Sharkstooth
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• Statistics:
  • Date Hiked:  July 1, 2011
  • Miles Hiked:  7.0
  • Elevation Gain:  3,600'
  • Hiking Partner(s):  Jeff Shafer
• Description:
  • Video Trip Report
  • After getting a few laps in Clear Creek Canyon, Jeff and I drove to Estes Park for some barbeque and a beer at Smokin' Dave's.  We slept in my car in town and got up at 3:30 am to relatively windy conditions.  We drove to the Glacier Gorge trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park only to hit a few rain showers along the way.  Given the current weather conditions, we sat at the trailhead until 5:30 am before making a decision to start hiking.  My confidence regarding the climb grew as we continued on the approach.  The trail was generally snow free to The Loch, and then we hit patches all the way to the junction towards Andrews Tarn.  From this point on, we had constant snow until the base of the climb.
  • We hiked to the base of the Flour Power Couloir on Otis Peak and then turned left into The Gash.  As we worked our way south to the Sharkstooth, we put on our crampons and pulled our our ice axes.  We kept the crampons on for a short scramble across some rocks before getting back on snow and making our way to the base of the climb.  We cached the gear we didn't need for the climb, switched from crampons to rock shoes, and were off to climb the Sharkstooth.
  • We climbed the route in four pitches with a 60 meter rope.  I started up a right facing dihedral for half a pitch and then through easier ground to a more difficult hand crack and hanging belay.  I stayed to the right from the top of the dihedral rather than traverse left.  Jeff started the second pitch traversing left only a short distance before climbing a somewhat run-out section of the first half of the second pitch before getting into a sustained left facing dihedral.  The third pitch I climbed started on relatively easy climbing to a large belay ledge which I climbed past and into the off-width crack to the second large belay ledge at the end of the rope.  Jeff finished the climb on our forth pitch over easier ground to the summit.
  • We did three 60 meter rappels with the tag line we carried on the climb and made our way to the notch to the east of the summit.  We down-climbed on rock a ways before we had to get back on the snow.  Since we only had approach shoes with no crampons or axes, we did two more short rappels to get back to the rest of our gear.  We switched back into crampons for a short section of snow and then took them off for a couple of great glissades down to the bottom of The Gash.  The hike our was uneventful other than Jeff crashing through a snow bridge and into Andrews Creek.  We did the climb in 11 hours round trip.
• Maps:
  • Click here to view a 2D map of the area where this hike is located.
• Photographs:
  • Jeff taking a break at The Loch on the approach to the Sharkstooth.
  • Looking up Andrews Creek towards Andrews Tarn.
  • Our first look at the Sharkstooth.
  • Another photo of the Sharkstooth.
  • Jeff on the approach.
  • Working our way up the snow fields to the base of the Sharkstooth.
  • The northeast ridge of the Sharkstooth.
  • Jeff gearing up as clouds continue to move through the area.
  • James ready to head up the route.
  • Looking down from the top of pitch 1.  A rapel/bail anchor is directly in the center of the photo and the crux of the route is a short hand crack in the bottom right of this photo.
  • Jeff heading out on pitch 2.
  • Jeff higher on pitch 2.
  • Looking up pitch 2 from about halfway up.
  • Looking down pitch 3 from about 1/3rd of the way up.
  • Looking up the off-width crack on our pitch 3.
  • Looking down from the top of our pitch 3.
  • Petit Grepon
  • James at our lunch break.
  • Jeff starting out on pitch 4.
  • Jeff in the middle of pitch 4.
  • Jeff at the top of pitch 4.
  • Jeff belaying from the top of pitch 4.
  • Jeff's summit photo.
  • James' summit photo.
  • James and Jeff on the summit of Sharkstooth.
  • Jeff down-climbing the snow on our way out.
  • A final look at the Sharkstooth after we climbed it.
  • Jeff hiking out after our climb.
  • Jeff happy with the day's results.
  • James happy with our successful climb.

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