Jacob and I met up with friends Will and Margaux to do the North Arete of Bear Creek Spire. I was dealing with a nagging foot injury from a foot jam fiasco on Eichorn Pinnacle 5 weeks earlier and had been looking for a moderate ridge climb with an awesome bivy opportunity. But when someone offers to let you be a toprope princess up a route this awesome, you pivot.
Bear Creek Spire at over 13,700 ft is practically a 14’er, and so I had resolved to sleep as high as possible to get whatever acclimatization I could. We managed a nice park/rest stop outside of Bishop that seemed to at least tacitly accept overnight camping, at around 7 kft.
We got a somewhat leisurely start and banged out the approach miles. The final 1000 feet up to the route was a sampling of some of the Sierra’s finest talus, with occasional lingering snow. I climbed with Will while Jacob climbed with Margaux. Will led the first 5 technical pitches in a single simul block, in trail runners, placing perhaps 10 pieces of gear the entire way. In several sections he was leading faster than I could follow. At the top of the arete the route joins up with the East Arete route, crossing through a short tunnel and leading to a cushy belay for a chance to rerack for the rest of the route.
The top of the East arete was pure Type I fun, 5.easy with incredible views and just enough exposure to keep things interesting. Very solo-able, but I generally prefer the psychological protection offered by efficient simuling with just enough pieces to convince my lizard brain that this is fine.
The summit block is a 15’ unprotectable slab boulder problem. It’s not hard, but it is a little spooky, and the downclimb even more so. We lounged at the base of the summit block and took turns belaying each other up and down.
We did a rappel of convenience to meet up with the descent route and generally followed that down, albeit with some minor routefinding issues. All told, it was an awesome romp, and sadly, would be my last real climb for a long time, as my foot injury would worsen and plague me for the next year and a half.
