Black Betty Falls. The Black Betty area is right ...
Description
Small limestone crag close to Spearfish with short approach and moderate routes on interesting rock. Rock is fairly good, but the routes have not been climbed a lot since being put in. I have on two occasions seen a waterfall coming directly down on these routes from the large gulley above after a some particularly heavy downpoors. That being said these routes are close to town and have a short approach. They will clean up with time, and we knocked a few pebbles loose when climbing on them recently. The rock here seems to have a little different charachter with some fairly steep climbing to the cruxes that tend to be just verticle or a little less. the routes face east and will get shade in the afternoon.
Getting There
Drive 5.5 miles up Spearfish Canyon and Park in the Botany Bay parking lot. Walk about 200m back towards Spearfish and ascend the hillside on the west side of the road. Hike up just past a small gully staying on the right side of the gully that becomes larger as you go up. This gully is just north of where ground has fallen away from the cliffside above the road. Routes will be on the left when you get up to the wall. It is hard to see the routes until you get up to the wall.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Black Betty Wall:
Climb over buldge with cool pockets to a vertical face and techncal climbing above. The crux is going between the 2nd and 4th bolts with several other tricky sections above....[more]Browse More Classics in SD
I think this area is awesome. For a while now we've climbed here wondering the grades of these fine routes. In terms of the grades, we guessed about right. The routes are ultra-fun and sandbagging is kept to a minimum on comfortable routes that still offer an atheletic challenge. If you love southern hills comfort footwork but still want kick-ass pockets then this place is a must visit, especially on nice winter days since the black rock heats up to summer-like temperatures. Nice work my friend!
A helmet is defenately in order. There is a lot of cliff above these and these routes were put up around 5 years ago and have seen very little traffic. Some of the pockets have "grown in" a little as run off can be very heavy when there is heavy downpoors, but nice to have a little more variety close to Spearfish. Also if anyone is headed up there I think there is still a hanger and a biner at one of the anchor bolts that could use a cold shut. I would gladdly reimburse someone for the cold shut if they returned the other hardware.
Great, Great Area!! Took the hike up there this evening, little difficult to get there, but well worth it. Some great pride must have been taken in the development of these routes, black painted bolts are a nice touch! It is awesome to see this beautiful crag so close to town! If anyone needs any help finding it send me a message!
The Parking lot is at N44°25.28' W103°52.91' The Trailhead is just down canyon at N44°25.37' W106°52.88'. The area is located at N44°25.40' W103°52.88'. I recommend staying a ways off to the right of the gully that is right in front of the trail head. When the gully runs out, one can see a beautiful crag off to left.
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