Trip Report
Basic Rock Climb - South Early Winter Spire/South Arête
Successful summit of the South Arete of SEWS
Kelly Bird
August 15, 2025
- Fri, Aug 8, 2025
- Basic Rock Climb - South Early Winter Spire/South Arête
- South Early Winter Spire/South Arête
- Climbing
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
We had a group of 6 for our climb. This was a mentored lead for me. The other leaders were Justin and Dana, and our climbers were Taylor B, Taylor H, and Curtis.
7:04 we started our hike up blue lake trail. 50 minutes to the first turn off to the climbers trail which is well marked.
9:00 we made it to the base of The South Arete and no visible parties in front of us. We transitioned to our climbing gear while snacking and hydrating.
9:30 first rope team starts. First pitch is straight forward. For the second pitch I scrambled from the tree belay up into the gully and built an anchor. From here I climbed as far as the rope would go and belayed my follower off a tree anchor.
11:30 first group makes it to the whales back.
We re-group here and take a short break and enjoy the nice weather and views.
I start heading over the whales back to set a hand line. With a 60M rope I set a hand line as far as I could go up to a sandy bench and set an anchor.
You could cross the top of the gully a few steps just below this area. I chose to stay high and cross a couple more exposed boulders to get to the final summit. I set 2 cordellett hand lines across some exposed scramble sections.
Everyone followed and clipped double PAS systems to scramble up the hand line.
1:15 the first 3 of our group made on top of the summit boulder and the final 3 getting close. We took a little break up here before descending back down.
We down climb the summit boulder and descend the hand line. I went last to clean the hand lines.
2:15 we all made it back across the whales back.
We down climbed a little ways and Dana set up a rappel skiers right to get down through a 5th class move. Her and 2 climbers used that and 3 of us went skiers left to down climb a slightly easier route.
From there Dana led us further skiers left and down climbed through a veg belay to get to our first of 3 raps.
3:00 we were set up with the first rap. Justin went down first with an additional rope to set the next and we all moved efficiently through the 3 rappels.
4:25 after a short break at the base to put our climbing gear away and eat a snack we started the hike out.
6:00 all back at the parking lot for a total time of just under 11hrs
Great group of climbers and beautiful scenery made for an exceptional day in the mountains.