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No Sweat Arete
5.7,
Trad, Alpine, 500 ft (152 m), 4 pitches, Grade III,
Avg: 2.9 from 36
votes
FA: unknown
Montana
> Northwest Region
> Mill Creek
> Mill Creek N Rim
> No Sweat
Description
Great for anyone learning the ropes of multipitching. No hanging Belays just good fun. You can set up a belay pretty much anywhere you would like.
Location
roughly 45 minute approach. main trail, cross bridge, take left, 10 minutes later you'll go right on the approach trail. Keep going until you see the gully, go half way up and there will be a great ledge with a fixed .5 C4 Great placements all the way through. I used my C4 #1s the most. Easy climb with solid belay stations. While it is possible to rap off in the gully I do not recommend that. Great rock quality some loose rock, helmets a must. There is a variation to the top of the spire that runs at 10c. There are many variations to this and some are very hard to protect due to the poor rock quality. There is an easy 5.5 on the very back with a fixed stake for rapping off.
GREAT SCENERY!!!
bring water
Protection
Single Rack
[Hide Photo] This photo shows the start of the climb. Scramble up 4th class terrain on the arete to access the start. Photo credit: Gary Aitken
[Hide Photo] Dead goats on walk off
[Hide Photo] Quinn on TR on the 5.10c variation at the top of the spire.
[Hide Photo] The top out of no sweat--incredible views after at the top of a great climb
[Hide Photo] Andrew approaching the top of P2
[Hide Photo] Bryce Enjoying the view from the top of his first multi pitch
[Hide Photo] Starting up pitch 1 after short traverse move to gain arete. Photo credit: Gary Aitken
[Hide Photo] Andrew leading Lowe Direct crack after topping out No Sweat. Two nuts were left up there as a rap anchor.
[Hide Photo] Steve gettin' er done. Remember finding about a half dozen tics crawling on the inside of my helmet at one of the belays.
A very enjoyable route overall, especially towards the top.
After taking a left after the bridge, walk until a small rise in the trail where a tree has been cut out to mark the beginning to the approach trail.
At the base, it is very easy to go up the direct start. This is about a pitch of wandery, relatively low quality 5.8, and can be avoided by entering the main gully to the left of the arete before beginning, and ascending to the right to the base of the climb. As of 1/25/15, the fixed c4 is still at the base of the climb.
We almost climbed the arete in two pitches close to 60 meters, with a third pitch of about 10 feet to the prominent ledge. With a 70 meter rope, the route could be climbed in two pitches. Although the arete can be climbed several different ways, we chose to traverse climbers right after about 20 feet of climbing, and found it enjoyable. The second pitch in particular on the climbers right is excellent.
To descend, follow the trail to the east off of the ledge to gain a saddle, and descend this eastward on the trail.
Alpine draws very useful! Jan 25, 2015
Missoula, MT
Manali, IN
Missoula, MT
The climbers trail takes off from the main trail after you pass the talus fields. It departs the main trail when the trail starts to go uphill and away from the creek. The climbers trail switch backs up to a broken cliff band that you have to scramble through to reach the gully.
Once you're in the gully, don't continue up. You want to exit the gully on looker's right to gain the 4th class arete that will get you up to the start of the climb (see photo with start indicated).
I did not find a fixed C4 at the base of the climb as of 6/15/18. To start the climb, belay from right side of the arete and traverse left for 15 feet to gain the arete proper (see photo of climber starting the first pitch). As soon as you gain the arete you'll be looking up a sweet 5.7 crack.
As others have stated, many options exist; follow the arete, moving right when necessary, then back left to stay on the arete. We used a double rack because of gear anchors.
Also, it's worth noting that the walk off does not get you back to the base of the climb, so it is not recommended to leave anything at the base unless you want to get more hiking in. Jun 18, 2018
Bellevue, WA
- Ticks, lots and lots of ticks during tick season (even on Aug 5th we found 3 on us).
- Not the best approach (1-1.5 hrs), steep dirt scree slopes for the second half
- Terribly loose rocks and blocks for P1-P2, I knocked off a softball sized rock, be careful
- P3 is actually super fun, super solid/clean rock with fun climbing
- P4 isn't as loose as the first two, easy blocky climbing
- Nice belay ledges pretty much anywhere you choose to stop
- Route finding can sometimes be a problem, but mostly easy to follow
- Descent (walk off, ~1-1.5 hrs) is actually pretty good. Mostly mellow walking on some dirt scree slopes, probably slightly better than the approach
- Gear: #0.3 - #3, with doubles of #0.5 - #3 and nuts, even some doubles of 0.3 and 0.4 if pushing your grade. 12 alpine draws, 2 of them doubles.
- Communication: Radios could be nice but you can mostly hear each other decently
- Route stays shaded at least till 11
Overall, if you're out of state, I wouldn't bother doing this route.
Original start is tougher than anything else on the route, I'd say 5.8. Halfway up, stay on the left side. A few loose rocks but better quality than P1-P2, although can be a little runout.
The base of P1 is around a little ledge traverse, slightly exposed but pretty decent.
P1 starts off with a fun move that looks intimidating... Use the face features to the left of the crack and then use both the left and right crack. But then the rock quality degrades, lots of loose rocks sitting on ledges, and lots of hollow sounding blocks (I accidently knocked off a softball size rock). Belay about anywhere after ~100 ft, lots of ledges to belay.
P2 continues with the poor rock quality. At one point there was a decision to go left or right, left had a mantle move to get on a blank looking face, but once on it there's a bunch of cracks. Also about ~100 ft, belay once you get to the base of the high quality rocks on P3 (you can visible see a difference, they're also orange rocks rather than black lichen covered). An even nicer belay ledge this time.
P3 is super fun, solid climbing for 150' to a nice belay (tons of belay options).
P4 starts with a fun short crack that's maybe 5.7, but then starts to have some loose sounding blocks, still better than the first two pitches and pretty easy climbing.
Descent looks like it's going to be terrible, but surprisingly there's a ledge that walks right to the gully you go up (gully is to your east). In the gully, there's one boulder to climb up over (one 4-5th class move) but otherwise easy (four goats got stuck beneath here and died on the ledge...). After getting over the gully, the trail is pretty well traveled and descends trending east and slightly downhill. There are a few steep dirt scree slopes, but most are the right grade such that you can actually slide down them a bit. Overall, similar or possibly better than the approach trail. Aug 5, 2020
Bondville, VT
The approach isn't as bad as people say, its trad climbing after all! DO NOT follow the GPX file you can download for the approach, go with the gully up to the base and then break right to scramble the areté to the start.Check for ticks often!
The start has a couple committing moves that aren't protected unless a piece is placed for the belayer. Once you step out the ledge onto the arete, keep looking left across a small slab to gain a very positive crack for your left hand then commit your right foot to a good spot (theres plenty of them). Now you're home free and enjoy the route! LOSE ROCK!!!!
We did this in 3 pitches, combining 3 & 4. I set my last belay about 10 m below the actual finish of the climb which was an amazing place with lots of room to soak in the sun and views of the canyon while my partners finished. I found it to be easily protected using a single rack of nuts and doubles of .3-#2 Camalots. Alpine draws are a must.
For the walk off continue up the gully where you see the dead goats (really), you'll see a climber path that leads you out. We did cheat and found a few trees to do two 70m raps which landed us about 20m vert above the canyon trail.
Don't listen to that other guy, this route is absolutely worth doing if you're in the area unless you're the type that likes your crusts cut off your PBJ! Mar 27, 2022
San Francisco, CA
youtu.be/PUyJpwnsbXA Oct 26, 2023