Shell Canyon Spire, as seen from the hike up below...
Description
The obvious blocky tower that sits a few hundred feet above the Beef Trail. I'm almost positive this tower is composed of the Madison Limestone layer, despite its close proximity to the Bighorn Dolomite cliff-band. I do not know the history of this tower; it has obviously seen several ascents prior to my recent climb, but I've never seen any info on who did it, what route they took, or what the proper name of the tower is. If you know any more about this tower's past ascents, please contribute here! On our recent ascent of the North Face, I was somewhat surprised to roll over onto the summit and see a very rusty large angle piton with completely faded rap sling fixed in a crack above the North Face, which offers the shortest, cleanest rappel line. There were also a bunch of slings tied together around one of the large summit boulders with an aluminum rap ring; also quite faded, but slightly newer looking. It appears that the tower has seen at least a couple of ascents, and different parties have used different these different anchors. The trailside face of the tower is blocky, ledgy and presents a relatively easy (mid 5th class) looking route; this is presumably the route taken on previous ascents of the tower. All three of the other aspects of the tower are much steeper, more compact, and offer much harder route possibilities. No evidence suggests any of the other faces had previously been climbed.
Getting There
Follow the approach directions in the area overview.
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