Bear Creek Spire North Arete

Published on 2026-07-23 by Michael Stanton

Arjun and I met on a Facebook group for people looking for partners in the Sierras. We quickly established rapport and an objective: Bear Creek Spire by the North Arete. I'd done this route years ago with Aidan, and remembered it as a great day trip. Arjun and I shared a dinner and got our packs ready the night before.

Michael starts the long walk in

A lake in the dawn

Our peak heaves into view

We were walking from the trailhead a bit after 5 am, admiring the stars and the softly glowing lakes. As the sky lightened, we followed a rough trail above Gem Lake, then traversed a hillside of manzanita bushes and talus fields. Eventually we made it to Dade Lake, then found ourselves scrambling steep talus above it to get below the mountain. Another party, Dwayne and Scott were leaving their packs at the point where the route down from the ridge meets the point to scramble up to our route's base. We left our packs here, too and followed them.

At the base, we started up to the right of Scott and Dwayne. All of us were pitching it out to reach the base of the first pitch according to guidebooks.

Arjun traverses an idyllic landscape

Our shining mountain

Still a lot of talus and boulderfields to cross!

Here is a detailed description of the pitches as we did them:

1. Up from the buttress toe in cracks to a ledge (25 m, 5.2). We made this very short pitch because the other party (Dwayne and Scott) hadn't had enough rope to reach the top of pitch 1 proper from our common stance. By moving the belay to this ledge, we could avoid building a belay in the middle of the first pitch.
2. Joining the normal route to the left in cracks, then departing it right on a striking flake up and further right to a good ledge. Some crumbly, lichen-covered rock in the second half (50 m, 5.7). I didn't like this variation much, but I can't blame Arjun for being inspired by the striking flake going up and right. It looked pretty cool, even if it wasn't!
3. Around a corner to the left to join the standard second pitch. Great climbing in cracks and flakes to a good ledge on the crest (45 m, 5.7).
4. 5.4 step-around move to the right on the crest, then 3rd class to a ledge. Short pitch, in order to continue with simul-climbing into the next pitch (5.4, 25 m).
5. The ridge steepens to sustained 4th class in cracks and faces, simul-climbed to a ledge thought to be below the 5.8 crux (60 m, 4th).
6. This was the wrong location, so we moved the belay 5 meters to the left (5 m, 5.0).
7. The crux pitch, a mix of crack and off-width climbing in giant blocks, horns and flakes. Then a long 5.6 chimney (50 m, 5.8).
8. Passing through a tunnel to the left side of the crest, then traversing easy ledges. Don't climb to the crest too early here (I made this error, then downclimbed), instead descend a few meters to continue the ledge traverse (50 m, 4th, low-5th with the error).
9. A long pitch on or near the crest, with some stunning exposure. The easiest route may have been to leave the crest on the left side. Failing to do that made it harder (55m, 5.8).
10. Following the crest in blocks and towers (30 m, 5.0).
11. Amid blocks and towers of the now more-level crest, as simul-climbing (60 m, 5.0).
12. Short, simul-climbing pitch to reach a likely route to the summit area (20 m, 3rd class).
13. Strenuous chimney and mantel moves to gain the crest. Harder than it looked! (15 m, 5.9+). On follow, I hung several times, and basically relied on Arjun holding the rope to get up!
14. Simul-climbing to the base of the summit block (20 m, 5.0).
15. The climb up and down the summit block, no protection other than the belay (8 m, 5.6).

Dwayne follows on the first pitch

Arjun snapped this photo in the crux pitch amid huge blocks and shards

Scott finishes pitch 2, by the book, and Arjun makes haste to arrive as well

Arjun climbing

Peace out, dawgz

Throughout the climb we enjoyed the scenery and the climbing. I'd forgotten how exacting granite is, with these big, smooth shards of rock, where you need an edge or crack to make progress. I'd forgotten the entertaining way you move up a mix of cracks and edges, sometimes using counterpressure to overcome a lack of features.

We'd hoped to climb faster, but had a fair number of difficulties. It was easy to go wrong in routefinding, and getting back on track meant downclimbing, or doing some odd traverse, or climbing through difficult sections.

Me, Scott and Arjun

Michael on a long pleasant scramble to reach the base of the crux pitch

Arjun on easy terrain in a fantastic landscape

Arjun just moved the belay over to the correct position below the crux

Scott brings Dwayne up

Belaying above the crux pitch

Arjun below an enjoyable 4th class pitch

Michael posing from a bully pulpit

This is very easy climbing, but you can't tell from the picture!

However, we were happy with the climb! There was one difficulty that could have made for a miserable hike out: Arjun's shoes fell off his harness on the difficult pitch to gain the summit ridge! They fell one at a time as I watched, horrified, but hoping I could retrieve them.

One shoe wasn't too difficult to get. But the other fell into a chimney slot which I could just squeeze into, but not reach my hands down to my feet, where the shoe teetered on blocks, ready to fall further into caverns I couldn't reach. I couldn't even bend enough to get my head down more than a foot.

I had only one choice: pinch my feet together around the shoe, then lift up my legs and try to mantel out of the chimney without dropping the shoe. It took a few tries, but this eventually worked. Thank God! I couldn't imagine walking out to the car in rock shoes...

Arjun at some difficult moves right on the crest

Michael tags the summit

A similar shot

Arjun on top!

Michael belaying right below the summit

Darn, the summit register had no pen!

Arjun on rappel

Michael scouting the descent

A similar scene

We made a rappel, and naturally enough, the rope got stuck. While I climbed up to retrieve it, Arjun kindly scrambled up a gully to get our pack and shoes, which we'd left on the ledges where the shoes were almost lost. We'd mistakenly thought the descent went by that point.

Now with ordinary shoes, we could climb down the enormous talus fields to a pass. We'd last seen Scott and Dwayne right on the summit, enjoying the bouldering moves. We then climbed down more talus and a snowfield to reach our stashed pack. We continued down to the lake, and darkness found us on the slope above Gem Lake.

The slog out felt like it took forever...Arjun calculated that we were walking very slowly, being completely worn out. It's funny, I felt like I was walking fast, with the exception of the far too frequent uphill sections, where I practically crawled, groaning all the while!

We reached the car at 11, making for a 18 hour day. This was therefore a bit of an epic. However, I couldn't find a better partner for such an occasion as Arjun, who was always happy and cheering us on. A fantastic trip, big thanks to Arjun!

Oh, thanks to the weather, too! The day before featured thunderstorms and rain, and there was a chance of it again after 11 am. But none of that happened.

This side view shows how steep the arete is

Bear Creek Spire

Another early evening scene

The North Arete

Telling the mountain goodbye...

Arjun at Dade Lake

A last glimpse of the peak