Fall Climbing in Kootenai Canyon

It Doesn't Get Much Better than This!

October 2018

Contact garya at this domain if you would like the high quality image for printing

I've been spending all my time since we got back from Peru trying to get the chimneys on the house done enough to use the fireplaces this winter. My friend Kurt sent out a note asking about climbing and I decided I needed a day off. My rib felt like it had pretty much healed after my fall on Shoshone two months ago. Four of us spent the afternoon on the rocks enjoying the fall weather.

We started out on Pleasant Surprise, but I didn't take any pictures of it as I had left my camera in my pack when we scrambled up to the start of the climb. After that Dave and Tim did Spider Scense, a 5.8/9 on the arete to the right of Spider Hang; Kurt and I did Web's Edge, a 5.8/9 face climb just left of Spider Hang. We didn't encounter any spiders, or ticks.

In the images below, any "close-up" shots are just zoomed in crops; if you want a "close-up" of one of the images, let me know and I'll see if it will blow up ok.

<		>
	Kurt on Web's Edge

By the time I got my camera out Tim had already gone around the corner leading Spider Scense, but I did get a few shots of Dave seconding.

<		>
	Dave on Spider Scense

We finished up doing a route whose name I haven't been able to figure out. Apparently Rick Torre's 1996 Bitterroot Climber's Guide Book calls it Spider Hang, but Spider Hang is the 5.10 splitter crack in the huge roof between Web's Edge and Spider Scense. This climb is a 5.10 just downhill (right) from Spider Scense. Given the incorrect "assumed name," I'm going to call it Wanna-be Spider Hang, at least until someone can show / give me an actual handle for it. It has a difficult to protect 5.10 start so we top-ropped it. According to the topo in Torre's book there is a 5.8 start to the left of where we went up. Tim had to give me an assist getting off the ground; everyone else made it with varying degrees of finesse.

<		>
	Kurt on Wanna-be Spider Hang

<		>
	Gary on Wanna-be Spider Hang

<		>
	Dave on Wanna-be Spider Hang

<		>
	Tim on Wanna-be Spider Hang

Looking back from ten days away in a week of cold and rainy, I'd sure like a break in the weather to go back and do some more. A great late fall day; I hope it wasn't the end of the season.