Loch Vale (2) - Just Hiking

Statistics

Date - 12/08/2019
Elevation - 10,200'
Route - Various
Miles - 4.0
Elevation Gain - 1,000'
ACME Mapper - Link
CalTopo - Link
Partners - Nick Quesnel, Matt Williams

Description

It had been twelve years since I had visited the Loch Vale area for ice climbing. Nick, Matt, and I decided to check it out since the forecast for the central mountains was marginal and Matt had never been ice climbing before. We got a fairly early start to the day and the approach from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead to the Loch Vale is less than an hour. We ended up finding an area to set up a top-rope next to another party and were able to trade ropes and get lots of laps in. Throughout the day we saw no less than 35 to 40 people come and go to and from the crag, which really surprised me since I didn't think there was much climbable ice. Matt did a great job for his first time out and was really getting the hang of ice climbing by the time we left. We met several fun and courteous climbers during the day. We didn't take many photos during our extreme top-roping session. We stopped at Barrels and Bottles Brewery in Golden, Colorado, for a pint of beer on the way home to finish the day.

Photos

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