All Mixed Up - Thatchtop Mountain

Three years ago, Rick Inman and I made an attempt of a classic alpine ice climbing route in Rocky Mountain National Park called All Mixed Up. Fierce winds and a cloud of spindrift spoiled our plans, so we bid adieu and agreed to come back soon for another try.

Glacier Gorge approach

Crossing Mills Lake

Now in December 2011, just two weeks before Rick's wedding, we found ourselves driving in the cold, pre-dawn hours to Glacier Gorge in RMNP. The forecast was favorable on this last day of calendar fall. The shortest day of the year brought winter cold but, thankfully, low snowpack. 

All Mixed Up from the base

After a wrong-turn to start, we made our way to Mills Lake and began the very steep approach to the base of AMU. The route looked to be in great shape with full ice coverage. AMU is about 550 vertical feet graded at WI4 ("Water Ice Four"). Because of our route-finding blunder early on, we found ourselves behind two other parties.

Waiting our turn took another long hour, and it was cold! Rick started up the slabby first pitch. We decided to leave the rock gear in the bags, taking only a set of 9 or 10 screws.

Rick leading the first pitch

Rick reaching the top of Pitch 2

Pitch 2 belay with Mills Lake Below

The second pitch was much steeper overall. I took the sharp end and meandered up a series of vertical ice steps to an airy belay above. We passed one of the other parties on this pitch, as they were taking a variation further left.

Crux 4th Pitch on AMU

Our third pitch was a snow slope that led to the 75-foot crux pillar in a steep gully system. We climbed the final pitch and topped out. The day was getting late so chose to forgo Thatchtop's summit. Rather than rappelling the route, we decided to downclimb a talus slope to the east of the route before cutting back over to our packs at the base of the route.

Topping out All Mixed Up

Longs Peak in the mist

Another party on the 4th Pitch from our descent

The weather deteriorated as the daylight diminished. We returned to our car just before needing to pull out the headlamps. A full-blown snowstorm settled in as we drove home. We got AMU just in time! Thank you Lord!

Glacier Gorge (L-R): Longs Peak, Pagoda Mtn, Spearhead