Remember Jason's post about skiing a likely first descent of Caterpillar Couloir on Mt. Alice? After Jason crushed me on a 24 mile day of carrying skis and skinning deep into the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park, I was psyched to head back up East Inlet and explore its granite faces.
After the massive AK-esq cornices finally melted in the hot summer months, it was time to cash in my backcountry camping permit the weekend of August 12. While I wasn't Jason's best choice for a big ski trip, I needed a climbing partner who was willing to hike more than 8 miles to climb, cross a few log jams, jump on an alpine climb sans topo, and run it out a bit because "honey badger don't give a shit."
So, we opted on the attractive granite tower of Aiguilles de Fleur. We didn't know the name of the peak nor its handful of routes until after the trip, but we selected a corner along the right side of tiered roofs. After 2 60m rope stretchers and a short 3rd pitch of moderate climbing, we were at the base of the corner. Three short and wide roof cracks lined the way. I bypassed the last roof on a hand traverse out right to avoid loose rock. By the time I topped out, I was coated from my toes to ears in a fine layer of lichen and wished I packed goggles.
Nonetheless, we topped out on a grassy summit of wildflowers (hence the name, "Flower Tower") after climbing 4 pitches ground-up onsight trad at 5.9+ with the afternoon to spare. We have reached out to a number of climbers who have explored the western side of the Park in the last few decades to verify route history of the area. Our route is likely an FA, but it was the adventure and lack of beta that drew us there. We will not be giving the route a fancy name or more than one star, but for those keen on an adventure, the massive roofs to the left offer some new potential hard free/aid lines.
Afterwards, we explored another unknown route on the main east face after descending a gulley via a short rap (a sun-bleached cord was in place). A beautiful corner crack on impeccable granite was the main attraction, yet it blanked out 300 ft up the face. A few discontinuous flakes near it gained higher ground but also blanked out far below a roof. We decided to check it out for the hell of it and climbed 2 pitches of flawless rock, yet the cracks were filled in with hard dirt and grass. After we reached the first fixed anchor, we called it quits since it appeared to die out and we did not have a hammer to check the pins or a brush out the cracks.
We headed back, dipped our feet in Lake Verna, and threw a few casts to eager trout. With our main objective complete, neither of us had the motivation to explore another route, so we opted for some fly fishing instead. The trout were plentiful, albeit small.
I highly recommend folks to drive the extra hour to explore the western slopes of RMNP - less crowds, lush vegetation, and solitude. All the camping above Lone Lake are single group sites. The only thief stealing your food while you're out taking care of business will be the resident fox.
The log crossing and "bushwack" up to Aiguilles de Fleur
Impressive view of the tower and its lower slabs
Topo of our route, "Eastern roofs" (5.9+ Grade II) and the unknown and potentially unfinished line on the main east face
The impressive tiers of roofs - our line followed the orange left facing corner
Jason following the first pitch (5.6)
Jason making his own path up the 2nd pitch (5.8)
A short 5.7 pitch brought us to the base of the corner
Joe on the final 5.9+ pitch - solid pro but pretty dirty
Looking up the corner of pins from our high point on the unknown line - beautiful, steep granite!
Fishing rocks don't get better than this!
At the inlet to Lake Verna - alpine sandy beaches at their best
A tree in the sandy isthmus at the inlet of Lake Verna
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