Bancroft East Ridge Scramble

Mt. Bancroft (13,250 ft) is a peak within the James Peak Wilderness in the Front Range of Colorado. It can be easily hiked or skied up the southeast slopes from Loch Lomond, and alternatively climbed via the east ridge. The east ridge is typically climbed upwards from East to West, requiring a 60-foot rappel and several sections of 4th and 5th class climbing. The road to Loch Lomond opens in stages starting in June, note the forest service website for the current road status.

The day started with a drive up the 4WD road to the upper gate of Stewart Road, towards Loch Lomond. We had been here in May during an attempt to ski Mt. Bancroft, which ended about 1000 ft below the summit in knee-deep spring snow due to poor freezes the previous nights.

Parking was slim, with no formal parking lots and about a dozen cars near the top of the road from hikers camping above the gate. We crossed a 100-foot snowfield shortly after the gate, and from there the route was snow-free. We hiked to Loch Lomond, and then needed to gain the upper plateau containing Lake Caroline. In the Spring, snow offered us easy passage over the dense willows in the area, and we underestimated the route-finding. After spending too much time wandering through deep brush we made it up to Lake Caroline.

From Lake Caroline, we started up the ridge. The scrambling starts off easy, mostly class 2 and a little class 3 for for the first major section. The rock was solid and it was easy to stay ridge-proper.

Shelby climbing the first obstacle on the ridge.Not too far into the ridge climb we came to the rappel. Two spots had been used, one on top of the ridge and one about 20 feet down. The anchor had two well-seated and undamaged strands of webbing, along with a length of cord through two rappel rings. After confirming there was no damage, we threaded the rope through the rappel rings and I rigged my rappel.

The anchor contained two independent loops of red webbing and a cord. All three were soft and free from rodent damage or abrasion, and were passed through two rappel rings. We used the anchors as they were.The rappel was not long, maybe 40ft, and mostly vertical. I rappelled to the saddle and Shelby followed shortly after.

The next hurdle is immediately after the rappel, a short lower 5th class climb up the opposite side of the notch. I pulled and flaked the rope while Shelby racked up  or the climb. (Somehow neither of us took any images of this wall).  I belayed  Shelby as she lead the wall, and with a couple pieces in she disappeared over the  op. Shelby built an anchor off of a large rock at the top and I followed up shortly. This climb was not much more challenging than some of the other sections of the  ridge, and if you didn't need the rope for the rappel we likely wouldn't recommend  t just for this section, but it was fun for Shelby to place some protection during the  climb.

It was short, while Shelby set up the anchor I kiwi coiled the rest to reduce the  mount of rope Shelby would have to pull up over the cliff.From here we  deconstructed the anchor, put away the the climbing gear and continued up the ridge. Several class 4 sections from here provided substantial exposure to the cliffs above Lake Caroline, but mostly with solid hand and foot holds.

Clouds were starting to build, and the ridge difficulty dropped off for the
final one-third of the climb. We progressed to the lower summit of Bancroft,
then traversed around to the southeast ridge to hike back down. We did not go to
the true summit, and figured we would eventually get up there when we came back
to ski the peak.

A steep jeep trail intersects the ridge at about the elevation of Lake Caroline. The trail makes for easy route-finding back down to Loch Lamond, and eventually the car. We started early this day to avoid weather, and it started raining just as we made it to the car.

The east ridge of Bancroft provides a fun, semi-technical front range scramble
with easy access, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to add a
rope to their scrambles.