Hidden Falls is a great ice flow in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park. The trail follows the St. Vrain river in the shadow of Mount Meeker. This farthest south entrance to the park is popular with snowshoeing and cross country skiing, however the ice flow is only a couple miles from the trail head and offers a low altitude alternative for ice climbing compared to Loch Vale and other high alpine ice climbing. This is a perfect place for someone's first ice climbing experience.
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Short secondary ice flow |
Ryann needed to get out on some ice and I thought this would be the perfect spot for her very first time. I decided it would be a great place to teach her the basics and get her comfortable with ice climbing. She would have the chance to practice some good technique on the short secondary fall and then run some laps on the main fall. I would help her with pointers on technique, temperature management and efficient climbing styles.
We hung a top rope over the small fall and I gave Ryann some pointers for efficient climbing. I also let her know that a huge part of ice climbing doesn't have to do with climbing at all. It has to do with temperature management and proper clothing for the elements. We worked on making sure she had a few things that are essential when ice climbing anywhere.
- Windproof Beanie
- Multiple pairs of gloves
- Softshell pants and jacket (windproof)
- Warm boots and socks
- Fleece/wool layer and down/synthetic layer
- Long underwear (wool or fleece)
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