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Bear Creek Wall
Idaho
> Central Idaho
> Lost River Range
Description
THIS AREA IS A WORK IN PROGRESS WHILE THE OLD CODGERS WHO DEVELOPED IT TRY TO REMEMBER WHAT THE HECK THEY DID 20 YRS AGO. PLEASE BE PATIENT. If you see blatant errors at this stage in the guide writing please Personal Message me and I will correct them.
This is an East facing wall of good quality limestone on the SW side of the Lost River Range near the town of Leslie. The climbs have mixed protection, taking advantage of the features of the rock for clean gear when available. The climbs are well under vertical and reward competent footwork. There are few routes here which would be called sport climbs. Today you might call them adventure climbs. Back then it was just called climbing. Be prepared for a non-standard US limestone climbing experience.
Getting There
This describes access from the South. From Arco, follow US 93 North through the towns of Moore and Darlington to Leslie whence Pass Creek Road takes off to the right (North). Follow this road through The Narrows, past Mill Creek, Methodist Creek to Bear Creek (all on the left). It is two decades since I have been up the Bear Creek road so I do not know its condition, or where the current legally drivable part ends. Use good judgement and park sooner rather than later. Please do not thrash this place or cause access problems because you drove where you shouldn't. The crag is plainly obvious and the walk is about 40 minutes.
There are four distinct sections.... The Lower Tier, The Left Side, The Main Wall, and the Right Flank.
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Hailey, ID
Access note: The upper part of the Bear Creek road is rough and narrow. Without serious 4wd or an ATV you will likely park at a lower trail head - about a mile from Pass Creek road and just before an obvious 4wd section. From the parking spot, (ignore the dead-end trail on the right) walk about 15 minutes up the the road to a trail head w FS sign. Follow the well trodden trail toward the Bear Creek Lake another 10 minutes until it leaves the drainage and cuts steeply up the hill to the right. From the spot where the trail cuts up the hill, scramble along the right side of the stream for a hundred yards, then drop to cross the creek. There's an old logging road (super hard to spot) that starts here. Cross the creek and look for a cairn before some bushes and a big fallen tree - that you will likely end up ducking under. The grown-over road then becomes easier to follow, trends left, then back right for maybe a quarter mile, until a rock cairn marks the spot to cut up to the crag. The FA'ers original trail is pretty much gone low down, but becomes visible closer to the wall. Plan on an hour or so approach from the lower parking spot. Aug 9, 2018
Some of your old friends say you probably don't care that anyone ever follows your footsteps, lol. Unless the reason you take the time to post these is that you actually do care and don't want people to wreck them. With that in mind, I know a lot of climbers out there hope you'll consider revisiting and documenting your old climbs a little more.
The most obvious reason we're glad you posted these is that we don't want to tread on your lines. Considering the ethics of the day, it might be easy to climb some of these old lines without seeing any of the pins or bolts you left in place. It's super hard to discern what you did or didn't do. Leaving us a list of climbs helps. I guess.
Many of your lines were groundbreaking when established. You were first, so you got to choose the style and spacing of the protection. However, repeating them 30 years later is a lot different than repeating them 1 year later. Now that people are finding and trying them, how do you want us to treat them? I assume you want them left as is. What about the climbs with pitons placed on lead or slings from the FA?
Many of the pins, slings or fixed tricams are crazy dangerous to replace, due to where they are on the route and how they were placed. (see Black Table) Most of the time, those old pitons and rotten slings are relics of your FA.
Should we lead up to it, cut the old webbing, then re-tie new webbing? (ew!)
Should we pull the old rusted piton out with our fingers, then reinsert by hand?
Should we hammer it out, then pound in a new one?
Or should we just make it last and replace it with a bolt.
Somehow, I'm pretty sure you don't want that last option, lol.
Sincerely,
Clay (Someone who you gave tenesmus. Several times.) Nov 24, 2018
Hailey, ID