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MacGregor Slab
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Due to the ugly weather this last weekend, May 6th, 2003, a little exploration was all we cared to do, and MacGregor Slab seemed like a good choice. It's been something we've wanted to look over more closely anyway, and a beer in Estes Park afterwards sounded good too.

While this slab is not vertical, having a number of trees growing on it, it looks like fun, with lots of moderate multi-pitch climbing, probably 500 to 600 feet in length. The route that has my eye is "Climbing with the Camel Man" going right of center. It's a five pitch climb, ranging from 5.4 up to 5.8. Facing basically south, it looks like a good spring warm up. While there is still too much snow around the bottom right now, another month will probably melt it off. Sure, Lumpy Ridge is just down the road, however, I like the thought of escaping the crowds at times, and I don't think this formation gets a lot of traffic. The approach is steep, but takes only 30 or 40 minutes, depending on how out of shape you are.

Standing at the base of the slab, I realized that this formation is not as steep as it looks from the road, reminding me of a Flatiron style of climbing. I suspect protecting sections of this slab could be tricky though. Probably, a wide range of pro, including tri-cams, stoppers, and cams will be the best way to go.

MacGregor Slab, near the Fall River entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado


Area Guide books

www.bn.com
Rock and Ice Climbing Rocky Mountain National Park: The Crag Areas


www.mountain-n-air.com
Rocky Mountain National Park The CLIMBER'S Guide Volume # 1: ESTES PARK VALLEY