[Matt Lemke]

Elaine joined me for a trip back to the Beartooths where we were hoping to climb a variety of technical routes, including the Bears Tooth, Castle Rock Spire, Pensive Tower, Lunar Arete and the North Face of Glacier Peak. All these routes were ones I still need to do, in order to provide good first hand beta for my Montana 12ers guidebook still in the works. Due to two days of constant rain in the beginning of the trip however, we only hit two of those objectives. They were the Bears Tooth and the North Face of Glacier Peak, which so happened to be my final Montana 12er I had yet to summit. As an aside, for more information about the Bears Tooth and the standard route up, see this page. After enduring two wet, miserable days of cold, windy rain soaked days in the upper west fork of Rock Creek basin near Omega Pass (details regarding that will have to come in another story), we hiked up the Lake Fork Trail and made the approach to the beautiful Black Canyon Lake. Believe it or not, it was still off and on raining as we hiked the easy 7 miles to the north end of the lake. I had been here once before back in 2012 with Stephan, but not since then. I remember this lake being exceptionally gorgeous and the second time around was just as amazing as the first. Elaine was particularly impressed, as there are no mountains in Canada that look quite like the Beartooths. We set up camp on a small grassy patch at the north end of the lake, as we didn't want to haul the packs around the mile long lake, where much of it is large boulder hopping (story of the Beartooth Range!) The afternoon sun was perfect on the towering cliffs that guard the lake on both sides. We took some nice photos as the lake water calmed to a glassy appearance, and the last of the clouds drifted past, occasionally clouding the summit area of Spirit Mountain seen at the head of the large valley. We had a nice, dry nights rest before waking a bit before sunrise to start the traverse around the lake.

Lower cliffs of Mount Rearguard above the lake

Our camp

Aw we are so cute!

Spirit Mountain at the head of the valley

Perfect sunrise on Black Canyon Lake

We made good time traversing around the left side of the lake and made it to the large meadow on the south side, before boulder hopping once again commenced. We actually ascended on talus more or less the entire way up to the start of the route up Bears Tooth. It was a long way up the large boulders, but we eventually made it to the top of the talus apron at 11,300 feet. From here the scrambling began. We made our way up 200 or so feet of kitty litter covered ledges in the Class 4 variety before beginning a rightward traverse. We located where the base of the vertical south face met the ledges and slabs and aimed for that spot.

There is a 15 foot horizontal traverse where the ledges disappear, and we had to friction traverse on dusty steeper slab with little in the way of features or protection. This was a scary spot as a fall would have had us sliding down the cliffs below. Luckily I was able to utilize a couple good hand holds on the steep wall of the south face to safely cross. Elaine and I both put our rock shoes on just for this part, but I then returned to my hiking shoes for the next easy ledge walk. We made a 6 foot Class 4 mantle move to mount the east ridge proper and we had a nice rest on the flat portion of the ridge. Here we racked up and had a snack.

Scrambling rubble covered ledges

The scary slab traverse

Elaine making the traverse

Rest spot at the beginning of roped climbing

Elaine took the first of two very easy pitches (low 5th class in a few spots). Rope drag was an issue so we had to only do 30 meter lengths. We didn't hit much 5th class at all the first part of the ridge as it was so low angle. For our third pitch, Elaine led up a steeper chimney, then exited it to the right and climbed a steep, edgy face to a nice ledge (5.6). I then did a full 60 meter pitch climbing through the best part of the route, which involved a sustained 5.8 lie back hand-crack dihedral. This was located to the right of the overhang in the upper ridge. The dihedral then turned into a right facing awkward, damp 5.7 chimney, then eased off to the summit. I was elated to finally be standing on this iconic gem of a peak few people ever get the chance to experience.

Elaine leading our first pitch

Elaine leading our 3rd pitch

Beartooth Mountain from the summit

Mount Rearguard from the summit

Aren't we adorable?

Starting the raps

Since the clouds were building, we only stayed on the top for 20 minutes before starting to rappel down. We made 6 single rope rappels, plus another 2 to bypass the scary traverse before we could scramble back to the talus apron, then return the long hike back around the lake to our camp. We were hit with intermittent hail but nothing serious. Off to the east we did see a storm hot the Red Lodge area though. Upon reaching the tent, we raced the hike back out to the trailhead and made it back to Red Lodge just in time to catch dinner at Mas Taco before their 9pm close time! A perfect day was complete

Route topo of the east ridge route

PS...if you ever find yourself in Red Lodge, BE SURE you eat at Mas Taco. By far the best place to eat in town! Stay tuned for part 2 of this trip report where Elaine and I accidentally made a first ascent on the north face of Glacier Peak, which also was my last Montana 12er!!!

[RichP]

Amazing looking terrain out there. One of these days I hope to poke around the Beartooths.