Climbing Near Nye, Montana

Limestone Palisades, located right next to Benbow Road. A lot of potential for new and future lines to be put up. Cracks are a little chosy and vegetation filled, with some effort, there could be some limited single pitch trad potential. Two routes climbed using the same top rope anchor, large tree at the ledge 3/4 of the way up the face (easily/safely accessed from the top, blue line). The left most line (Red line), J.R.'s Crumble follows a large flake system up and left, approximately 5.4-5.5. The other route, Sunday Afternoon (green line), starts just right of J.R.'s Crumble and follows a faint depression in the face of the slab, be ready for a number of side pulls and good reaches. From Columbus, MT drive south on Hwy 78 for 17 miles to Rockin J. Turn right onto Nye Rd. Continue on Nye Rd. for 14 miles to Benbow road (left hand turn, there is a sign for Beartooth Christian Camp). Drive up Benbow road, 6.2 miles, past the old Benbow Mill, and 'big switch back' and park on the right side of the road immedately in front of the large palisade. There is a fair amount of vegitation at the base of the crag but a good belay area is available. A faint climbers trail can be found up the climbers left of the crag for access to the top rope.

A gorgeous river drainage providing access to the Beartooth Mountains. This area has numerous cliffs and boulders above a picturesque river. From Columbus, head south. At Absarokee, head west on either MT 419 or 420 to Nye. Continue through Nye until you hit the end of the road

The North Face of Mt. Wood is a complicated and all around beautiful alpine mess, offering several recorded routes on rock, snow, and alpine ice/glaciers. There are also many lines that likely remain unexplored and await an FA, but since this is Montana you can never be too sure whether some intrepid (or bored) dirtbag beat you to the punch 40-50 years ago ;). In my limited experience the rock quality can vary greatly but generally ranges from "OK" to "great", like much of the Beartooths.Getting to the N face of Mt. Wood is no easy task - be prepared to do as much hiking as you do climbing. Like with most alpine outings (especially in MT), you'll be rewarded with solitude and an adventurous experience in the heart of mountain wilderness, the joy of getting out to the middle of nowhere and finding your way to the top of a pile of rocks.There are two main ways to get to the base of Mt. Wood's north face, and neither is quick or pleasant. Both start from the old Benbow mine (see the main Mt. Wood page). I only have experience with the Stillwater Plateau approach, so that is described in the most detail in the "Getting There" section. WEST FISHTAIL CREEK APPROACHSupposedly you can approach the N face via the West Fishtail Creek drainage. From the mine, you'd have to follow an old mining road S to Chrome Lake. After that, you'd strike off cross-country, heading SE up and over a ridge, then dropping down the other side of the ridge to W Fishtail Creek. Following the creek/drainage SW and S will eventually get you to the West Fishtail Lakes. There is supposedly good camping around the highest of the lakes. At this point, Mt. Wood should be looming large and obvious above you.This approach will involve A LOT of bushwhacking, although there is more info floating around online that makes it sound not too bad. It looks to be about 8.5 miles to the highest lake. Terrain on the S and E side of the drainage might be more friendly, but you'll likely have to hop to one side or the other a little bit.STILLWATER PLATEAU APPROACH (conditions from 9/3/2022)If you have a lower clearance or non-4WD vehicle, park at the Benbow mine. If you have a tougher rig, you can continue driving for the next steps. Follow old mining roads, switchbacking up to the west. Have a map or some offline navigation available for this, since there is a maze of old mining roads. Eventually you'll start to head S/SW and get to a big clearing known as the "Golf Course". Follow the road across the clearing, through one more stand of trees, to the Stillwater Plateau trailhead. If you're still driving, park here. The segment from Benbow to the TH is about 2.6 miles and 600 ft. of gain.From here, start off on the trail across Stillwater Plateau. Eventually the trail will peter out; just keep heading south, rambling across the plateau, steadily gaining elevation. It is a long and interminable hike, even by Beartooth standards, over totally exposed terrain in excess of 10,000 ft. - be mindful about afternoon thunderstorms here. This lasts about 5 miles and you'll gain about another 2500 ft.Eventually you'll start to see the N face and the saddle between Mt. Wood and the Stillwater Plateau. You can scope a lot of the routes from here. Contour along the SW aspect of the plateau, then turn to the E and start descending to the glacial bowl BEFORE you reach the saddle proper; if you try to head straight down from the saddle it will cliff out. This will lose approximately 1500 ft. The descent is pretty uncomfortable on steep, loose scree, and a little puckering in places, but for the most part OK. It sucks but it won't kill you.We found a good spot for a couple bivies on the moraine below the N face, at about 10,100 ft., and there was running water nearby from melting snow/ice; we didn't have to hike all the way to the Fishtail lakes. Supposedly there is good camping at the lakes, and maybe some fishing as well, but it will add length more to your day.Parking at Benbow mine, I clocked the approach at just under 9 miles. By Labor Day there was no water on the entire approach; this will vary based on the time of year and snowpack, but in general don't expect to find much water along the way.