Like a rock

Some well-known words of wisdom for people in high places are “don’t look down.” But whether I wanted to tempt the fates or just break the rules, I looked, and from 600-feet high on Shoshone Spire in the Bitterroot Mountains, there was a lot to look down at.

At first, glancing between my outstretched legs at Blodgett Canyon below, I noticed the tiny green speck that was our tent.  This sight made me uneasy, so I brought my gaze up to my boots smeared against the wall.  They were clinging to nearly vertical rock with all the might in their rubber soles, and the thought of them slipping did not improve my confidence, so I looked even higher at the wedges of metal jammed into cracks to hold me up against gravity.  I put all of my weight onto these anchors, not out of total trust in their placement but rather out of necessity, and at this point I wished I had not looked down in the first place.  I decided to focus on belaying my friend above, hoping that he would not fall.

Only 44 miles south of Missoula near Hamilton, Blodgett Canyon is described as “the epicenter of Bitterroot traditional climbing,” by Ben Brunsvold of Pipestone Mountaineering in Missoula. 

“Blodgett Canyon is so popular because it offers relatively easy access to high-quality granite routes that range from beginner-level traditional climbing to more advanced traditional climbing,” Brunsvold said, adding that the climbs range from 5.6 to 5.12 on the Yosemite scale, which measures climbing difficulty from an easy 5.0 to a teeth-clenching, rock-pinching 5.14.  And with numerous spires and buttresses, some up to 1,200 feet tall, there is enough for a climber with only a few hours or perhaps a few days to commit to a route.

Brunsvold said that while both Blodgett and Kootenai Canyon, a climbing area farther north in the Bitterroots, share similar rock quality, they differ in the type of climbing available. Blodgett offers more multi-pitch traditional climbing (long climbs where climbers must place their own anchors) while Kootenai has more sport climbing (climbs with bolts drilled into the rock for anchors).  While Blodgett has some sport routes, sport climbing is “usually not the main attraction at Blodgett,” according to Brunsvold.

Most of the popular climbs in Blodgett are within 3 miles of the trailhead.  Just above the trailhead are the Parking Lot and Slapper Walls, offering sport routes in one- to two-pitch climbs from 5.7 to 5.12+.  Farther up the trail, The Prow and the Drip Buttress loom above the canyon and humble hikers below.  These provide the first multi-pitch climbs found in the canyon, including the eight-pitch 5.11b “Timebinder” route on the south face of The Prow.  After passing the Blackfoot Dome, the easiest climb with four pitches of 5.6, the next group of towers are the Nez Perce and Shoshone Spires and the Flathead Buttress. The five pitch 5.8+ south face of Shoshone was the first route established in the canyon and remains its most popular according to Brunsvold, while its massive neighbors Nez Perce and Flathead offer numerous free and aid climbing routes, which use artificial anchors to ascend rather than foot or hand holds.

It took my friend Josh Varney and I nearly six hours to climb the Shoshone Spire with Varney leading the route and placing the anchors while I belayed.  Once he reached the end of the rope, my job was to climb up to him and pull, push, twist and yank the anchors out.  I grated my knuckles against granite working out some placements, while others wiggled out a bit too easily.  Luckily, no falls tested them.

After topping out and snapping a few photos, we scrambled down the mellow backside and rappelled down two big cliffs to our camp.  Back at the tent (no longer a tiny green speck) and gazing at the rock surrounding us, Varney smiled and asked, “What’s next?”