Up-to-date information by Eli Helmuth on climbing route and trail conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park and throughout the Estes Valley.  Avalanche forecasts and skiing conditions in the alpine region are also reviewed.  

          A bull elk enjoying the greens at the Estes Park golf course

Warning: 

Route conditions change constantly, especially in the mountains.  Climbing is dangerous.  Be flexible in your climbing plans and always prepare for the worst.  Be experienced enough for what you are doing. Seek qualified instruction and use proper equipment.  We accept no liability for your decisions in the peaks.

September 27th Conditions Report  

This is the peak of the autumn season and other then a 1-day storm on Monday the 24th, we have been experiencing some cloudless days with temperatures in the low 70's in the Estes Valley.  Yesterday morning  (9/26) we decided at the Glacier Gorge parking lot to forgo our plans to climb the Saber as the cold wind was howling and it turned out to be a good call as we were not looking for the " Patagonian Experience" but instead to get in some warm climbing which we did on the east ridge of theTwin Owls formation at Lumpy Ridge.

                                              The Bookend formation at Lumpy Ridge

The cold, wet storm on Monday made it's heaviest deposits on the north side of Flattop and Notchtop Mountains and the Continental Divide along Trailridge Road looked well snow covered by Tuesday morning with some drifts exceeding 18 inches in spots.  The road over the Divide was closed for all of Monday and Tuesday until the snowplows returned to clear the 6-12 inches deposited from this storm in isolated locations above treeline.

The brisk, cold wind that has been raking the higher elevations this week (about 30-40 mph) were enough to push one around and up on the Book formation at Lumpy Ridge on Tuesday, we were mostly feeling it's force on top of the ridge as on the granite faces it was warm and cozy with a few other folks out enjoying some of the finest granite on the planet.  It looks as though the incoming system following these winds will likely produce a wet and stormy atmosphere above 9,000' along the Divide and Monday the 2nd of October looks like the best weather of the week after this storm rolls through.

                                           Climbers on the Bookmark Pinnacle, Lumpy Ridge

                                              Looking west from the top of the Book Formation

Longs Peak and Mount Meeker escaped the wetness of this last storm and so there was no new snow up on their higher elevations as the cloud deck was low enough on Monday to spare the highest peaks on the southern end of Rocky Mountain National Park.

        The north face of Mount Meeker and east face of Longs Peak (L-R) at noon on September 27th, 2007

Mount's Ypsilon and Fairchild are showing minimal new snow as well from this storm but just 5 miles south of the Mummy's, it looks as though the Ptarmagin and Tyndall Glaciers and north face of Flattop are almost skiable with a thick covering of white on their previously icy slopes.

Lumpy Ridge has been perfect this week for rock climbing and only the Sundance formation might be a bit "brisk" due to it's more dramatic exposure to the cold, westerly wind.  Some warmer spots would be the Book, Bookmark, and Bookend formations (good places to "get schooled") and the Crescent Wall, which is usually too hot in the spring and summer for the type of friction necessary to send the many 5.11 and 5.12 testpieces one of Lumpy's finest walls. 

                       A favorite Lumpy spot, the "Rennaissance Wall", Book Formation 

Most of the south-facing aspects in the high country are snow-free and the Chasm View Wall, the Petit and Saber, and even the northeast facing wall of Hallett's North Buttress are currently dry.  Hallett would likely be nice this weekend as it is in the sun from it's rise until about noontime- so around 5.5 hrs. of sunny warmth and hopefully plenty of time to scale this 1000' escarpment while it is in the sun.  And remember, if the wind is howling, it's great training for Patagonia without all the expense and time to travel so far south!

        Coming into shape soon?  The "Smear of Fear" on the Lower East Face of the Diamond, Longs Peak

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