Shoshone Spire. The route starts on the west arete of the south face, with a few possible variations. Descend by scrambling down the northeast side, continuing down to lunch ledge. From here choose a slung tree(there are a few), and set one double rope rappel to the base.
River crossing at (46.273790,-114.277093)
rack to 3", stoppers. 4" come in handy for anchors
Helena, MT
Bozeman, MT
youtube.com/watch?v=h0glEvX…
Freaking sweet climb. So many cracks to choose from. Had several distinct styles though! I found myself pure jamming one pitch and delicate almost face climbing the next. May 13, 2013
Question: Is there a descent gully that can be done without a rappel? Mar 6, 2014
Montana
Thanks! Apr 6, 2014
Denver, CO
Bring a double rack.
So fun. May 4, 2014
Guemes Island, WA
1 Don't cross the creek too early. Best to find a crossing that leads to a direct shot up the talus to where you need to go.
2. Scout out the shortcut/walk off to/from the lunch ledge. It was really hard to find for us and we ended up rappelling.
3. The descriptions we had for the start were vague but there were a lot of options. The whole route is pretty vague, except for the start from the lunch ledge where there is fixed gear. But go with your hunch, it's all good. May 15, 2014
Upon arriving at the cliff band above the approach gully we headed west along its base. We arrived at a large, crack covered, light colored face that was the edge of the south face of the prominent western arete of the lower buttress of the spire. We walked beyond this face along the trail and decided that the routes to choose from are on the light colored face. I looked for the "left most" splitter and what I saw was a large OW crack in a right facing dihedral with a tricky looking start off the ground. I also saw a finger size crack in a right facing dihedral to the right. Right of that was a series of flared cracks and seams that looked hard to climb/ protect. Right of that was a slitter hand crack that jags left over a face then straightens out again. Right of that is the edge of the face and a chossy gully that could potentially be climbed.
I decided to try to go for what might have been the "left most" splitter by going into the right facing finger crack dihedral because the OW didn't look very "splitter". I got into some 10+ chossy pg-13 climbing into the very thin finger crack dihedral. I decided to bail.
Then I chose the hand crack with the jag to the left and found it to be extremely enjoyable! 5.9 Hands on steep granite. To finish it choose your own adventure to a ledge. Belay here or climb easy 4th-5th to the treed' ledge above.
Not sure where the "left most" splitter may be but the right most splitter on the light colored face is excellent. Hope this info gets you off the ground with ease. Aug 20, 2014
First and last pitches are stellar. Oct 25, 2014
Phoenix, AZ
This really doesn't need to be a stress fest or an epic. I was super stressed about the approach. Super stressed about finding the base. Super stressed about the crux. Super stressed about the descent. Blah, blah, blah etc.
1) The base really isn't a big deal. Just pick a place that looks good for you somewhere over on the west arete area and climb. For some reason we got confused amid all the conflicting info and tried to start this climb at the lunch ledge by scrambling the ledge system up the lower face un-roped. That WAS worthy of stress. It isn't good scrambling at all. Don't make that mistake unless 5th class moss scrambling is fun for you for some reason.
2) The climbing is probably stiff 5.8. It never really felt like 5.9. Everything was there in abundance and I'm not positive straight friction was ever a requirement and there was nothing that required any real pucker. If you feel good on low moderate this will probably not stretch you beyond what you are able.
3) The descent is actually a delight compared to other Montana descents. We climbed The Mutt And Jeff the day before this and compared to that descent this is like a relaxing hike with some jugs and minimal consequence (whereas on The Mutt and Jeff it's like "Don't f--k up this descent or you'll probably be dead").
Don't stress. Just give'r! Oct 18, 2015
Missoula
Best,
Rick Nov 8, 2015
El Paso, TX
I added a photo of the large White Pine, which looks like a Bonsai tree, where you will find a black, two bolt anchor with chain for rappelling. It's a full 30 meters straight down (tie knots!) to the next two bolt anchor, which will take you to the ground with a shorter rappel.
The Bonsai tree is pretty easy to find. From the summit (which is beautiful!) scramble down 3rd/4th class to the North and East until you reach lunch ledge. Don't continue over to the west side of the ledge (Where the route climbs), but rather keep scrambling south down 3rd class and you will see the big Bonsai tree right where it really cliffs out.
This was a wonderful route from start to finish in my opinion. Great rock, great movement, great setting. Sep 6, 2016
Missoula, MT
Philipsburg, MT
Portland,OR
El Paso, TX
El Paso, TX
Philipsburg, MT
Knoxville, TN
Story, WY
We left from Bozeman at about 4:30AM, and it took about 4 hours to drive to Blodgett Trailhead from there. The hike is only a few miles up the trail, and the spire becomes visible soon after hiking. Hike until you are parallel with the spire, and then cross the stream over logs or rocks (don’t worry, there are plenty of crossing spots). Go up the talus field following small cairns and a fairly obvious climbers trail to the area with a small amount of water flowing between NES Pierce and Shoshone spire. Move left along the now obvious trail to the climbers left side of the spire. On your way over to the start of the climb, look for the “Bonsai” Pine tree on the edge of the cliff. Here is where you will be doing the rappel. Here you will see large dirt spots where numerous people have belayed for the starting pitch. There are about 100 different ways to do this, and it looks like the most obvious way was a ~5.4 looking dirty corner. There is also a beautiful looking ~5.9 finger crack, and numerous other crack systems to follow. We decided to follow a GORGEOUS zigzagging ~5.8 crack up the face, and it was amazing. This ended up being my favorite pitch. This pitch was probably around 80’, and I belayed from a set of two pieces of webbing with rappel rings that I found, as well as backed it up with two good cams. This deposits you on a ledge system with smaller trees I underneath a larger ledge system with a HUGE pine tree on it. This is the pine tree that the above description says to belay from, however, I felt that the rope drag would have been pretty bad if I continued to climb from there. Instead, I belayed my partner up, and he led the next short section to the large tree, which was probably 5.5-5.6 range, and if I did it again, I would’ve just scrambled it unroped as the exposure is not bad and the climbing is easy and unsustained. From here, you will see a large amount of climbers trails on these large ledge systems, and a large dead tree (this is what you’re headed for) above you. It looks like there are another ~100 options to get up there, and all the pitches are around 30’. Instead, we unroped and walked around to the left, then did some slightly exposed low 5th and 4th class moves zigzagging back and forth to the dead tree (which is lunch ledge). From here, follow the obvious “railroad track” fingercracks with a fixed cam and pin to a fun airy move out of a small roof, then belay from a tree. (Smaller ledge, but not uncomfortable, tree is pretty solid). This next pitch is amazing, but hard to follow. The face becomes a maze of 100s of short flares and crack systems, and all of the climbing is remarkably consistent with the grade. It looks like many different variations exist here, but I chose to kind of follow a vague crack system on the left side. This pitch is Deceivingly long. Follow the cracks up to a large ledge on the Arete of the spire. (Nice ledge, sling blocks and small pieces for an anchor). Then, step up into a nice little stand underneath a roof above the belay. Place small gear under the roof, and make an easy move out of the roof onto the face to the right. Gear gets tricky here and this is probably the crux of the whole route, but still extremely moderate and only 5.8+ maximum. Keep making moves until you get to a nice ledge with a lot of choss and big blocks on it. Sling blocks and place awkward cams to make a belay. Walk a short distance around the back to reach the true summit. Follow climbers trails (very obvious) that go between NES Pierce and Shoshone spire. These take you directly to the rappel station (two nice black bolts with rappel rings) next to the bonsai tree. Rappel (one full 60m rope, TIE KNOTS) to another set of kind of hidden anchors (two black bolts with ring/quicklink). Make another short rappel to the ground. All climbing is possible with one 60m rope, and so are the rappels. For gear, bring a double rack (.3-3), as well as a rack of small-medium stoppers and a couple smaller hexes. Gear is pretty solid except slightly tricky farther up. The best pitch in my option was pitch 1, although all of the climbing was FANTASTIC. This route was amazing. Also, our #1 BD cam walked into a tight spot near the top on a horizontal ledge. If you somehow get it out, please let me know bradfordlburns@gmail.com. I would be extremely grateful!
This climb is super classic and amazing. It’s best to do it (I believe) how we did it. In 6ish pitches, with one long pitch of scrambling/unroped climbing between the amazing first pitch and lunch ledge. Enjoy the climb!!! 9/08/19 Sep 8, 2019
Washington
Redlands, CA
A lot of beta options on each route. You can definitely make parts of this route 5.9+ if you want.
Come prepared for a bit of a scramble/approach. Jun 27, 2022
Salt Lake City, UT
The approach was the hardest bit (just distance and scrambling across the gully to get up toward the spire.
If this is at your level, it's a great one to hop on! (We did a party of 3) Jul 12, 2022
Story, WY
Missoula, MT