GC4ECG4 Electrifying!
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 06/15/2013 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 28.610 W105° 53.508 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
                 

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The boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park in the northwestern portion of the Park traverses across the exciting terrain of the Never Summer Mountains. It crosses the summit of Thunder Mountain (12,060 feet), continues westward through Lulu Mountain (12,228), drops to Thunder Pass, continues west across Point 12,018 (referred to by back-country advocates as “The Electrode”), and rises to the summit of Static Peak (12,580). Static is the northwestern-most spot in the Park. At Static Peak, the Park’s border turns sharply south and crosses the top of Mount Richthofen (12,940) before continuing almost due south along the spine of the Never Summers, bisecting a series of fantastic mountains named after various cloud formations. All of the above-named peaks lie on a convoluted twist of the Continental Divide. It’s a very special place!

The boundary from Thunder Mountain to Mount Richthofen is shared with Routt National Forest. So on the very top of Static Peak it’s possible to stand with one foot in Rocky Mountain National Park and the other in the National Forest. Views from the summit of Static are indescribable. From this location the perspective/profile of the amazing Nokhu Crags to the north is mind-boggling. And the fabulous scenery across the American Basin that begins in the cirque immediately below Static’s sheer north face is unforgettable.

Static Peak and it's Long East Ridge

Reaching the cache takes serious work. It's very close to the summit of Static. Two routes to this summit are feasible for the non-technical climber: one, from the Lake Agnes Trailhead in Colorado State Forest State Park, requires an ascent of Mount Richthofen in order to access Static–and then a reascent of Richthofen on the return. The other begins at the American Lakes Trailhead (also in the State Park) and a wonderful hike to Snow Lake, nestled in the cirque below Static. From there, a climb of the remarkable East Ridge of Static (challenging, yet non-technical) will bring a cache-seeker to ground zero. This route should not be used by inexperienced people, as it involves some route-finding and negotiating a lengthy knife-edge ridge that has extreme exposure. Even with the exposure, ropes and rock protection gear are unnecessary, but prior experience is appropriate except for the truly adventuresome person who grooves on interesting challenges. If you don’t have a State Park’s pass, you will need to pay a $7 parking/access fee for either of these trailheads.

The cache is a small, heavy-duty face cream jar, wrapped in camo tape. It’s hidden in a nook formed by several adjoining rocks and covered by a few small rocks to keep the container from “migrating”. But that specific description is useless, because everything in the summit vicinity looks like this! So review and print out the two SPOILER photos before you go after the cache! The blue pen in one of the photos points to the hide. The container is exactly 25 feet from the Static Peak summit cairn, toward the peak’s saddle with Nokhu Crags. Use of the spoiler photos combined with patience should certainly score a “find” for you. Please be careful to rehide and cover the cache as you found it, so it stays in place when winds and winter snows blast the hide area.

With the lineup of Thunder Mountain, Thunder Pass, The Electrode, and Static Peak, this is truly an “electrifying” location. Today, on my third climb of this exciting mountain, it became even more electrifying: on our descent, just as we reached the far end of the knife edge ridge, a sudden lightning/thunder storm sparkled the nearby skies and provided an intense sound backdrop...

Plan for a full day’s effort to get this cache, and be certain to take time to sit at the summit and enjoy the stunning scenery laid out in all directions around you. It would be difficult to find a place where such overwhelming views are in every direction you look. Go with one or more companions, and make certain you advise someone of your exact plans.

07/24/2017 By icezebra11
This cache has been out for a little over four years and yesterday it received just its second visitor! I am currently taking the Colorado Mountain Club's Basic Mountaineering Course. The course has 12 students and is broken up into four teams of three students and two instructors. For our required route finding trip our team chose to climb Static Peak and Mount Richthofen, beginning at the Lake Agnes trailhead and making a clockwise loop. We all met at 3:30 am in Fort Collins and headed up Poudre Canyon, arriving at the trailhead at about 5:45 am. The five of us were on the trail by 6 am.

We hiked to American Lakes by following the Michigan ditch trail to the point it turns south to gain the ridge just northeast of the lakes. From there we followed the trail until we reached the top of the ridge between the Michigan Lakes and Snow Lake. From that point the trail hiking was definitely over!

We headed south and then west, up Static Peak's east ridge. When thinking of a description of the ridge I have to use the term a friend used to describe the west ridge of Quandary Peak after he, Denali41, and I made that climb - "sporty"!! The east ridge of Static is a Class 3 scramble that is fairly sustained with a good bit of exposure in places. It's definitely not one to try if you have a fear of heights. It took us about one hour and 15 minutes to reach the summit from the time we started up the ridge at Snow Lake.

After arriving at the peak I pulled out the spoiler photos and began my search for the cache. I'm sure glad I had them with me because Denali wasn't kidding when he said "everything in the vicinity looks like this!" After a bit of searching I located the well hidden container. It was in perfect condition with just Silver Trekker's signature on the log, until mine was added that is.

After having a bite to eat, we headed south down the ridge and made the climb up to the summit of Richthofen. Then the worst part of the trip was next, a miserable descent down the extremely loose scree on Richthofen's west ridge. Once down to the saddle with Mahler we all groused about how "unfun" that descent was. But we were able to offset some of that misery with some fun glissading down several snow fields above Lake Agnes!

All morning the weather had been wonderful but like a typical July day, clouds started building around the time we were descending the scree. But it held off until we were only about 0.3 miles from the vehicles when it started sprinkling on us. We arrived back at the trailhead at 3 pm. We were all pretty stoked about the great day we had on the mountains!!

Thanks Denali41 for placing this cache!!! It's well deserving of the 5T rating but oh was it fun getting there. It sure got the current going in my veins!!!

06/21/2013 By Silver Trekker
FTF Thanks, Denali41, for provoking another ascent of that seriously fun peak! I share your fondness for the Static summit with its "indescribable views"! The entire area is very special. The surrounding electrifying peaks and all of their approaches compose a wonderful 4 season playground! I have Electroded, Thundered, Staticed, as well as Lulued, Ironed, and Richtoffed (to name a few) in rain or shine....and have ended each trip feeling more energized! TFTC, and TFTspoilers

06/16/2013 By Alpine Reviewer
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