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Bear Creek Spire, 9 July 2005 - thumbnails -
Thursday night Mike and I passed a few emails back and forth. At first we leaned toward Venusian Blind on Temple Crag, but when he suggested the North Arete of Bear Creek Spire, I jumped at it. Friday night we were on our way, arriving at the Mosquito Flat trailhead right at midnight.
Saturday morning we were awake and on the trail just before 6 on a beautifully cool and clear morning. The trail follows the pattern of rising to the next lake, descending to cross the inlet or outlet, walking around the lake, and then rising to the next. At Gem Lake we broke the cycle. There were some small snowfields left on the trail before this, but at the south shore of Gem, the snow began in earnest. We saw a twosome ahead of us traversing the snow, and it looked like they were having a heck of a time without crampons. We strapped our crampons onto our boots and away we went. Up through more lakes we went, hitting the last at Dade Lake. BCS was always in our sites, and after reading the topos, we had no doubt which buttress composed the North Arete. What a fantastic looking line!
We arrived at the base of the arête and scrambled up a small amount of rock to get to a starting position. The two ahead of us had chosen the same route and appeared to be simulclimbing the 2nd pitch. I asked for the first lead, a 5.7 that looked short and not bad. A few smearing open-book moves and I was at the top belaying Mike up. The second pitch was also 5.7, but we had an array of dihedrals from which to choose. Mike picked one that was probably a harder variation (5.9?) as it was a little desperate, but doable. We switched leads again for the third and fourth pitches, and I asked Mike to stay on for the 5th pitch, the 5.8 crux, after some photo ops. As it turns out, it was much easier than our second pitch! A series of flakes make it easy to sidepull, but there isn’t much to pull or push down on. Our solution was to jamb our feet into the cracks between the flakes, and then it wasn’t bad at all.
I took the sixth pitch, more 4th classing, including a small tunnel through that was a pain with the ice axe sticking out of the pack! The rope drag was horrific. We continued trading leads through 4th class rock (fun!) except for one diversion to the right. A mistake in navigation, and suddenly I’m following a scary traverse and face climb on crumbly rock. Sure enough, a hold popped off and I took a small fall. This certainly wasn’t 4th class! Looking back, if you stay on the ridge to the top, you’ll stay on the good stuff.
We got to the summit area and spied the infamous boulder problem. Since Mike had me on belay, I went over first. The rope really was only going to be good for body retrieval if I fell, but the hold on the boulder looked good. I just stood up on them and touched the top, but sitting on it wouldn’t have been bad. Mike and I switch spots, with Mike getting the glory photo shots since I had the only camera.
Although the downclimb from the summit was possible, we were tired and didn’t want to screw something up. We rappelled down 30m, and then took off for the notch. It was late, and we wanted to be off the steep stuff before dark. I expected to rappel again at the top of the notch, but the advertised 3rd and 4th class rocks were easily downclimbed. We didn’t even face into the mountain. We reached the snow, postholed a few times, and then the glissade was on. More plunge stepping ensued down to Dade Lake, where the sun cups and gentle slope took over. The cups beat us down like rented mules, and by the time we reached dry land at Gem Lake we were exhausted and totally darked upon. Willpower got us the rest of the way out, arriving at the car at 11 pm, another 17 hour effort!
I loved the climb, and would do it again as a multi-day trip. The rock was good quality, with enough challenging pitches mixed in with 4th class fun. A great way to get to the top!
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