Bear Creek Spire via the Northeastern ridge

[Matthew]

The following are some of the accomplishments I had

- My tallest peak ever summited (13,726ft.)
- My longest climb of continuous 5th class
- First alpine climb
- First Sierra rock climb
- First rope less 5th class climbing

Brian Twomey and I started our approach from Mosquito Flats campground at 7:30am Tuesday morning. The weather was clear and relatively chilly near the start, possibly reaching 48F. The mosquito flats area is gorgeous and lush with fantastic views of our peak. We were so excited to reach the start of the climb that the trail section blew by. Once we made it to Gem Lakes, we decided to go southeast toward Dade Lake through a massive 1.5 mile long talus field. There was almost no way around this but the route on Mountain Project suggested taking this other ridge to the west which looked longer (maybe it was long and talus lacking.)

Once we reached Peppermint Pass at 12,535ft, the climb quickly went from 4th class to easy 5th class climbing. Climbing vertically at this altitude is extremely difficult and required us to stop every 20 feet of vert to catch our breath and regain energy. We were slowly fed more and more exposure to the 800 foot drops below us while continuing on through decently easy climbing.

One thing to keep in mind is that we had to climb 1200ft of vertical over .3 miles so for the sake of time, we had to do all of the easy stuff rope less since roping up and simuling would add tons of time to an already long day trip. This included the crux which was a chimney with a mantle where you use a high left foot on a decent step. I had to try this move twice since my arms were getting pumped out and my feet in the chimney were rough. (As I am typing this, my hands are sweating.) Once I met Brian at the top of the crux in a flat spot, I had to take a few minutes to calm down and decompress since I have never felt that much exposure rope less before.

There was this amazing section of fins in the rock which allowed for tons of hand and toe jams just before meeting the northern ridge of the climb. I wish I could write out the details of the section after the crux but my mind was foggy from it and it was all a blur. When we finally were on top of the main ridge, we finally roped up. The exposure here was 1000ft drops on either side of a narrow ridge. Brian led while placing a few pieces here and there but the climbing on this section was as easy as the previous stuff, we just didn’t want any clumsiness. At our second anchor point, we intersected with John and Matt who were two strangers who just climbed the 5.8 Northern Face. John shared with me a super helpful topo from supertopo which gave us some good beta on where to go from our anchor.

The final pitch was through an offwidth crack up to the summit block. Not much to say here other than we summited at 5:45pm and took a few pics! The views up there were spectacular to say the least.

We arrived back at 10:30pm making it 14.5 hours car to car.
Pics below!

coolrock.JPEG

distantspire.JPEG

exposure.JPEG

fins.JPEG

fins2.JPEG

mainridge.JPEG

point.JPEG

postclimb.JPEG

route.JPEG

summit.JPEG

views.JPEG

[dima]

That's so cool. So this was a 1200ft class-5 climb? How many roped pitches did you end up doing? Looks so pretty up there. Also, how did you pick this particular peak? Please keep doing these things and posting reports about them

[wesweswes]

Wow, sick! Yes, I am also curious: what's the grade of the climb, and how many difficult pitches. Is it doable to go rope less? Or maybe just bring a lightweight 30m section of rope and only rope up for some sections? I've been meaning to come up with ideas on Alpine climbs for Dima and I to do!

[wesweswes]

Oh, check it out, I found the mountain project listing that answers my questions: it's "easy 5th", or someone says 5.6, so sounds like doable without a rope, or if we wanna be more safe, a 30m rope and simulclimb the whole thing. Did you pitch it out, Matthew?
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/1 ... east-ridge

[Matthew]

That's so cool. So this was a 1200ft class-5 climb? How many roped pitches did you end up doing? Looks so pretty up there. Also, how did you pick this particular peak? Please keep doing these things and posting reports about them

So yes it was all 5th class but we only roped up for the last 300ft of traversing. If we were doing it in 2 or 3 days, I would have been much more comfortable to rope up earlier, especially during the crux. My friend Brian picked the route and it was pretty solid for both of our first alpine climbs.

[tekewin]

Congrats!! That is one big, bad mountain.

My wife and I just go back from the Gem Lakes about a month ago. I was drooling over Bear Creek Spire the whole time. I think it's beyond my ability at this point, but I can simply enjoy your scary photos.

[Matthew]

Congrats!! That is one big, bad mountain.

My wife and I just go back from the Gem Lakes about a month ago. I was drooling over Bear Creek Spire the whole time. I think it's beyond my ability at this point, but I can simply enjoy your scary photos.

I would love to spend a few days at the gem lakes! Just passing through, I was enthralled by all the good nature there

[Nate U]

Spectacular. Its a whole different planet up there.

Looks like gneiss or schist maybe to get those layers? Crazy exposure.

[Matthew]

Spectacular. Its a whole different planet up there.

Looks like gneiss or schist maybe to get those layers? Crazy exposure.

the exposure while not being roped up was a shocker for me but most of the moves were easy and secure