Chiefs Head Peak

Error

(Much of the crux of the route is seen in the main photo on the 14ers.com page for Chief's Head. I have no photos to add at this time and will look through my archive to see if I can dredge some up... In the mean time, I have "borrowed" Bill's photo and marked the approximate line of the route in red. My partner and I had planned to climb the snow gully that diagonals under the NE face but after reaching the gulley, didn't like the conditions and thus improvised what seemed to be a highly unlikely route on the N ridge...)

From the Glacier Gorge TH, follow signs for Mills Lake / Jewell Lake and proceed up to Black Lake, which is at about 10,600'. Turn east and walk up into the cirque that sits below the west face of Long's Peak, Pagoda, etc. Follow the trail in the drainage, attempting to do minimal damage to the tundra by stepping on boulders whenever possible. This cirque is one of the most beautiful places in Rocky Mountain National Park but it's also very fragile, so walk softly.

Trend towards the NE face of Chief's Head as the tundra turns into talus. When we did the route, there was quite a bit of snow in the cirque and the area above the top of the talus cone (marked as "1") was ~45 degree snow/ice but since the difficult section was short, we did not bother with crampons and just hacked some steps with our axes. We trended towards the west while climbing slabs and corners towards the north ridge. Once the ridge is reached, for the next 500' of vertical, stay on the left side of the ridge when difficult sections are encountered. The exposure in this section is incredible but for the most part, this is solid 3rd class with an occasional spot that can be more contemplative.

At about 12,400' (marked as "2" on Bill's photo) the ridge steepens. An exposed series of slabs, ramps and corners leads to the climber's left, then a ledge leads back right to the ridge. A short, steep crack then climbs up about 30' to a ledge. We climbed this as 4th class since we had only minimal lead gear and wanted to preserve it for the belay. Follow the ledge as it leads up and left under a clean headwall to a more broken area that can be taken directly up on chossy rock to a narrow ledge. The ledge is followed west and it eventually turns the corner. On the photo, the red line becomes dashed, indicating that you are now following the ledge on the west side of the north ridge, out of view in the photo. This section is spectacular since you are traversing a narrow ledge above the sheer NW face. The ledge leads to broken terrain that is scrambled to the summit. We descended to Stoneman Pass and then followed the standard route back to Glacier Gorge.