McHenrys Peak via Arrowhead/SW Ridge

15.05 miles, 4,960 ft elevation gain

We were lucky enough to snag a spot at Moraine Park Campground the night before in an attempt to wake up early enough to get a spot at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead or the Bear Lake Trailhead. But arriving there at 5:30am wasn't early enough, apparently. Thus, we made for the Park n Ride and took the first shuttle to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. We set out at 6:42am.

We were also lucky enough to snag a spot at the Glacier Gorge Backcountry site. We arrived there at about 8:15am, stashed our packs and took a breather. We arrived at Black Lake just before 9am. From here, we hugged the right side of the lake. We found a herd path early on but lost it pretty soon after. Still, we managed to find a boulder field up the northwestern side of the bowl surrounding Black Lake. From there we ascended up some pretty thick brush until we found ourselves under some steep walls. We were able to see the easy switchback grassy terraces that dotted the lower face of Arrowhead and made our way through those until we reached the bench on hiker's left. From here you can look up and pretty easily see the class 4 section of Arrowhead. We could still pretty easily find our way there through many grassy terraces connected by some fun little class 3 portions. You can easily make out the ramp from here that will take you from Arrowhead's class 4 section up to its summit, and from looking at that you can trace your way to the class 4 section itself. We made for the wall that loomed beneath this ramp and hugged it, contouring our way southwest until we got to the leaning rock, looking like a gate to Arrowhead's class 4 pitch.

The class 4 move from here was very fun and manageable, and offered some exciting exposure off to the left.

After this, the northeastern ramp up to Arrowhead is readily apparent. It was some pretty exhausting class 2 stuff, surrounded by Arrowhead's impressive towers and the other impressive vistas of this canyon (Longs, Spearhead, Chiefs Head, Pagoda).

We arrived at the summit just about at 11am. From here, McHenrys and its ridge loom.

According to my watch, we descended about 300 feet from the summit following the ridge. We hugged the edge of the ridge in these earlier portions. Nothing more than some class 3 downclimbing here. After the downclimbing, the ridge finally begins to climb upward, and it is here where the real climbing of the day begins.

Class 3 climbing gives way to class 4 climbing, which in turn, despite our best efforts, gives way to some class 5 moves as well. Nothing here was beyond the limits of climbing without rope, but many portions turn into some pretty relentless no-fall-zones, and the climb became a perpetual class 4 section. Route finding was often times fun and often times stressful. For better or worse, we didn't take any pictures of the most technically challenging portion of this climb as we were otherwise preoccupied with not falling.

One might be able to skip out on the few class 5 moves we were forced to make, but I think it would have required a decent amount of downclimbing. From afar, we believed we could climb to the left of a looming snowfield, only to realize upon close examination that it required some more technically difficult moves than we thought. Hugging the ridge a little more closely might have been a decent option, but I cannot be certain.

Eventually, the class 4 portions of this ridge give way to a steep class 3 gully, still very much a no-fall zone, however.

We arrived on McHenrys summit at about 1pm. Thankfully, despite our lack of punctuality, no clouds presented themselves as a threat.

The descent down McHenrys diverts from its northeastern ridge. A well-beaten and well-cairned path diverted south more than I thought it would, and if you zoom in on my GPX file, you can see where I decided that, actually, following that cairned path instead of the ridge was a brighter idea (some of this ridge looked like some pretty un-passable class 5 downclimbing).

We arrived at Stoneman pass about an hour later, and from there took everyone's favorite route down some of the loosest scree I have ever experienced. Each step gave way about one or two feet, and at points I found myself nearly gliding down five feet or more at a time. By this point, we had run out of water, and the massive bowl and plateau that loomed all around us wasn't the most welcome sight in the world. Still, it is easy enough to route find here, traversing east-northeast until you can hook up with the well-cairned trail that leads to and from Frozen Lake. Hiking this portion was a varied mix between boulder hopping, wet grasslands, slabs, and thick brush. But eventually we arrived at the path from Frozen Lake.

We got back down to our site at Glacier Gorge around 4PM, and couldn't filter water fast enough. It took a full night's sleep to be able to look back on the climb with a positive attitude. All in all, a very grueling, very challenging, very rewarding climb in Rocky Mountain Park.