Black Hills

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Capt.

climber
some eastside hovel
Aug 30, 2014 - 01:43pm PT
Well worded Wyo. Part of me still wishes I would've moved there. Oh well, Bishop ain't so bad. ;-) Also, doesn't a .75 fit in that slot on Gossamer? ;-)
WyoRockMan

climber
Flank of the Big Horns
Aug 30, 2014 - 01:44pm PT
A 1 is perfect there Capt. But when three of you forget a rack, options still exist!

(Schnikey! The Durrance is steep these days!)
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2014 - 07:31pm PT
Bryan, are you on top of Bartizan. Here are a few pictures I pulled off my Instagram acct. There is more to the Black Hills climbing than just the Needles and Devils Tower. There is probably almost a 1,000 limestone sport routes, quartzite routes and bouldering by Nemo, some great sandstone bouldering by Rapid City, Custer State Park, Newcastle, and Nemo, a few ice routes here and there, and sandstone routes scattered throughout.
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Aug 30, 2014 - 10:00pm PT
Three shots of the Sore Thumb I don't think I've posted...




Bell Tower regular route...


West Face of the Outer Outlet (Storjohann Route) (Yeah, I shoulda placed a bit more pro, but there is some not visible in the OW, which is 5.8.)

mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2014 - 05:22pm PT
Nice shots Rich. I haven't done that one but definitely need to. Went for a hike with the family by Elk Horn Peak and took a few photos between downpours and hail. The new guide says there is only one route on this face which is well over 300ft in places. The middle shot is of Harney Peak.
johnboy

Trad climber
Can't get here from there
Sep 1, 2014 - 08:41pm PT
Remember the old picnic area there? Really torked me when they dozed that under. Use to park
there and do a bunch of climbing at Elkhorn Springs with my old partner. Used to be a real nice ice
fall there some winters where all the water came together from the upper bowl and spilled out down to the springs. Fun times. Did a lot of climbing all over Elkhorn back in the 80's. The wife got a real nice picture of a Nanny and her very young kid. Scared the begeebers out of that goat when we showed up 20 from her and blocking their only way out.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2014 - 06:19am PT
Don't think I know where the picnic area was. Certainly a cool area but the tree loss up there is as bad as it gets.
reason

Big Wall climber
Fort Collins Co
Sep 2, 2014 - 11:58am PT
Paul Piana owned a climbing Gym in Lander. We went to lunch once and when we got back to the gym he gave me a copy of new routes he just put up in the Black Hills. A very nice person.
dakotakid

Trad climber
Rochester Hills, MI
Sep 2, 2014 - 01:39pm PT
I grew up in the Black Hills in the '50's and 60's, and have spent a lot of time up and down the drainages. The amount of bug trees coupled with last October's storm has laid waste to a lot of the Black Elk Wilderness, especially up on the Elkhorn - Harney ridge, and back in the Upper Pine Creek area. It makes bushwhacking really really challenging, to say the least. Some of the major trails have deadfall on them as well.
That said, the area in Custer State Park (read tourist areas) has been logged, the trails rerouted in some instances, and the whole of it sanitized to a degree that I don't recognize it much. The understory is growing back though, and five years after the logging, is showing a beauty that was never visible before.



I haven't climbed in the Hills as much as I'd like, though. Growing up there, my father discouraged such activity. I occasionally listened to his advice, but enough that my buddy Eric and I mainly scrambled around on the rocks near Sylvan and Elkhorn. Elkhorn remains my favorite slab of granite in the Hills. I first attempted to climb it when I was fifteen, by myself, on 40 year-old beta from my aunt Ellen, who then told me not to try it.




I have fond memories of getting stuck in the Spire Four Wormhole. My cuz HJ and I ran into George Hurley and friends at the belay point there, both parties having a completely enjoyable day in the Spires.

Tried to get up Spire Three, which is one of the prettiest of the Spires, but my flatland legs wouldn't take me up the second pitch. There's always next time.

hogger

Trad climber
great plains
Sep 2, 2014 - 06:13pm PT
Nice pic of the Pickets, thanks Byran. It's a mystery to me. No reason for anyone to climb here, much better areas all along the left coast,in Colorado and desert southwest. Not to mention those uncivilized backwater rednecks can be kinda scary.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2014 - 07:29pm PT
johnboy

Trad climber
Can't get here from there
Sep 2, 2014 - 08:02pm PT
About halfway between Palmer Gulch and Horse Thief Lake on the south side there's a small meadow, the picnic tables and (stone built) bathrooms were in the back of the half moon shaped road off 244. If you have google earth you can still see the old road for the pinic area. From the picnic area just walk south up past the springs to the very east end of Elkhorn Rock, was a short walk to the frozen falls and up the center of the massive rock that is Elkhorn Springs. I never carried a camera but the wife has a few picks from the times I took her up there.

I'll have more time next month and will start posting some of the many pics she's taken.
Elkhorn, Remmington Wall, Remington Spire, the Window area, up Grizzly Creek and a number of limestone cliffs in some of the higher country.

mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2014 - 09:37pm PT
I know exactly where you are talking about now. I always thought it was an old foundation to a house or something. The falls is up the hill on the right. I did it with my son this year. The downfall getting to the falls is terrible.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 2, 2014 - 09:54pm PT
Found some pictures of Jack on the flow earlier this year.Here is a little ice outside of spearfish we play on.A shot from skiing Crow Peak in the AM of Bear Butte behind Spearfish. A mountain sacred to many tribes.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2014 - 08:50am PT
Sylvan LakeDalton Lake area limestone boulder.
this just in

climber
north fork
Sep 3, 2014 - 09:04am PT
Thanks for all the pics, I have always wanted to visit the area and not just for the climbing.

The picket fence looks like a Dr Seuss creation.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2014 - 08:47pm PT
A couple of shots from Sunshine Wall in Spearfish Canyon.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2014 - 09:18pm PT
Strawberry HillSpire 4 in the Cathedral SpiresEyetooth and Spire 5 massif from the top of Spire 4Spire 1,2, Khayyam, and RubaiyatBoxelder Forks
hogger

Trad climber
great plains
Sep 4, 2014 - 06:27am PT
Thanks for all the great pics Mike, looking forward to more. The last 15' of friction on Eyetooth are probably the craziest 15' of climbing I've ever done. Never seen that cantilevered block before, is that in the Canyon area somewhere?
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2014 - 08:19am PT
Estes Creek Bouldering by Nemo, SDSpearfish Canyon
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