Chiefshead - Trip Report
Where: Chiefshead traverse via the Chiefshead-Pagoda coulior (RMNP)
When: July 4, 1997
Who: Mark Scott-Nash, Shelly Scott-Nash, Jim Gallo
Coulior climbing is, in my opinion, one of the best types of
mountaineering style climbing to be done in Colorado. They are
generally in shape from late spring through mid summer, although some
are in shape through the first snows of fall. These climbs usually
very steep, direct and many times mixed climbs. Usually they require
crampons and one or two ice tools, which make them good training for
the bigger glaciated peaks outside Colorado. And they are typically
done in the excellent summer morning weather that Colorado has.
This turned out to be a longer climb than we anticipated. We arrived
at the Glacier Gorge parking area at 6 am. The weather was looking
good and we hiked all the way to Black Lake in the cool of the day.
At Black Lake, I noticed a helicopter headed toward the Petit Grepon.
I thought it might be a rescue, but it turned out to be a body
recovery. We found out later that the bad news was (from the
internet):
Todd Marshall, a 35 year old resident of Estes Park, was killed
on Wednesday evening, July 2 after he fell over 75 feet from near
the summit of the Petit Grepon. He was climbing with a visiting
Italian climber whom he had just met several days before.
Marshall's body dangled upside down for over 24 hours as his
partner sat at the belay, waiting for help. The partner was
sighted by two other climbers late Thursday afternoon and was
rescued. He was not injured. Up to 30 rangers were involved in
the rescue effort. Helicopters were brought in to help in the
evacuation.
Anyway, we continued our hike to the base of the Chiefshead-Pagoda
coulior. From the base to the top of the coulior is about eight or
nine hundred feet of hard-snow climbing, i.e., crampons are very
useful. About mid-way up the coulior, a rock the size of a golf ball
came whizzing down like an incoming missile from somewhere on Pagoda
and hit with a thud in the snow about 5 feet from us (helmets
recommended on this route). The "solid face" of Pagoda as described
by Roach was not as solid as I thought it would be and we continued up
at a slightly hurried pace.. Aside from that near miss, the climb was
very enjoyable. The coulior was melted out for the last 100 vertical
feet and we ended up climbing on some loose scree to top out. I think
this would be a terrible route without snow, but a good, moderately
steep snow climb of 35 to 40 degrees.
The coulior climbs to the low point between Chiefshead and Pagoda.
From there, it's still a half mile hike west to the summit of
Chiefshead. We found no summit register, cairns or other climbers on
this 13'er. A good place to get away from the backcountry crowds on
the 4th of July. Descending off the west side of Chiefshead, we had
to negotiate a rubble filled descent gully that was fairly ugly. We
hopped over Stone Man Pass (anyone ever climb the Stone Man?) and down
a steep snowfield to arrive at Frozen Lake at the base of the
Spearhead. There were several parties setting up bivvys for an early
morning technical climb of the this ever popular crag. Impossible to
beat the summer weekend crowds there.. After a long slog out, we
arrived back at the Glacier Gorge parking area after all the tourists
had gone. Another great climbing day.
This route is a good intro to coulior climbing despite the coulior
being a relatively short part of the overall climb. There are many
other couliors that are easier to get to, but they have the tradeoff
of being more popular as well.
-Mark Nash
This article first appeared on the
colomtn list processor.
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