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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 5, 2007 - 01:51pm PT
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A climbing trip into the Cowan massiff is always exciting--plenty of adventure and new routes to be had. A partner named Briton has shared many of my wilderness mini-expedtions in the past, and his phone call last week re-sparked my interest to go back. There would be four of us: myself, Briton, Lance and Brady--I would be teamed with the latter, a 19 year-old partner whom I've mentored recently. All Livingston locals, with the exception of me ( I wasn't born there).
Here is the Cowan massiff--we like to play on the bare spire slightly left of center.
picture is scanned slide taken from Arrow peak to the South.
The hike in is Saturday morning is uneventful and unscenic--then we break out of the trees and start taking some views. Paradise Valley, the Yellowstone River, and Emigrant Peak to the Southwest.
As late as it was in the season, I was surprised by the greenery that was supported by the available water--apparently the Winter's snowpack was generous enough. As we climbed higher, and saw more stone appearing our spirits raised, for the 4.5 mile/4,500ft el. gain/4.5hr app. can wear you down.
A "sticky bud" in full bloom.
We gained the last large meadow below the lake and stopped to gaze at the wonderment around us. "The Guardian" is the prominent spire in the background.
Finally a chance to rest for the afternoon. Nestled in at 9700', the fresh air cooled our lungs--unfortunately Brady, Lance and myself all had slight respiratory ailments prior to the hike and now we suffered interminably "hack attacks". This would come into play later on in the trip.
Brady and I broke from camp and shoed up for some pristine bouldering fun.
"The Guardian" is a fine lake front spire that has four technical climbs on it ranging from 5.8-5.11. It runs 1000' from the toe and is composed of Cowan metamorphic gneiss. Great friction with splitter clean crack make for great alpine rock climbing.
Smoke from the Wicked Creek Fire began to fill the Southern skies--the air quality was okay where we were, but the awesome blues skies would be gone before the weekend was over.
Our approach would take through pristine mountain scenery with water and boulders everywhere--a refreshing sight.
The last "pond" until the ridges and peaks.
At last our Labor Day weekend objective comes into view--the Black Spire (aka Fire Spire).
Briton and Lance were gunning for the South facing (shaded) "Iron Man" route--a stellar 55m hand crack right up the middle. Too bad that as they approached 50 feet further in the last photo, they encountered a team of two with the same objective; a near impossibilty in the Montana wilderness, so we thought. Brady and I were going to climb near B and L for photo ops, but now were free to select our own route. The aspect in the Sun (East) had not been climbed, so off we went to try to capitalize on the scenrio before us.
The East side of the spire with different possibilities for ascent, and they all looked good--could it go free? Our chosen line followed the weakness left of center, but started bottom left around a small corner.
Brady rope-gunning the first pitch. He has been climbing strong and needs this type of climbing to better his skills--I didn't mind not leading the hard pitches, for a change.
After the initial moves and heading through the crux of pitch 1 (5.9+).
Pitch two was where things go more interesting. Brady had found an old bail sling and as he continued upward he discovered why: an imposing 6-8" OW. It was clean and would definately go, but we brought no big stuff and declined to tackle it in this surrounding. We backed up the bail anchor and rapped 30 feet to a ledge where I discovered the second bail sling. Though the spire would normally beckon two ropes, its long approach and easy standard rappel make it workable with one.
Above the second bail sling didn't look too bad, so Brady headed off up into the unknown. Neither of us wanted to back off, but the slings weren't a good sign. He discovered the meanest (yet protectable) overhanging squeeze chimney imaginable. His grunts and groans could be head by the other two parties on different aspect of the spire. I seconded free and can attest to the full body workout on this one. We both hacked up "lung butter" after reaching the belay on this one.
Brady is barely visible topping out the chim.
One last long pitch of fun 5.7 to the summit scramble.
Upon which Brady was "gracious" enough to let his mentor lead. Little did he know that I relished it passing on the Spire torch to him. (This was my 11th ascent and 3rd new route on it)
No summit photo, but now the sun has hit the beautiful south face.
I wish I had the energy to do a second attempt on it.
Time to breakdown camp and retreat back to the civilized world.
We were treated to a special good-bye on the way out. The Mayor of the Spire.
Sorry for the crappy last pic. The camera was buried and I barely got the shot off.
Enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed the adventure.
Kevin
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Kartch
climber
belgrade, mt
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Wow. That's an awsome TR Mojede.
The pics were great, I'm glad you could get in there after the Fires.
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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A great pleasure to read. Thanks!
pc
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P.Kingsbury
Trad climber
Bozeman
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Yeah Hutch!
looks like you had a good time!
Lurker no more?
Patrick
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handsome B
Gym climber
SL,UT
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wow, great times in the outback! thanks!
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2007 - 02:24pm PT
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Thanks, crew.
I forgot to mention the new route name: "Coffers Club" (III 5.9+) 500' 4 pitches.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Wow, beautiful area, beautiful rock. Kick-a$$!
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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NICE!
thanks for posting that up Kev...
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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noyce!
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Very cool! Great pictures, inspiring words, and intriguing descriptions on the routes.
What a gorgeous place!!!
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scuffy b
climber
The deck above the 5
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Thanks for assembling and posting this great report.
I'll think of it as compensation for not getting to meet you at
the Boogaloo.
You've sure got a lot of great climbing opportunites in your
neck of the woods.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Boy, looking up there from many trips to Paradise Valley I had no idea it got so alpine. All you can see from the river is that roundy, old-mountain look, the way it appears in all of Russell Chatham's paintings.
Now you've really got my attention! Thanks for the post.
So where's the trailhead: Pine Creek? Chico?
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Chris Regilski
Trad climber
Boise, ID
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Hey Kevin,
Good stuff. You live in a great part of the country. I am always impressed with the photos from MT.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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I definitley have to take the northern route to next year's boogaloo.
Thank's for the visual enticement.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Theres GOLD in dem dar hills!
thanks for sharing and good job!
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davidji
Social climber
CA
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beautiful shots, thanks!
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2007 - 08:00pm PT
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I appreciate all of the nice comments--it sure was fun to go "new routing" in the Last Best Place.
DR, public access is gained from the Elbow Creek/ East Fork Mill Creek trailhead. Luckily for me, it helps having dated a certain rancher's daughter in Jr. High and leaving a good impression. Playing Babe Ruth baseball with his son didn't hurt either. They are very private people who do not let very many folks across their land. The public way is 11 miles of hiking, passing other incredible stuff along the way, making the Spire relatively untravelled for the masses.
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Nice pictures, Isn't new grand adventures up unknown peaks what it's all about? Thanks for the inspiration.....
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goatboy smellz
climber
colorado
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Proud work, Kevin, those wilderness pearls are far and few between.
Mentioned to the King brothers my plans for winter skiing in Montucky when we were in Vedauwoo,
now I'm convinced to pencil in a trip for the summertime, toots sweet!
Ohh, and about that "Lung Butter" and/or "Alpine Hack Attacks" issue...
Let's engineer a portable one of these, maybe w/ a hand crank.
Maybe we can get the FROG to bankroll the idea?
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