Buffalo Creek Spire Climbing

Buffalo Creek Spire is already mentioned in the "Obscure Buffalo Creek Rocks" subsection of South Platte's Buffalo Creek area listing. It’s almost an afterthought, however, and should not be. It‘s a spectacular spire with a short, almost flat approach, and for folks wishing to venture out on their first aid leads, it is a great little treasure. Surrounded on all sides with a ledge system, it allows for a sprawling, ideal place to spend a day belaying from Crazy Creek chairs and swapping out sharp ends amid great views of the Platte. There‘s even an old, OLD school 5.10 (with a 5.9 variation) to offer a deal for folks in exchange for a belay on one of the aid lines.

In that regard, the Spire has largely been treated as a place to train for aid climbing by clipping up the ancient bolt ladders that adorn three of the Spire's four faces, and while Jason Haas's, Ben Schneider's, and Craig Weinhold's excellent South Platte Climbing: The Northern Volume notes that "no routes have ever gone to the top via ... the steep, overhanging west face," this is no longer the case. Recently, the West Face produced a line that provides a lovely little iron outing as well.