Bear Creek Spire via Northeast Ridge (8/6/00)

This is actually the second time Jeff and I tried to climb Bear Creek Spire--two week before we had been rained/hailed off of the peak. This time the weather was much better and things went fairly smoothly.

(113K) Bear Creek Spire from our camp--the route is marked in red--the Northeast ridge. Eventhough it's rated class 4 with careful route finding we only needed to rope up the last pitch.
(79K) This is from our camp at a lake right below the Spire. We hiked in on Saturday and planed to start early the next day.

(138K) Jeff doing some class 2 on the way to the base of the climb. Since it was a moderately easy route and the weather was fine we took the luxury of an 8 a.m. start.
(178K) Jeff is in the lower right corner and our camp is on the far side of the lake.

(196K) Jeff crosses a little stream near the base of the climb.
(130K) A brave little plant near the base of the Spire.

(224K) A look up the route--most of this was class 3--no need for the rope 'till near the summit ridge.
(181K) Midway up the route this is a look down to some lakes on the other side of the ridge.

(175K) Jeff near the summit. The conditions were great and we climbed the route fairly fast.
(115K) Jeff on top. Since the weather was great we stayed around to read the summit register. After signing it we went down.

(156K) After the climb we had to descend over the other side, get back to camp, pack up *and* hike out. This was, by far, the most thrashing part of the whole trip. I would have been very happy to stay in camp for the night.
(131K) One of the lakes near the trail head.

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.

(113K)	Bear Creek Spire from our camp--the route is marked in red--the Northeast ridge. Eventhough it's rated class 4 with careful route finding we only needed to rope up the last pitch.	(79K)	This is from our camp at a lake right below the Spire. We hiked in on Saturday and planed to start early the next day.
(138K)	Jeff doing some class 2 on the way to the base of the climb. Since it was a moderately easy route and the weather was fine we took the luxury of an 8 a.m. start.	(178K)	Jeff is in the lower right corner and our camp is on the far side of the lake.
(196K)	Jeff crosses a little stream near the base of the climb.	(130K)	A brave little plant near the base of the Spire.
(224K)	A look up the route--most of this was class 3--no need for the rope 'till near the summit ridge.	(181K)	Midway up the route this is a look down to some lakes on the other side of the ridge.
(175K)	Jeff near the summit. The conditions were great and we climbed the route fairly fast.	(115K)	Jeff on top. Since the weather was great we stayed around to read the summit register. After signing it we went down.
(156K)	After the climb we had to descend over the other side, get back to camp, pack up and hike out. This was, by far, the most thrashing part of the whole trip. I would have been very happy to stay in camp for the night.	(131K)	One of the lakes near the trail head.