Lumpy Ridge – White Whale
Trip Date: Friday, September 23rd, 2011
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| Jake and I at the anchor at pitch two on White Whale |
In this trip, Jake and I cruised up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do a little trad climbing. Rocky is famous for its bountiful crags located in a high mountain setting just minutes from Estes Park. Lumpy Ridge is one such destination.
Famous for its large granite domes and steep, irregular cracks, Lumpy is a world class climbing destination. Lumpy Ridge is composed of a number of granite features arrayed in ridge-like formation in the northeastern part of the national park. Most climbs face to the south, and get sun throughout the day, making Lumpy a popular year-round climbing destination.
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| White Whale follows the system of cracks and flakes leading higher above the two trees to the right |
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| Looking down from the anchor at the top of pitch two |
Jake and I were poised to climb the classic “White Whale” located on the “Left Book” crag. First ascended by Dan Hare and Randy McGregor in 1972[1], White whale is a three-pitch traditional-style rock climb which passes from belay to belay through large flakes and shooting cracks. We wore our soft shoes for this one. In total, the climb is about 450 feet. One can reach this climb by hiking about two miles west on the Black Canyon trail from the Lumpy Ridge parking lot.
The climbing took us the better part of the day. Conditions were perfect, if a bit sunny, and the views and rock were both sublime. The most difficult pitch was surely the second, which passed for 20 feet through a tiny finger crack some 200 feet above the ground. Despite the exposure, the climbing was of low angle and the handholds were usually good. Surely good memories will bring us back to Lumpy very soon.
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| Jake pointing further west to "Bookend" crag and "The Pear" |
[1] Bernard Gillett, Rocky Mountain National Park: Estes Park Valley: The Climber's Guide(Chaple Hill, NC: Earthbound Sports, 2001), page 94.
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