Petit Grepon

June 24, 2017
Rocky Mountain National Park
Petit Grepon

We are still in full on alpine mode in preparation for our upcoming trip to Switzerland.  Petit Grepon in RMNP had been on my radar for a few years and this weekend looked promising for a weather window to make it up without getting rained on. Only a 15% chance of rain after noon, increasing to 30% by about 2 pm, we decided to get on the trail early. We arrived to the parking area the night before and were welcomed by several momma elk and a young one sleeping in a field beside the road.

It is 4.5 miles from the Glacier Gorge parking lot to Sky Pond at the base of the Petit, so we started walking the next morning around 4am. There were quite a few cars in the lot, but seemingly no traffic on the trail. Seems we left early enough to enjoy a quiet hike in on our own!

We were treated to a great sunrise in a perfect mountain setting - it doesn't get any better than this!

By the time we reached the climbing route there were already two groups in front of us, so we took our time knowing that the day might go somewhat slow. I lead up the first pitch and Laura followed. The next pitch was a very long one. I combined 2 sections together and ran out a full 70 meters of rope to the base of a chimney about 350' up the rock.

The route is only rated 5.7-5.8, but we decided to take a 5.9 variation to add some spice to the day and were happy that we did. This was the most fun pitch of the day, a beautiful finger crack with good protection after the first 20'.

At one of the belays, I met a guy from Colorado Springs. He was a student and instructor for an outdoor program here. It was great to talk to him and learn about what the program offers and is nice to meet folks who also enjoy getting others outside! It is a good thing he was following us, because on the next pitch, I placed a cam that Laura could not get unstuck. She ended up leaving it and climbing on, but Nick, the instructor ended up getting it out with a nut tool and returning it to me at the summit of the Petit.

 After summiting, we had a quick snack but knowing that the rappels were tricky to find, we started down quickly. We easily found the first 2 but then the fun began. Search for chains, find slings everywhere, guess where to go, repeat. We got the rope stuck one time and I ended up climbing up to unloop in from around two different chock stones. 2.5 hours later, we were once again on solid ground.

The Petit Grepon is listed in a book as one of the 50 classic climbs in America. It certainly was an outstanding route and was even better with one wonderful woman! Our hike out was peaceful until about 2 miles from the trailhead where we encountered hoards of day hikers looking at waterfalls. We headed for the car, went and ate mexican food for dinner in Estes Park and were back home by 9 pm, already with a plan for the following day!