North America, United States, Colorado, Ptarmigan Towers, East Side, Tower 2

Publication Year: 1976.

Ptarmigan Towers, East Side. Tower 2: To the right of the bottom of the 2-4 gully is a deep, wet chimney/gully. On the vertical wall to its right is a prominent and attractive jam-crack, which diagonals up and left for about 300 feet before joining the more broken rock of the “Sunshine Ledges” route. Tom Gries and I climbed the jam-crack (the “Tundra Turkey Crack”) in August, encountering three leads of good climbing and even difficulty. NCCS II, F8. Tower 4: Just below and right of the top of Tower 4, as seen from Lake Nanita, are two deep, overhanging 200-foot chimneys. We established a route that followed the indistinct northeast corner of this tower, mostly in clean dihedrals a bit to its left, and finishing in the rightmost of the two aforementioned chimneys. The rock was generally good until the crux summit pitch, which involved a very wide, overhanging chimney of crumbling granite. NCCS III, F8 or F9. Both routes were climbed hammerless.

Lawrence Hamilton, Unaffiliated