In 2021, Nate and I had caught wind of a new route being established on The Spearhead, starting just right of Sykes' Sickle and climbing seven pitches to the top of the Barb Flake. By early summer 2022, the route was completed and first ascentionists Jeff Giddings and Adam Sanders posted a topo and pitch descriptions on mountainproject. The route was reputed to climb excellent stone up cracks and bolt-protected face, with difficulty ranging from 5.9-5.11, and with bolted belay anchors (in accordance with National Park regulations, all bolts on the route were drilled by hand). This new route was called The Kingfisher (the FA'ers named it after a kingfisher-shaped area of black waterstreaks in the wall just left of the first pitch, but coincidentally there is also a kingfisher-head-like appearance to the final pitch of the route, a dramatic finish up the left edge of the Barb Flake).

Nate and I have climbed several of the routes on The Spearhead, so obviously we were intrigued by the opportunity to climb another section of rock on the wall. In late July 2022, we snatched a morning weather window and climbed The Kingfisher (figuring that with the bolted anchors and easy rappel descent, we could retreat quickly if weather moved in). Fortunately the weather window lasted just long enough for us to climb the route. We had a blast. We found The Kingfisher to be well-protected and the climbing to be enjoyable and quite manageable at the grade. The Kingfisher is a stellar route with superb rock, climbing, and position. Nate did a superb job leading every pitch (except the first two, which we toproped—see notes below), and neither one of us took a single fall or hang.

On this trip, Nate and I also bivied below The Spearhead the night before the climb, snatching another opportunity to spend an evening in the spectacular Upper Glacier Gorge.

The following page gives a route overlay and pitch-by-pitch photos of The Kingfisher, as well as photos from our evening below The Spearhead. Enjoy!

We determined that the following rack was perfect for the route:
Offset cams (0.1/0.2, 0.2/0.3, 0.3/0.4, 0.4/0.5, 0.5/0.75) (love these cams!)
Singles 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2 (no #3 needed)
No stoppers (we placed one, but just because we had it)
6 regular draws, 6 alpine draws
70m 8.5mm rope
Beal escaper (for final rappel)

Glacier Gorge Trailhead to bivy (with overnight packs + wait out some rain): 2 hours 50 minutes
Bivy to base of route: 12 minutes
Climb route (base to top of Barb Flake): 3 hours 7 minutes
Rappel route (top of Barb Flake to ground): 35 minutes
Hike back to trailhead (with overnight packs + wait out some rain): 2 hours 30 minutes

On this trip, Nate and I also bivied below The Spearhead the night before the climb, snatching another opportunity to spend an evening in the spectacular Upper Glacier Gorge.

Upper Glacier Gorge has some of the best bivy locations in RMNP. We stayed at one of the better bivy spots below the base of The Spearhead. It is sheltered enough to keep one dry in a storm and has a nice flat area for sleeping.

The wildflowers were out.

Upper Glacier Gorge is a picturesque place.

It's a pleasant hike from Bear Lake / Glacier Gorge Trailhead to Upper Glacier Gorge. We had gone in under a forecast for afternoon rain on Saturday, so we expected the somewhat wet hike out.

After a rather wet summer, September had arrived with a splitter forecast—warmer and sunnier than it had been for weeks. For Labor Day weekend, Nate and I snatched this late-season opportunity to spend a few days in the alpine. I secured a bivy permit for Upper Glacier Gorge (need to be climbing a route that is at least four pitches to qualify for a bivy permit), and Nate and I bivied up there for three nights (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) below The Spearhead. (As a sidenote, after this Labor Day weekend trip, I realized that Nate and I had spent a total of 20 nights bivying in RMNP in Summer 2022.) Nate and I climbed three routes: Bequeathed (5.10d, 6p) on Arrowhead, The Kingfisher (5.11, 7p) on The Spearhead, and The Barb (5.10b, 10p) on The Spearhead. We also enjoyed a couple of sunny afternoons hanging out in this spectacular area.

This page gives a trip report for The Kingfisher on The Spearhead, the second of three climbs during our Labor Day weekend in Upper Glacier Gorge. Nate and I had climbed this route only 6 weeks previous, but we had perhaps even more fun climbing this route for a second time. One of my favorite routes on The Spearhead!

Nate and I arrived back at our bivy in the early afternoon, and after relaxing a bit we decided to check out the nearby Rain Delay Crag, which has at least four established one- to two-pitch routes on excellent granite. We climbed Rain Delay (5.9+, 1-2), an excellent climb featuring a splitter finger crack to a splitter fist crack.

The following gives pitch-by-pitch photos of our second time climbing The Kingfisher, an overlay and photos from Rain Delay, and below that a photo smorgasbord from our three-day, three-night Labor Day weekend hanging out in Upper Glacier Gorge. Enjoy!

Bivy to base of route: 12 minutes
Climb route (base to top of Barb Flake): 3 hours 9 minutes
Rappel route (top of Barb Flake to ground): 35 minutes

It was Labor Day weekend and the forecast was for splitter weather, so Nate and I snatched the opportunity to spend three days and three nights in the spectacular Upper Glacier Gorge. We had secured a bivy permit for Upper Glacier Gorge (need to be climbing a route that is at least 4 pitches to qualify for a bivy permit), and we bivied up there for three nights (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) below The Spearhead. What a spectacular place to hang out for the long weekend.

Upper Glacier Gorge has some of the best bivy locations in RMNP. We stayed at what I decided to call the "Under the Dome" bivy, which is a roomy cavern under a giant boulder. This is one of the coolest spots to bivy in the area, but it is usually filled with snow or ice until late in the summer. Earlier in the summer, Nate and I had made a note to try to return to Glacier Gorge in the late summer and stay at this bivy once the snow inside had melted. We were glad we got the opportunity to do so!

Upper Glacier Gorge is a picturesque place.

Early September is usually when the mountains start to display the transition between summer and fall. We enjoyed late-summer wildflowers and early fall colors.

I've always been fascinated by rocks (my undergraduate degree is in geology, in fact). Nate took several rock photos too. 

I've always been fascinated by rocks (my undergraduate degree is in geology, in fact). Nate took several rock photos too. 

After climbing The Kingfisher, Nate and I got back to camp in the early afternoon, so we decided to check out the nearby Rain Delay Crag. Rain Delay Crag is a short, northwest facing cliff in Glacier Gorge about 0.5 miles east of The Spearhead. It has at least four established one- to two-pitch routes on excellent granite. We climbed Rain Delay (5.9+, 1-2), an excellent climb featuring a splitter finger crack to a splitter fist crack.

Description of Rain Delay: Start at the right end of a low roof, and traverse back to gain an obvious clean fingercrack. Climb the crack (5.7) to a grassy ledge. Entering the crack is a bit tricky. From here take the diagonal corner on the right (5.9) or the crack on the left (5.6) and jam a hand/fist crack (5.9+) to the top. With the nice ledge midway up the route, it makes sense to break this climb into two short pitches. FA Bernard and John Gillette 1999.

Below is an overlay and photos of Rain Delay.