Spearfish Canyon is a pretty well known limestone climbing area with a high concentration of 5.12’s on beautiful blue limestone. The locals have put in a ton of effort and money into bolting, cleaning, and building trails for the numerous walls that litter both sides of the canyon. Even today new walls are being discovered and there is a ton of first ascent potential. The first day we met up with one of the main developers and he took us to a new cliff line that was in the middle of development. We warmed up on a 12b and he started showing us the established lines. The next route we got on was a 13a called General Custered. I came really close to onsighting, but fell at the end of the crux and sent it second try. Afterward I found out it was the second ascent! My friend Chris got the third ascent. We walked along the cliff and found several other people working lines and having a good time. We reached the other side of the cliff and I flashed a 13a, but forgot what the name was. With the hardest established routes on the cliff done, Lee let us on one of his red tag projects and I quickly worked out all the moves and called it a 12d/13a. He was psyched for the new beta and the low grade. After that we said goodbye to everyone and headed out to a popular wall called Thunderhead. This crag is quite something. A huge horizontal roof guards the beautiful slightly overhanging pocket climbing above. We jumped on Gale Force 13a and after pulling through the opening crux I fell deadpointing to the wrong pocket. I sent second go. The crux on this route has one of the coolest moves I've done. Your left hand is on a jug three finger pocket and you reach out the roof to a mono with the back of your finger facing you. You suck in, get your feet up and rose cross to a two finger pocket. Then suck into the wall and deadpoint out to a crimp at the lip. Then pull over the lip and enjoy the perfect pockets to the anchors. The first day was over and we headed back to the house. The next day we headed over to The Court House Wall and was stunned by how solid and beautiful the wall was. We warmed up on one of my favorite routes called Juvenile 12a. Then attempted spearfish’s hardest established route Faith 13d. I made it to the crux which was a drilled two finger pocket and a 6ft deadpoint to a jug. I came within inches of reaching the pocket, but in the end I just couldn’t reach it. I lowered off and eyed Witness Protection 13c. After several attempts I kept falling off the same move. A hard low percentage deadpoint off two tiny crimps to a three finger crimp inside a pocket. Finally I stuck it on my eighth try and carried it to the top. Already the trip had been extremely successful and day three was a rest day. During the rest day we decided to drive out to Victoria Canyon just south of Rapid City. After we arrived the rain started and we spent a cold night in the meadow above the trailhead. The next morning was humid and cloudy. Hiking in we had a lot of doubts about the weather. We arrived in the canyon to find high quality steep routes with excellent pocket pulling. We warmed up on Mongo Chaji 12a and then headed down to the Victor Charlie wall and onsighted Steep and Cheap 12d. Right after lunch we left and headed back to Spearfish for the remainder of the trip. The next day we headed over to Blue Skies and warmed up on a notoriously hard 12a called Iron Horse and a 13a called Big Train. The next goal on our list was a route called The Sting 13c. The Sting was at one time the hardest route in Spearfish and a classic test piece. My first try was focused on figuring out the moves and my second go I psyched myself out mid crux and fell. Third go I fell at the crux and finally on my fourth go I fought my way through the vicious v9 undercling crux and carried it to the top. My second 13c in a day! The next day was a designated rest day and we tried to kill time by reading and hanging out. During the evening we witnessed a spectacular lightning storm that lit up the sky constantly for 3 hours. The final day of our trip had come and I got on the classic test piece In on the Killtaker 13b. This route punches out three roofs on good but well spaced holds. The first roof contains the main crux and an exciting swing out to catch a jug. The second roof contains a shallow mono that you have to lock off and reach out the roof for a four finger crimp. The final roof has a precise throw to a bomber three finger pocket. I sent it third try and we headed over to The Encore 13a. With beta from Chris I went for a flash and fell at the last crux reach missing the tiny pocket by centimeters. I sent next go and lowered off. We spent one last night in Spearfish and headed out the next day for Boulder.
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| Starting the crux sequence. |
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