Climbing the Great Dihedral, Rocky Mountain National Park

On August 20th, 2023, I guided one climber up the Great Dihedral route on Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. This route climbs the intimidating North Face of Hallett Peak, one of the most photographed peaks in the country. The routes on this face require about 1 hour and 15 minutes of approach time from Bear Lake Trailhead. Emerald Lake, right below the face, provides a beautiful backdrop for the day’s climb.

Hallett Peak’s vertical North Face, on the left, is home to some of the best (and yet attainable) climbing in Colorado. The Great Dihedral route is drawn in yellow.

The Great Dihedral is roughly 8 pitches long, and climbs for about 800 vertical feet from the rocky talus field below the face to the top. Climbing difficulties are in the 5.7 range, with the crux pitch coming at the clean dihedral, or corner, that gives the route its name.

Hunter in the middle of the Great Dihedral pitch (5.7) on Hallett Peak.

Pitch after pitch of clean corners and incut edges on both sides of the corner allow fun but technical progress up the wall.

Hunter climbs through the upper pitches of the Great Dihedral on Hallett Peak

After about 3 and a half hours of climbing, we topped out on the summit plateau of Hallett Peak. A glacier-blue Lake Haiyaha and towers Longs Peak behind provided a fine backdrop for a pause on top of the route. After two rappels and some down-scrambling, we were back at the car about 7 hours after we had left the parking lot in the morning. It was a beautiful day of climbing in the mountains on excellent rock with a good friend.

Hunter on the summit plateau of Hallett Peak, with Longs Peak and Lake Haiyaha in the background.

featured in this post:

alpine climbing in rocky mountain national park

Climb the high summits of Colorado’s Front Range. From $650 per person.