Alpine climbing is an inherently polarizing experience. My friends and I’s last trip to the HighSierra (link here) was just as incredible as it was exhausting. Alongside climbing in a truly unreal setting, we achieved our longstanding goal of climbing Whitney in good style. It also was one of the most sustained and difficult physical experiences in my lifetime. We overcame challenges at pretty much every turn and I spent nearly every waking hour either driving or climbing for 2-1/2 days. Coming back from a trip like that convinced me to take an extended break from big backcountry trips. I knew that I’d earn a new inspiration for climbing if I was patient and gave myself time to decompress after such a harrowing adventure. So for a month or two this summer I spent time in the bay area enjoying biking, camping, and running in and around the city. But as Fall came an opportunity arose that reignited my energy for big and challenging objectives. This time it was a route that Trevor and I had been eyeing up ever since our trip to the Grand Teton and one that we’ve failed to commit to several times. Bear Creek Spire is a nearly 14k ft peak between Mammoth Lakes and Bishop County and is home to three classic alpine climbs (as listed in the book “Sierra Classics: 100 Best Climbs in the High Sierra”). We were interest in the easiest of the three located on the NE ridge. It was rated between hard 4th class & ~5.5 climbing when sticking to the true ridgeline, but was substantially longer of a route than we had climbed before. It rose ~1500 ft above Peppermint Pass and about half of this was steeper than 3rd class terrain. It would require us to move much quicker than we had in the past and climb without necessarily using a belay for all pitches. Given we’ve never simul-climbed before, Trevor and I knew we’d have to give ourselves time and strike with a good weather window. So midweek on an early September day, I messaged Trevor and committed to driving out that coming Saturday.
The plan was to arrive at Mosquito Flats trailhead by around 3pm that day. We’d hike in a few miles and camp right below the talus fields encircling Bear Creek Spire. This would give us a full day to climb the route, hike back to the trailhead, and drive back home. In classic fashion it would be two days of almost continuous movement. Despite this, driving out felt easier than usual. The whole time I was excited and nervous. I knew I’d have to just stay calm and excited in order to keep the right headspace. Luckily I made it to the trailhead right on time and missed nearly all the traffic on the way. The only hiccup was driving through a ominous trail of smoke clouds engulfing a large portion of the Eastern Sierra on the way down to Rock Creek. Winds were coming from the SE and we were pretty sure we were in the clear. At the trailhead we also realized I had forgotten by Rockie Talkie and headlamp, but keep on regardless to save time. As we hiked in it was easy to forget about these issues, the scenery was incredible and the tail was nearly dead flat. Along the way we continued to pass serene lakes lined with tall wavy grass and accompanied by calm rivers. We passed handful of backpackers and fisherman who all seemed similarly at peace in the valley. Bear Creek Spire was the largest peak visible ahead of us and towered over the valley. The NE ridge was big and it ended in a knife edge ridge which guarded its summit. The ambiance was similar to the Grand Teton in that our entrance was peaceful and juxtaposed by gigantic and imposing rock spires ahead. But in all the hike went quickly and we were able to set up camp in the light with time to spare. Trevor even brought a switch to play Silksong despite us not really playing much at camp. Bed time was just after 9 pm and gave us nearly a full night of sleep ahead of our 4 am alarm.
Throughout the night, we both were awoken several times by the forecasted wind gusts coming from the Southeast. When the alarm finally came I couldn’t avoid the thought of bailing for the day from the thought of what was ahead. Despite the apprehension, Trevor and I just moved on to packing and eating breakfast. We carried a 60 m rope, a full rack, about 2L of water each, a puffy/windbreaker, and a modest amount of food. Overall we were fairly light for our typical alpine setup and it wasn’t long until we started climbing up the talus fields ahead. For the first hour or two, I had the privilege of climbing in the full moon’s light in leu of my forgotten headlamp. The terrain consisted of shallow angle boulders maybe 2-10 ft in size for several thousand feet. It was much slower than a trail of the same slope and required more care to protect leg or foot injuries. As usual it felt endless, but we were making pretty good progress the whole time. As the sun started to rise, we were nearly Peppermint Pass as intended. The ridge began soon after this point and we decided to take a break for refueling. My stomach wasn’t feeling great and I wound up vomiting almost immediately after an ill chosen protein bar. It was a dumb mistake on my part, but I knew I had to get calories in and was able to hold down the rest of my energy gel carbs. Ahead of us was a few hundred more feet of easy scrambling until we passed a large tower to our ridge and saw the ridge steepen.
At this point the sun was in full view and I was excited to get started. Trevor got the first lead and was gifted with beautifully layered and fun climbing up flakes that reminded me of Dr. Seuss’ imagination. The ridge was still fairly wide too at this point and I was feeling confident on the terrain so far. Still there was 800 ish feet to go and we both knew we had to move quickly. Next up was my lead and the ridge went back to relatively easy terrain. I placed one cam where there was a briefly exposed move, but otherwise climbed quickly on. At some point I reached the end of the rope and still felt the climbing was solid 3rd class. I yelled back to Trevor and told him to break down the anchor so we could try and simul for a while. Before the trip I was terrified of simul climbing because it wasn’t really good protection. When I saw the terrain in the moment, I better understood its use. We could climb quickly through easy terrain that I was 100% confident in and the rope still made me feel better about our setting high in the ridge. As a result, we blasted through about 400 ft of terrain and returned to a ledge below steeper terrain that was perfect for a belay. Trevor took the lead again and brought us through easy 5th class terrain and onto the true knife edge ridge of the spire. We were still moving pretty quickly at this point and our moods followed suite. Looking behind us Little Lakes Valley came into view and was truly spectacular. It was a green paradise scattered with deep blue lakes and was guarded on all sides by walls of striking granite. To our sides were endless peaks and valleys that all spilled out into the desert in the East. Mt. Tom was the most prominent and stood tall like a fortress as it was separated from its adjacent ridgelines.
Looking back at the climb, I saw the sharp end of the rope and harder terrain ahead. This was the moment for me that makes alpine climbing so special. We just put in a tremendous effort to get to this pitch and now it was game time. Right off the belay was a couple of reachy moves to gain the next ledge ahead. There I didn’t see any great options outside of a corner with balancey feet to my left. I put in two pieces of protection and calmly search for good feet placements before committing off the ledge and over exposure. I quickly moved past the corner and onto stepped up to the next rest, which felt like such a great relief. Ahead were still home insecure moves here and there, but this felt like the obvious crux of the ridge so far. This made the climbing super fun and the thousands of feet of exposure on either end felt less intimidating. Before I knew it, I felt the end of the rope and made a quick anchor around one of the numerous horns of the ridge. The summit was pretty close and all that stood in the way was a traverse, short gulley, and maybe 50 ft more ridgeline. Trevor lead this portion and got through some cool moves of his own. But at the same time anchor building was difficult and we lost quite a bit of time through this portion of terrain trying to figure out the best systems for protection. This involved an awkward gear belay and a short section of hard to protect chimney’ing. Regardless once we made it through this section we immediately saw the summit block and knew we were gonna make it out okay. I still roped up for this section and made it to the summit register within 30 ft or so. Technically the real summit still required a boulder problem rated 5.6R. It was exposed to quite a large drop-off and seems like another case delicate footwork with an awkward mantle finish. We both immediately agreed to skip it for the day and instead focused on getting down the mountain. Behind us was another crazy ridgeline view with a Little Lakes valley backdrop I think I’ll always remember vividly.
But the view didn’t last long, as we added some cord to the existing tat-ridden anchor we could see a puffy and out of place cloud in the distance. Before we both made it off repel, the cloud quickly turned into large sweeps of red-orange smoke that would consume the entire area. Blue skies and sprawling landscapes turned into dramatically red tinted backdrops of nearby peaks and a otherwise brown haze. We joked about its resemblance of mars or mordor, but also wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The smell was clearly of burning wood and exposure to this was certainly doing damage to our respiration. Making it out involved a return to the endless talus fields and so we got a move onto the next col between Bear Creek Spire the next NW peak. As high quality as the rock on the NE ridge was, the terrain following this col was equally poor. We chose to downclimb this section, which was maybe a hundred feet or so of 3rd to 4th class choss. Some of it was sand and some of it was large loose blocks that we’d toss down the mountain at our discretion. It was pretty clear we would make it down, but we remained on edge the whole time and had to be very methodical with our chosen hand or foot holds. At the bottom of this short headwall we returned to the endless talus. We’d take one or two short breaks and otherwise tried to descend as quickly as possible.
Without snow to cover these boulder fields movement is pretty slow compared to a trail no matter what we tried. Going to fast was pretty risky for injury potential so we just maintained as fast a pace as we could and would sometimes swaps leads to boost energy. Eventually we made it down to camp at around 4pm, nearly 12 hours since we had woken up. Once there we took another well earned break and were greeted by some older guys who were stoked that we made it back from the ridge okay. They were clearly nostalgic from their days of climbing and we exchanged some stories back and forth of our climbing experiences. It was a cool moment of celebration and we got to enjoy the fact that we did what we set out to do. As we broke down camp, Trevor even took a plunge in the lake and I took a few minutes to relax. After this was what I thought would be a short hike. As usual it still felt long and strenuous having to carry a big pack and having been moving for so much time. The way back smoke clouds still filled the whole valley and encouraged me to move fast. Some sort sections of uphill scattered about were brutal and I was exhausted again towards the end. We made it to the car just after 6pm and exchanged the last bit of gear between us. Normally I would have loved to celebrate, but instead we both rushed out of the trailhead and on our 6 hour journeys to SF and LA. Smoke lasted for nearly an hour of driving and finally making it back to clear skies was such a relief.
For another weekend, Trevor and I had an incredible adventure. I was impressed by the beauty of the valley and as usual was very glad we finally committed to the climb. This trip made for one of our smoothest alpine climbs to date despite many obstacles and unexpected moments along the way. I’m glad I took the time off I did to reflect and earn back the passion for mountains that enables these crazy adventures from time to time. Looking to the future I’m more motivated than ever to continue progressing in endurance, technical skills, and experience required to tackle more routes in the High Sierra. Its such a cool privilege to live nearby such an incredible range. Access will never be easy but it certainly makes these moments more memorable.
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