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Where’s the Half Dome sized chunk of granite in Montana?
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I’ve been considering Montana for school… this article title has me especially interested: https://www.climbing.com/places/montana-rock-climbing-information/ Sadly I don’t have a subscription. How is the alpine rock scene in Montana? Where is it centered? |
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The "scene" is mostly Bozeman based. That said the rest of Montana keeps pretty quite and still holds onto some of the old school no publish ethic. |
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I haven't read the article, but the "granite" of which the headline speaks is probably actually gneiss or some other metamorphic rock. I can think of some great big vertical walls, though comparing any to Half Dome is a stretch. Not that I climbed any of them when I lived in MT, and I'd reckon they are all but unkown to the vast majority of the hip Bozeman crowd. Too remote, weather too harsh, too adventurous. |
Seth Bleazardwrote: Montana is a great place to climb. As far as Half Dome sized chunk of granite. Blodgett Canyon has great big wall climbs but not Yosemite. I would say Justin Willis is talking Red Lodge surrounding area. Great Alpine and hiking there. As Leslie said. No post ethic for sure in Montana. Meet the locals and you will find all the hidden unpublished crags. Good luck |
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I think I know exactly what they are talking about. Yeah no publish ethic, pretty gnarly approaches, and total isolation is what you get. I think it used to be a 6 mile approach but now I think it’s 12… |
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For OP, article doesn't say where or what, just that a 2000 ft granite dome exists in Montana |
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It’s in Colorado. |
nic houser wrote: Are you thinking Ursus H.? Read something about being an A4 Granite route. That’s also what I was referring to. |
Mitch Steinerwrote: Yup that’s it. I forgot they are granite, for a minute there. Unfortunately have only swung tools there. |
nic houserwrote: Best way to access all that now is via helicopter… gonna be a while. |
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http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201214970/Clarks-Fork-Canyon-The-Chief-Yellow-Wolf |
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The entirety of the Clark’s Fork gorge is in Wyoming, not Montana. There’s a lot of climbing potential in that area but challenging access. |
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Is that longer approach due to the flooding? Can you still drive into the East Fork? |
Nick Goldsmithwrote: The road was destroyed, and I saw that the USFS said it will be 2-3 years before it is repaired. I guess you could hike up from Cooke City instead |
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The other thing about the rock up there is that it is very compact (lack of long continuous crack systems) and prone to being rotten. With the strict no bolting and no publishing ethic I think the area will stay wild for some time. I had a conversation with Pat Callis on a couple of the FAs that he did up there... One pitch was a full rope with two pieces of protection placed between long crumbly runouts. He called it the "Grey Matter Pitch" |
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I’m piggybacking off this forum to find climbers in Montana. I’m out in Missoula and relatively new to climbing but spent my summer in Yosemite learning. How do I find the climbing community out here? Much harder to find than just yelling up at any wall in Yosemite |
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I’m piggybacking off this forum to find climbers in Montana. I’m out in Missoula and relatively new to climbing but spent my summer in Yosemite learning. How do I find the climbing community out here? Much harder to find than just yelling up at any wall in Yosemite |
Jo Stansberrywrote: Jo, I there is a NW Montana facebook group that is active. Also, try partner finder here on MP. |
Jo Stansberrywrote: Jo, you should go to freestone and talk to a bunch of people. The Missoula climbing community is super friendly in my experience. |
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http://straightchuter.com/ursus-horribilis-the-bears-face-1998/ Through a little bit of internet research I was able to locate this pretty awesome trip report of the McLean/Alex Lowe route “Ursus Horribilis” (5.10 A4 1200 ft.) The topo lists this as “Grade 6” despite the route being 1000 ft. shorter than NW face of Half Dome ? Just curious… Is this truly the biggest granite rock wall in Montana ? Or is there maybe something possibly bigger and more obscure that’s been done ? I read about a few Montana Mountains in Glacier National Park which have some class 3/4 alpine routes on poor rock perhaps, not granite. And Not “grade 6” big walls, however, by the definition used in Yosemite. It was fairly easy to research what I believe to be the biggest wall in Wyoming as Mt. Hooker at 1800 ft. “Grade 5” (FA Royal Robbins and others) I felt it should be fairly easy to find the same information within the state of Montana. Perhaps the info is a bit less obvious due to the unpublished ethics, unexplored areas, remote areas, etc ? The Rainbow Wall (sandstone) has been described as the biggest wall in Nevada at (Grade 5, 1100 ft. ) If I recall correctly. Again pretty easy to identify through internet research. Notch Peak (limestone) is a contender for biggest wall in Utah at 12 pitches perhaps ? Or something in Zion ? On this website (MP) The Northwest Face of Half Dome (R. Robbins and others) clocks in at 23 pitches, 2200 ft. Grade 6. This is a pretty big stretch for the Outside Article author’s article title “Walls as big as Half Dome” in Montana (which I did not read because it’s behind a paywall) It does seem to be a bit “clickbaity” as mentioned by Ryan. I’ve got nothing against the article title, the content, Montanan’s, etc. Perhaps the OP should move to California to climb with others on the biggest granite walls there instead ? |
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the rock in glacier is absolute kitty litter.  east fork I though was really good!  is the road to this lake and these cabins washed out?  |
