The weekend weather forecast for the high country of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Researched and written by professional meteorologist and avid mountaineer, Dan "the weather man" Gottas.

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Summer of 2010:  Mark Allen is working as an American IFMGA Aspirant in mentorship with an AMGA/ IFMGA Guide based in Chamonix, France.  This  is an example of a typical training day for the AMGA alpine exam, on the  Chamonix's classic AD route "The Midi-Plan Traverse".  This route enchains the skyline between the Aiguille de Midi and the Aiguille Plan.

Video shot by IFMGA Guide Dylan Taylor and edited my Aspirant Mark Allen. 

You are invited to join other climbers, a first ascensionist of past and present, and other lovers of Lumpy Ridge to celebrate a half century of climbing at Lumpy Ridge, Colorado.

The festivities will be held the weekend of October 1st through 3rd .

We hope you’ll join us for a weekend of activities on Lumpy as well as in Estes Park.

This is the tenth (yes 10th !) straight year of this Access Fund, Adopt-A-Crag and partnership with the American Alpine Club and Rocky Mountain National Park for stewardship of the climbers access trails. Lets make this a fun and memorable Decade in the Dirt.

Over the last ten year we have provided over 500 participants and 4000 hours of service work on Lumpy Ridge. These are not your tourist trails but the steep, narrow and rugged climber access trails to each of the crags we enjoy. Destinations include: Sundance, The Pear, The Book End, Book Mark, Left Book and Book, Batman and the Twin Owls. Some of these access and descent trails are 800 vertical feet in length. Some now have over 60 wood water-bars and 100 stone steps each notched into place to prevent erosion and improve the hike.

On Sunday, October 3rd we’ll begin the day by staging at the Estes Park, Town Hall parking lot at 7am. Breakfast and lunch are provided for all volunteers.

In celebration of over 50 years of climbing on Lumpy, I’d like to invite you to come on Friday and/or Saturday also, and join an energetic group for cocktails, dinner and a slide show by author and compulsive first-ascensionist;  Scott Kimball. From the late 1970’s to the mid 1980’s Scott put up over 50 new routes on Lumpy Ridge and penned two guide books. Many of us found our way around the Ridge using the blue “stars” book for over a decade.

Scott will provide warm stories and a viewing of many of those routes on Saturday evening at the Estes Park Museum, at 8pm. There will be a social hour starting at 6pm followed by a full-spread buffet dinner starting at 7pm.

For dinner reservations; please pay $20 in advance by PayPal. (Same for Credit card) at www.paypal.com, use the Send Money tab, and Send Money Online to this email: ekreis@americanalpineclub.org for the Lumpy Dinner. Other inquiries and questions can be sent to Section Chairman Chris Pruchnic at 303-809-6783, haliku@yahoo.com, or event coordinator Greg Sievers at g_sievers57@q.com.

I hope to see you here for some, part, or all, of the Lumpy Ridge Climbers Reunion and the 10th Annual Lumpy Trails Day.

Belay Off ,
Greg Sievers

Up-to-date information on alpine routes, backcountry skiing, and trail conditions for Longs Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Snow conditions and avalanche danger are forecast by Eli Helmuth, an AMGA certified rock, alpine, and ski mountaineering guide and owner of ClimbingLife Guides; a year-round guide service based in Estes Park offering worldwide mountain trips and local seminars in the climbing and skiing arts.

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