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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 3, 2008 - 08:16pm PT
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Molly had been hankerin' to go camping, so on a whim we took off from Butte at 2:00 on Saturday for an overnight getaway. We had been to the Branham Lakes area before (last minute Labor Day quest), and figured that it would have a place to car camp for the night.
Once we got to Sheridan, MT we turned on to the Mill Creek road and stayed on it until the end, 8300' elevation and at set of small of lakes.
Halfway there was this ghost-townish area.
At the lakes, we were happy to see that only a few other people were there, so we perused a few new spots, drove past our previous one, then settled here.
What these photos don't show are the two small rainstorms, and heavy downpour that buggered our start. We got the tents pitched, and I built a decent fire that outlasted the rains, and by 7:00 were dry and cooking dinner.
L and L
The crew on a short hike on a trail between the two lakes. Leggat Spire is the prominant formation in the background. A few routes exist on it, with the "standard" one being in the MT Alpine guide, going at 4-6 pitches (5.7).
Close-up of Leggat Spire.
This buttress starts a decent ridge climb that I did previously. There was rap-sling tat at the top, and I think that a party did the dihedral system. The right sklyine has tucked behind it a 70' 5.6 hand/fist crack where I began my ridge solo.
On the trail where one of two (seen) snow course/survey markers were located.
Obligatory flora shot(s)
As we drove back down the road, I stopped to shoot a few crags that I noticed.
There is enough to play on in the area for a few days, most untouched.
A few boulders lurked in the trees--an aggressive crew could prolly find a dozen good pebbles to have fun on. This pair were the easiest accessed, with the last two pics showing sides of the best looking one.
That's all for now--hopefully, someone with more climbing time on their hands will get up there and sample some stone. On the whole, though, just a quick overnight getaway that was good for recharging the family's outdoor yearnings. :-)
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MisterE
Social climber
My Inner Nut
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Very nice! The flower shot with the peak behind is a good one, and the boulder in the last one is cool.
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2008 - 11:09am PT
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Montucky Monday morning bump for the working folk.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Right on Kevin!
Nice shot of Leggat Spire too...looks like it would make for a fun adventure...
How long is the approach on that?
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2008 - 11:31am PT
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I'd say maybe 45 minutes from the first lake with easyish alpine hill walking to get there. I covered the entire ridge traverse in 2-3 hours, not really going for it.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho
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Up above Branham Lakes there's a layered ultramafic complex complete with blastomylonites. Kinda like the Stillwater Complex over in Beartoothia - only it's been highly deformed and not nearly as thick. There's a little geotrivia that you can drop at your next cocktail party.
I dig the Tobaccy Roots - spend much time in there as a youth.
Oh yeah - here's another tickle of geotrivia I just racalled. If ever you have climbed Green Ice Gully in Pine Creek out of Paradice Valley you have climbed over the attenuated lower limb of the Pine Creek Nappe. Different range - I know - but still, how cool is that?
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2008 - 12:27pm PT
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When I lived in Livingston (grew up there, actually), I made it a pilgrimage to climb Green Gully once a year or more. Ice climbing is a lot of fun suffering--a true sport for lunatics. :-)
edit: TC, thanks for some geology info on the T-roots, cool stuff to me. I'm looking for a GG ice shot to post.
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2008 - 12:53pm PT
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Found it:
Blue Gully on left, Green Gully on right. Bad light and scan de(un?) colorizes the ice. BG is aqua velvet blue and GG is sea-green.
The 1972 FA of Green was the 2 page center-spread in Chouinard's "Climbing Ice" book.
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L
climber
Flat-faced Buddha Cat City
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Nice photos there, Kevin.
Glad someone else agrees with me about ice climbing...;-)
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