Spearhead — North Ridge (III 5.6)
Perched at the top of Glacier Gorge, Spearhead (12,575 feet) has some of the best granite in the Park. Pete Soby and Charles Schobinger put up the North Ridge in 1958, the same year Sykes Sickle (III 5.9+) was established on the northeast face. Both climbers likely fell in love with the morning sun glimmering silver on the northeast-facing slab apron, which today hosts more than a dozen killer routes up to 5.12-. You have to earn this sight, however, as Spearhead hides until the final mile of the approach, a five-plus-mile hike that would seem never-ending if not for its stunning diversity — Mills Lake’s flattened plateau, the granite-ensconced pocket of Black Lake, and the improbable eastern channel that shoots you to the upper cirque, where you navigate talus, tundra, and elk turds to the base of the route.

Called “The Pinnacle” by hikers in 1910, Spearhead, dwarfed by neighboring Longs Peak and Chief’s Head, is often taken lightly. The North Ridge itself sometimes lures climbers rightward into a vast land of scalloping blocks and hollow boulders. One friend launched a dining-room-table-sized chunk of rock down on her partner, only to have it cleave into a more manageable briefcase that pummeled his leg. And Spearhead also sits in a “prime” weather position: a client, from the South, once told me just how much she enjoyed watching the gorgeous clouds “growing just so darn fast” over her right shoulder. One hour later, those same clouds spewed horizontal rain and nuclear-blast-strength wind, though we did make it safely back to our packs.

The North Ridge stretches eight pitches, with the final three creeping along the double-exposed arête that forms the right edge of the spear tip. Start carefully, aiming for slabs just left of a pronounced chimney on the northeast corner of the face. From here, create your own route, following a variety of dihedrals and choosing from innumerable belay ledges.

The 5.6 rating is accurate, though full on. Fortunately, much of the climb is ledgy and blocky... hence easier. Still, heads up for loose rock and the sucker variations leading to climber’s right — instead, stick close to the crest and save some mojo for the crux, an awkward left-leaning corner that hangs over the east face for the final ropelength.