Bear Creek Spire 13,720′ – Northeast Ridge
Rock Climbing– Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 11:30
Distance: 12.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 3900′
Crux: Class 5.6
Pitches: 3
Protection: Small rack, alpine slings, 55 meter rope
Companions: Shelby Kincaid
Trailhead: Mosquito Flats TH- pit toilets, trash
As one of 35 Sierra Club Mountaineers Peaks, Bear Creek Spire has no easy route to its summit. Although the approach is short by Sierra standards, the easiest route is class 4 with a 5.6 summit block. It is also home to a number of classic technical alpine routes, with the two most popular being the Northeast Ridge 5.5 and North Arete 5.8. There is debate on which route is more classic, but I was more than happy to tick off either, bagging a prized Sierra alpine route and summit. After success on Mount Emerson and Eichorn Pinnacle this season, Shelby was game for a longer outing, and we decided on the Northeast Ridge, which promised to have quite a bit more climbing in the 5.fun range. We met at the Mosquito Flats trailhead at 7 AM and started up Little Lakes Valley, my last visit the year prior for a climb of Mount Mills.
We followed the trail past Heart and Long Lakes to Gem Lakes, picking up an obvious use trail before Morgan Pass and taking under an hour. The trail ended at the backside of Gem Lakes and we started up fairly solid talus, continuing up the drainage to Dade Lake. We stopped to filter water at an unnamed tarn (thinking it was Dade) before actually reaching Dade Lake at 9:30. Bear Creek Spire towered above, with both the Northeast Ridge and North Arete in full view.
There were some patches of lingering snow low in the drainage, so we did an ascending traverse on talus into the higher basin, finding the rock and slabs to be far cleaner than they had looked from below. We aimed for the saddle between Bear Creek Spire and Pyramid Peak hitting it a little over 3 hours from the start. We paused for a short break, the Northeast Ridge rising directly from the saddle above us, with what looked like a few hundred feet of talus between us and the start of the low fifth class climbing.
Climbing higher, the talus steepened from class 2 to class 3, until we passed the first tower on the ridge to reach a notch and start of the technical climbing. I offered to lead the first block, with several Microtraxes to simulclimb through the easy fifth class. I launched into the fins of granite, quickly smiling ear to ear from the solid rock and fun movement.
The ridgeline was initially fairly narrow and exposed, but widened about halfway up and became more 2nd and 3rd class, allowing me to save gear for one long simulblock, taking us about 500′ all the way to the upper ridgeline. The North Arete and Northeast Ridge routes converge at the upper ridgeline, and we crossed paths with two other parties having gotten an earlier start on the harder North Arete, the second of which just happened to include Shelby’s friend Harrison and climbing partner Jack. I built a belay at the start of the upper ridgeline as Shelby caught up, and she swung on to lead to take us to the summit. She climbed into a notch above the belay and was quickly out of sight, weaving among the gendarmes and boulders along the ridgeline quickly leading to significant rope drag.
Eventually the rope became taught and I started up until Shelby called out on the radio that she was in a tricky spot. I put her back on belay as she worked through it out of sight- I would later figure out that based on the Supertopo, she had taken a ramp with a tricky 5.8 traverse, with the easier fourth class ramp slightly higher on the face. We were both in motion again once she was through the traverse, and I continued along the ridgeline until she began to experience so much rope drag that she built a belay.
The drag improved once I got through the long traverse and I put her back on belay to lead us to the summit pinnacle, her friend Harrison and partner Jack just topping out ahead of us. The last little bit of scrambling to the summit block was quite fun, a steeper headwall with cracks and a few huge knobs and holds that seemed to be taken straight from a climbing gym.
Harrison and Jack were just getting off the summit block when I arrived to the base, continuing on to climb the final 5.6 slab up the highest rock, with just enough good holds to keep it from being too terrifying, but still definitely heads up with the only pro at the base of the boulder.
After a few pictures I belayed Shelby up the summit block, and the four of us had a quick lunch and party at the summit, sharing snacks and music before starting the single rope rappel down the fourth class peakbaggers route. I changed back into my hiking shoes and the four of us started down the sand and scree towards the notch between Bear Creek Spire and Pipsqueak Spire, finding the class 3 exit easily enough.
With four of us, it was far more social and enjoyable than my usual solo sufferfest outings, and we soon found ourselves moving past Dade Lakes, Gem Lakes and back to the trail towards Mosquito Flat.
It was a little after 6:30 when we reached the trailhead, and with a long drive back home to the west side and work the next morning, I quickly parted ways with the others. After a quick stop in Mammoth for dinner to go and dropping a few things back at the condo, I headed back up and over Tioga Pass, getting home at 11 PM.
