meadows pic - I bet that would make for a cool mixed climb too. Full on crack and stem. PS I know that spot you're soloing at well - Fireonthemountain tried to kill my wife and me there once. Ask him about it. Just ask. PPS mixed lines are way more fun than ice lines. Notchtop ice is worthwhile (not sure about 5.7, but felt 3+ or 4-), but this is way cooler.
Steve Climber	What he said ^^^ 3/16/2017 8:17am Less the killing of wives.
colokeith	SICK 3/16/2017 8:44am Nice write up Jomah!! Great job both of you on a cool objective!
SnowAlien	Nice 3/16/2017 9:17am Great photos and funny writing. I'd love to give this route a go in the summer. Kudos for climbing in ski boots. They make them pretty flexible these days.
dannyg23	Bromantic 3/16/2017 9:27am Very cool pics, as usual. The shot of you in ski boots, both tools out, and no ice anywhere is kind of disgusting though. Really like the day-enders with the inversion and whatnot.
JtheChemE	Sweet 3/16/2017 12:25pm Inner Me / Me Actually is hilarious! Nice day you had up there (in ski boots), and great writeup.
FireOnTheMountain	rad 3/16/2017 11:49pm man, love the gunslinging here! fuck it, lets just make it up as we go. seems like a more rewarding day in the end because you made it harder that way. I feel like some of my best experiences have been because of that ha. nice work fellas
blazintoes	Next time 3/17/2017 8:15am What happens when someone tells you the odds? Sounds Hans Solo ish. And speaking of solo, what do you really need to climb anything? Once while deep in the bush (haaa!) I ran into a guy who was running the trail naked and thought, that must be freeing. You two could then argue more about whipping...Okay, I'll stop harassing you. Makes you think though.
mojah	Thanks! 3/17/2017 1:17pm Ryan - No pet names. We're not that familiar Natalie - They do, but I don't use that noodly stuff. Stiff boot make you strong like ox. Abe - Me too, some of the best and some of the closest calls Amy - Was glad someone finally caught that reference. Sounds like a guy who takes light and fast more literally than most. Everyone else, thanks for the kind words

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