The Bear Arete is the right-most climb on the second pitch of the bear. The climb is pretty straight-forward until the second bolt, where it seems that there are plentiful holds to the right, yet they don't go anywhere. Conversely, there are a few less generous holds on the left that will have to suffice. I don't know if we did it right, but we did an up-and-left dyno after the third bolt... it was tough and weird, but fun none-the-less. My main complaint about the route was the lack of traffic it has seen. There was a bunch of loose rock that we knocked off, and moss that covered many important grips and decreased their utility. This also caused the grips to be chock-free, which made the climb seem harder, and more confusing, but more interesting as well!
Protection
7 bolts to 2 bolt anchor. Make sure to clip into the anchors below and to the left of the climb while belaying.
As I participated in the installation of this route years ago it was interesting to read these (now ancient) comments. I have probably lead this climb to the anchors 8-10 times over the past 10 years but never redpointed. My last attempts after a LONG lay off showed that what few attempts have been made here, along with water seepage/ erosion have ultimately made the climb (especially after 3rd bolt crux) thinner and harder. I would say it's slightly harder than the listed grade, more like 5.11 c/d at the crux. This aesthetic line has great position on the cliff, but contains some very average quality rock & climbing moves (as the the above author suggests.) Above the crux, after the fourth bolt,the climbing gets more interesting . . .
Bear, The
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