All Locations > S Dakota > Custer SP > Cathedral Spires

Spire Two Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Routes in Spire Two

L › R R › L A › Z

	Aspire To T 5.8- 5b 16 VI- 14 VS 4c
	East Face T 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b
	Jan and Jane Route T 5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b PG13
	Route 4 T 5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a
	Stone of Tangible Truth T 5.12+ 7c 28 IX 27 E6 6b

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Elevation:	6,556 ft	1,998 m
GPS:	43.8486, -103.53474 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	15,690 total · 58/month
Shared By:	Peter Gram on Jul 11, 2002 · Updates
Admins:	Peter Gram, Greg Parker, Mikel Madsen, Mark Rafferty Page Updates (admin only)

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Description

Spire Two is the second spire from the left when looking at the Cathedral Spires from the parking lot. This is a large spire, and it requires around 3 pitches to get to the top. This rock and Spire Four are probably the two most commonly climbed spires in the whole area. An excellent 5.4 climbs the east side.

Route: follow the obvious gully up and right. The first pitch ends as you turn up and right out of view from your belayer. Pitch 2 ends further up and inside the gully on a nice belay ledge with chains for a rap. Pitch 3 begins by squeezing between the blocks and climbing up to a ledge for a bolt protecting a 5.7 face move onto the rock. End the pitch on this formation, or step across to the larger detached summit further north.

Descend by rappelling from the summit following the East Face route. Two ropes are necessary except for the third pitch needs only one.

Getting There

Follow trail #4 from the Cathedral Spires parking lot towards the spires. When the trail turns left and starts uphill just before (left of) the spires, there are two options:

1) Continue uphill on the trail to the backside of the spires. As the trail enters a valley and starts to contour, look for a climber trail on the right. The climber trail begins approximately around 43° 50' 56.0364", -103° 32' 7.332" or, in decimal form, 43.848899, -103.53537. The climber trail may not be the most obvious but follows a rock path. Follow this up to a notch in the spires near the Station 13 spire. The climber trail will lead to a notch that is right at the base of Route 4 on Spire 2. From this notch, International Chimney on Spire 3 will be clearly visible up and left. In 2020, this is the approach the vast majority of climbers are doing to reach Balcony Point, Spire 2 and Spire 3.

2) Take one of the three climber trails that leave from the right side of the main trail. Wander up the slope about 200 yards to the second gully on the left, which is the gully between Spire 2 and Spire 3. Head steeply up this gully (with Rubaiyat Spire at the bottom) about 300 yards. Balcony Point and Spire 2 are at the the top of the gully on the left. The most commonly climbed route on Spire 2 is the East Face, the base of which is easily identified by a large, flat staging area. In 2020, very few people were using this approach.