Trip
Scramble – RMNP - Wild Basin TH - Thunder Lake camping
The campgrounds at Thunder Lake in the Wild Basin are a great base for nearby scrambling objectives including: The Continental Divide, Boulder-Grand Pass, Mt Alice, Pilot Mountain, The Cleaver, and Tanima Peak. Participants of the NoCo ASC will be given preference for this trip.
Contacts
- Fri, Sep 26, 2025 — Sun, Sep 28, 2025
- Northern Colorado
- Scrambling
- Adults
- Moderate
- Mileage: 12.0 mi
- Elevation Gain: 2,500 ft
- High Point Elevation: 13,300 ft
- 6 (8 capacity)
- FULL (2 capacity)
- Cancellation & Refund Policy
Skills needed for this trip include backpacking essentials as well as alpine scrambling skills learned in a course such as Northern Colorado group's ASC. We will be scrambling on up to 4th class terrain on Pilot Mountain. The Cleaver is 3rd class and Mt Alice is 2+.
This is a 3-day / 2 night backpacking scrambling trip. The leaders have secured a permit for 10 people at Thunder Lake campground which includes parking passes but we will want to carpool as much as possible. The trip starts on Friday afternoon with a 6 mile backpack from the Wild Basin trailhead where we will set up camp for 2 nights. From there we plan on 2 days of scrambles (Sat & Sun) to nearby objectives described in the summary. We will backpack out on Sunday afternoon.
Required Equipment
Backpacking gear including a tent or bivy and means of cooking and water purification.
Scrambling gear including a smaller scrambling daypack, possibly alternate footgear although hiking boots can be used, collapsible hiking poles, helmet, harness, means of prusik, microspikes.
The usual 10 hiking essentials is also needs for this trip.
As this trip is scheduled for late September you should be prepared for possibly colder weather, even rain or snow. Remember you will be on the Continental Divide at high elevation in the alpine.
The leaders will bring ropes and anchor gear to place a fixed line on the 4th class terrain (Pilot Mountain) to safely manage the "enormous exposure"