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Shark's Tooth Rock Climb
Rocky Mountain National Park
 
9/29/97

Author: Mike Sullivan

Participants: Mike Sullivan, Laurie Toeppen

Shark's Tooth is the highest in a cluster of spires that sits at the head of Loch Vale in Rocky Mountain National Park. At 12,600', it sits directly above it's more famous cousin, the Petite Grepon. It has the distinction of being the only USGS-named summit in the Park that is inaccessible by a nontechnical route.

We left at 5 AM from the Glacier Gorge trailhead, headlamp beams bobbing in front of us. By dawn, we were passing The Loch, and heading up the righthand fork of the drainage, towards Andrews Glacier. By 7 AM we could clearly see our objective. Shark's Tooth is a very appropriate name.

We kept an easy pace and reached our destination after 3 hours of hiking. The last 45 minutes of the approach involves some scrambling up "The Gash," a gully on the E side, filled with beautifully variegated gneiss boulders of every size. It was well below freezing, and much of the rock was coated with verglas and rime ice. Snow from last week's storms filled the shady corners.

Our goal was the NE Ridge of the Tooth. At 6 pitches of 5.6, it is the easiest route to the summit, and is reputed to be *the* classic route. The route went easily, with clean rock and many climbable variations. It's easy to stay on route, because the walls are nearly vertical on both sides of the steep ridge. Fat belay ledges are abundant.

After two pitches we reached a point where the sun beamed in over the nearby "Saber" and we stopped to soak some warmth into our aching feet and hands. Pitch five begins with a wide, clean offwidth, which would be much harder if it weren't for the fat chockstone wedged securely in it. The final pitch climbs a sharp ridgeline, with a great chasm on the right. 80' of scrambling leads to the summit, giving great views of Long's Peak, Otis Peak, and Loch Vale. It's also very cool to look down upon the tiny blade of the Petite Grepon.

Three raps (last one was 160') led to the saddle between the Saber, Grepon, and Tooth. From there it was an easy scramble back down The Gash. On the hike out, we stopped many times to gawk at the colorful aspens which we couldn't even see on the hike in. All in all, it was a wonderful day. Car-to-car took about 12 1/2 hours, at a pace which afforded lots of stops to loaf and take photos.

Most important beta: Stopping at the Notchtop Bakery and Pub in Estes Park is mandatory after all climbing outings in the Park.

 


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