My brother and I used the recommended route of Kent Dannens book which said to head nw up to the north ridge right before the trail turns and starts to drop towards sandbeach. Seemed like a good plan however I think we wasted a lot of time bushwacking and circumventing random piles of boulders and downed trees that way. Your way looked a little smoother. Anyway, thanks for making it to chiefshead for those of us that didn't!
@@nicksangetta8874 I dont think we went uphill or north enough to get to hunters creek, but area was pretty dense. First time truly bushwacking so I'm sure there's a learning curve involved. When we came down we headed more directly towards sandbeach as seen from ridge which certainly helps, and came out right at the northernmost part of the lake.
@@andrewjensen6305 Seems like anything north of Sandbeach is really dense. Thats some serious whackin in there. I thought it was pretty difficult. Gonna have to do it once more when I try for Pagoda from that direction. Next year though.
Wow, pagoda looks so intense from that angle Godspeed! There was a father and son camping at the lake that said they were doing pagoda the next morning, glad to see that were packing helmets!
Great video! I had a hike-fail on this same route in Aug. 2018 and turned back at about 12,600 (about @5:40 in your vid). As you say, it is no-joke serious. Your video is great motivation to give it another try in 2021!
Another great video. I've been binge watching a bunch of your content today, brother. The more I watch, the more pumped I am about getting back out there! I cannot wait!
Everything is starting to get really green up here. Flowers will be poppin. I cant wait until the snow melts and I can do some big hikes again! Its gonna be awesome.
I was wondering which route you were going to take. That's such a long way with so much elevation gain that I'm surprised you made it look so easy. I'm glad you went with someone because a twisted knee up there could have been a real problem. Can you even get a phone signal from up on Orton Ridge?
It might have looked easy but it wasnt! That was a long day and I was losing my motivation going around those huge rocks on Orton. But we kept going. I think its more of a mental challenge because there is nothing technically hard on this hike, its just a grind. I dont remember if my phone worked on Orton. I think it did on Chiefs, but not sure.
Congrats to you both for Chiefs Head! What a gorgeous view! I'm, as always, envious that you have better knees than I do lol. I'd so love to be able to do hikes like this one but alas I am required to stick to less steep treks or I'd be in a world of hurt. I think I speak for others when I say thanks for taking us along. I really had assumed you'd done Chiefs and was surprised to learn it was your first summit. I hope you have more new ones this year. Thanks again, beautiful video!
I got some more new hikes coming! Mostly all in Rocky Mountain National Park. Just gonna take me until at least January to edit them all. That's where the real work is. The hiking is the easy part.
Not sure about others, but for me getting to summit a mountain virtually is probably the next best thing to doing it in person haha. It's always the trek then that view that makes hiking so amazing. All of your work is definitely appreciated!
Nick - I was at Sandbeach Lake today looking for the path shown at 1:55 and could not find it. I went along the two social trails on the north side of the lake one gravely and close the water - the other a little farther up until each seemed to peter out. Do you happen to have GPS coordinates for that point or can you perhaps point me to a site that has a route from SB Lake to Mount Orton that I could upload to me 64st GPS?
@@nicksangetta8874 Thank you for the quick response Nick - I'll do a find on those coordinates next time I'm up there. I went about 300 ft vertically above the lake following what appeared to be wildlife trails and didn't find much of anything and turned around on that first attempt to get to Mt. Orton.
@@brianfrancis5548 Its kinda tricky in there, but if you find the trail it busts through the trees to that rocky spot where Jamie stashed his water. Then you go up the really steep grassy hill with the cairns. I mean I messed it up the first time I tried and we went all the way around the south side of the lake. Ha!
I have only gone to the summit via wild basin > lion lakes > saddle between Alice and Chiefs Head > west facing ridge. This looks quite a bit harder to me due to the steep sections from sand beach lake to Orton and the bolder hoping toward the top of the north ridge.
I want to try the route up the Alice saddle next year. I am only worried about that one move near the top that looks narrow. I dont do good with the exposed climbing.
@@nicksangetta8874 I have read comments with people talking about exposure but I experienced none. I went up the west slope via the easiest route I could see maybe a little bit to the right of center. Just before the top there was a vertical rock split in two maybe 10 feet high or so. I could see no where to go left or right around it so I turned sideways and entered the split in the rock. Pushed up with my legs a few times and I was at the top or it. From there a short easy walk to the summit and summit register. Came back down the same way. This was in 2014 so not sure if the summit register is still in the container at this point.
That was an epic, long hike!! Beautiful shots from the tundra. You guys did great. We thought it was just like you to also get Mt. Orton's summit on the way down! I always appreciate your extra tips on how to do things better (how to approach Mr Orton f.e.) Thank you for sharing another great hiking video of our home away from home RMNP! Your #1 Tennessee Fans: T & S
My wish list of hikes never seems to get smaller. I just keep finding new ones to add to it. There are so many features to hike to in RMNP its insane. I feel like a person could spend 10 years trying to do them all.
@@nicksangetta8874 I recently did Snowdrift Peak. You can hit it from Bear Lake TH via Flattop but I climbed via Green Mtn TH on the west. Much harder than it looked on paper thanks to the 5 miles of bushwhacking on the ridge with Patterson (total r/t was just 14 mi though). Looked like I was the 4th ascent of the year according to the summit register. Highly recommended for your list!
@@nicksangetta8874 that would be great to see (but I don't remember a single non-windy day on the divide!). I want to try it from that side some day to compare. the western approach is actually mostly below treeline so wind is not a problem, but it was hellishly hot with some patches of dense deadfall
@@alquinn8576 I just did Granite Falls the other day and got some views of Green and Patterson. Looks savage to get through those trees and up to Snowdrift. I bet that was a tough hike! Books says its over 11 miles out from the Green mtn TH! Only 8.3 out from Bear Lake TH.. but a 16.6 mile day might be my longest! Once on Flattop it seems like an easy and pretty flat tundra walk over. Just long. I cant even get over to the west side now because of fire. Its pretty much at Flatiron now so they got the entire north side of park shut down. Trail Ridge and Old Fall River Road are closed. The trail from Corral Creek is annihilated. Glad I was able to do Comanche Peak and Mirror Lake before the fire.
Thanks for taking me along
My brother and I used the recommended route of Kent Dannens book which said to head nw up to the north ridge right before the trail turns and starts to drop towards sandbeach. Seemed like a good plan however I think we wasted a lot of time bushwacking and circumventing random piles of boulders and downed trees that way. Your way looked a little smoother. Anyway, thanks for making it to chiefshead for those of us that didn't!
You went up by Hunters Creek? I bet that was pretty hard! I came back down that way from Meeker and I was cussin.
@@nicksangetta8874 I dont think we went uphill or north enough to get to hunters creek, but area was pretty dense. First time truly bushwacking so I'm sure there's a learning curve involved. When we came down we headed more directly towards sandbeach as seen from ridge which certainly helps, and came out right at the northernmost part of the lake.
@@andrewjensen6305 Seems like anything north of Sandbeach is really dense. Thats some serious whackin in there. I thought it was pretty difficult. Gonna have to do it once more when I try for Pagoda from that direction. Next year though.
Wow, pagoda looks so intense from that angle Godspeed! There was a father and son camping at the lake that said they were doing pagoda the next morning, glad to see that were packing helmets!
Great video! I had a hike-fail on this same route in Aug. 2018 and turned back at about 12,600 (about @5:40 in your vid). As you say, it is no-joke serious. Your video is great motivation to give it another try in 2021!
Another great video. I've been binge watching a bunch of your content today, brother. The more I watch, the more pumped I am about getting back out there! I cannot wait!
Everything is starting to get really green up here. Flowers will be poppin. I cant wait until the snow melts and I can do some big hikes again! Its gonna be awesome.
Omg! That was beautiful and I must admit I’ve teared up when u reached the top. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
I was wondering which route you were going to take. That's such a long way with so much elevation gain that I'm surprised you made it look so easy. I'm glad you went with someone because a twisted knee up there could have been a real problem. Can you even get a phone signal from up on Orton Ridge?
It might have looked easy but it wasnt! That was a long day and I was losing my motivation going around those huge rocks on Orton. But we kept going. I think its more of a mental challenge because there is nothing technically hard on this hike, its just a grind. I dont remember if my phone worked on Orton. I think it did on Chiefs, but not sure.
I know for certain neither my brother or mine had cell reception on Orton.
Totally enjoying your hikes this morning. Thank you 🧗🏻♂️🏔
Congrats to you both for Chiefs Head! What a gorgeous view! I'm, as always, envious that you have better knees than I do lol. I'd so love to be able to do hikes like this one but alas I am required to stick to less steep treks or I'd be in a world of hurt. I think I speak for others when I say thanks for taking us along. I really had assumed you'd done Chiefs and was surprised to learn it was your first summit. I hope you have more new ones this year. Thanks again, beautiful video!
I got some more new hikes coming! Mostly all in Rocky Mountain National Park. Just gonna take me until at least January to edit them all. That's where the real work is. The hiking is the easy part.
Not sure about others, but for me getting to summit a mountain virtually is probably the next best thing to doing it in person haha. It's always the trek then that view that makes hiking so amazing. All of your work is definitely appreciated!
Nice noncrowded rout to longs/Meeker past the dragons egg
Thanks for ALL your videos!
Thanks so much man. Beautiful.
Should see Morning D.E.W. for world events. West coast changing big time.
I saw a report where it was the Antifatards that were starting the fires.
Nick - I was at Sandbeach Lake today looking for the path shown at 1:55 and could not find it. I went along the two social trails on the north side of the lake one gravely and close the water - the other a little farther up until each seemed to peter out. Do you happen to have GPS coordinates for that point or can you perhaps point me to a site that has a route from SB Lake to Mount Orton that I could upload to me 64st GPS?
My GPS route is a little wonky in that area when I look closely.. but this point should be on it. N 40.220980 W 105.602290
@@nicksangetta8874 Thank you for the quick response Nick - I'll do a find on those coordinates next time I'm up there. I went about 300 ft vertically above the lake following what appeared to be wildlife trails and didn't find much of anything and turned around on that first attempt to get to Mt. Orton.
@@brianfrancis5548 Its kinda tricky in there, but if you find the trail it busts through the trees to that rocky spot where Jamie stashed his water. Then you go up the really steep grassy hill with the cairns. I mean I messed it up the first time I tried and we went all the way around the south side of the lake. Ha!
Love your videos and use them as my ‘guide’ before going on a hike. I always meant to ask you, what camera do you use? Thanks for all the content!
Thanks! Its a Nikon B700. But they discontinued that model.
Nick Sangetta thank you! Keep up the good work!!!
I have only gone to the summit via wild basin > lion lakes > saddle between Alice and Chiefs Head > west facing ridge. This looks quite a bit harder to me due to the steep sections from sand beach lake to Orton and the bolder hoping toward the top of the north ridge.
I want to try the route up the Alice saddle next year. I am only worried about that one move near the top that looks narrow. I dont do good with the exposed climbing.
Apparently it isn’t that bad for exposure. I wanted to do Chiefs Head and Alice today. Crazy talk.... Alice was enough.
@@nicksangetta8874 I have read comments with people talking about exposure but I experienced none. I went up the west slope via the easiest route I could see maybe a little bit to the right of center. Just before the top there was a vertical rock split in two maybe 10 feet high or so. I could see no where to go left or right around it so I turned sideways and entered the split in the rock. Pushed up with my legs a few times and I was at the top or it. From there a short easy walk to the summit and summit register. Came back down the same way. This was in 2014 so not sure if the summit register is still in the container at this point.
One Big One!
Nice looking view from up there.
WOWZER! That was beautiful!
That was an epic, long hike!! Beautiful shots from the tundra. You guys did great. We thought it was just like you to also get Mt. Orton's summit on the way down! I always appreciate your extra tips on how to do things better (how to approach Mr Orton f.e.) Thank you for sharing another great hiking video of our home away from home RMNP! Your #1 Tennessee Fans: T & S
Dude great job y'all! What a long hike and glad y'all got to see some blue skies and clouds 🤟
Awesome man! Great trip to share with you buddy! Look forward to the next!!
that is on epic looking mountain, I thought you were in the Swiss alps.
Hard to believe there are any hikes that you haven’t already done.
Congrats tho. That looked like a very difficult one.
My wish list of hikes never seems to get smaller. I just keep finding new ones to add to it. There are so many features to hike to in RMNP its insane. I feel like a person could spend 10 years trying to do them all.
@@nicksangetta8874 I recently did Snowdrift Peak. You can hit it from Bear Lake TH via Flattop but I climbed via Green Mtn TH on the west. Much harder than it looked on paper thanks to the 5 miles of bushwhacking on the ridge with Patterson (total r/t was just 14 mi though). Looked like I was the 4th ascent of the year according to the summit register. Highly recommended for your list!
@@alquinn8576 It is on my list! Just waiting for a non windy day. Im gonna do it from Flattop. Looks long but relatively easy. I cant wait to do it!
@@nicksangetta8874 that would be great to see (but I don't remember a single non-windy day on the divide!). I want to try it from that side some day to compare. the western approach is actually mostly below treeline so wind is not a problem, but it was hellishly hot with some patches of dense deadfall
@@alquinn8576 I just did Granite Falls the other day and got some views of Green and Patterson. Looks savage to get through those trees and up to Snowdrift. I bet that was a tough hike! Books says its over 11 miles out from the Green mtn TH! Only 8.3 out from Bear Lake TH.. but a 16.6 mile day might be my longest! Once on Flattop it seems like an easy and pretty flat tundra walk over. Just long. I cant even get over to the west side now because of fire. Its pretty much at Flatiron now so they got the entire north side of park shut down. Trail Ridge and Old Fall River Road are closed. The trail from Corral Creek is annihilated. Glad I was able to do Comanche Peak and Mirror Lake before the fire.
Thanks again for the BETA on this hike. Here is a short video from my hike. th-cam.com/video/EgDTfwx6GWI/w-d-xo.html
Wow! Thanks for the awesome shout out, Ian! That was cool! Congrats on getting the summit too. Looks like you had a good day!