B-town Spire

The spire

Billings, Montana, is known for a lot of things, however desert towers usually don't come to mind when one imagines the magic city.  

The "Santa Clause Spire"  as I have called the rock formation since I was 6 years old, resides in Swords park in Billings, almost directly above Steep World climbing gym.  I remember looking at this spire of sandstone as a kid and thinking it looked like Santa Clause heading east with a bag full of presents on his shoulder.  

This spire has seen few ascents even though it can be viewed from the largest city in Montana!  As far I know it has been climbed maybe 3 times.  Klaus Shock may have aid climbed it and the local legend Jim Rott freed the tower a few years back (a ballsy lead).  There probably were a few other climbers to summit the spire but who knows...

Bridget and I climbed the spire last weekend and it was a classic!  I have a certain affinity for loose rock and this tower fit the bill.  I sat at the base and stared at the spire for a while before deciding I wasn't meant to free climb the thing.  I ended up aid climbing the spire while standing in slings as I didn't bring aiders along.  It takes descent gear and is reasonably safe.  It's a worthy route for the Billings sandstone connoisseur with an inkling for urban desert spires.  

 PS.  There was no anchor on top so I placed a terrible piton anchor that shouldn't be trusted.

Cheers, Loren

Winter Happenings: A snap shot of flux

With the start of day light savings time this winter season seems to be paving the way for spring, warm sun, and rock climbing(!).  This winter I have lived in a small shell in a small mountain town with a job that has allowed me to grow deeper as a human more than I thought I could.  It has been one of the strangest and toughest years of my life, but also rewarding and grounding in respect to the big picture.


Here is a 3 part snap-shot of a winter spent in flux:



Part One: Mixed Climbing:

We have began developing a mixed climbing crag in the Beartooths.  There is only one route so far but the potential is pretty big for modern sport and gear mixed lines.

I asked Rusty Willis if he would be interested in projecting a mixed line I bolted (with help) this winter, he agreed and we promptly core shot my new rope.  We moved the bolt to make the route safe and were psyched that kermantle is so tough!

Rusty Willis on the lower section

Rusty pulling the roof 

Holy shit!

Holy Shit again!

Part Two:  Ice Climbing:

I was allowed to start a climbing club at the school I am teaching at.  In March I took a short bus full of psyched students to Hellroaring falls to go ice climbing.  Beartooth Mountain Guides agreed to help with the logistics and they did an awesome job!  These kids had a great time sending wet ice in blue jeans.

Rolling large in the short bus

Austin Hart and the students, psyched!

I also got out a few times on the ice exploring and climbing routes I have never done before; Brad Hague, Bridget, and myself tried to find "Lady of the Valley" in Wyoming but the stormy weather hid the climb from us. We ended up climbing a route we had no idea about and had never heard of before.  We couldn't see much in the storm except this flow of ice half way up the mountain side.  It turned out we climbed "Rabbit Ears" a fun alpine ice route made memorable due to absolutely zero beta:

Approaching "Rabbit Ears", Wyoming

Brad Hauge topping out "Rabbit Ears"

cold descent 

Descending the fun first pitch of "Rabbit Ears"

Wyoming approach vehicle

Part Three:  Skiing

Wilson dog getting a face shot

The Beartooth Mountains have recieved 140% normal snowpack this year, thus I have done more skiing (and have yet to ski powder below my ski boots!) than any other winter.  The snowpack has gone back and forth and there have been many avalanche fatalities this winter in Montana.  We have been playing it safe and have mainly been skiing low angle trees filled with the deepest snow I have skied in the Red Lodge area. 

Josh Varney and I skied Misery Bowl in a perfect temperature inversion (-21 in Billings, -14 in Red Lodge, +40 at Misery Bowl).  There was no misery involved, just deep, deep, soft tree skiing.

Josh heading up Misery creek

The top of misery bowl

Josh skis to fast for me to be able to capture a photo

Last weekend Luke Johnson, Bridget, and I tried skiing the entire Hellroaring plateau in the Mount Rearguard area.  We wanted to skin up misery bowl, traverse the plateau, summit Mount Rearguard, and then ski the remaining horseshoe shaped plateau back to the car in a 20 mile day.  We gained the plateau easily but the winds on the plateau drove us down early.  We ended up skiing down to Hellroaring lake and down to the double bridges and the car.  Still a 10 mile day in the alpine, so fun!

time to bail

finding shelter in a wind lip

lake skiing

lots of vertical

Cheers, Loren 

Montana Bouldering Championships 2014

Short notice; but the Montana Bouldering Championship is happening this coming weekend (Sat. Feb. 8th) at Steep World in Billings, Montana.

This event separates the Montana Bouldering field and crowns the strongest male and female climber in the State- it's also really fun to participate in and the energy level is through the roof!

If you're lucky you may even get to go to the skee-ball championship later that night and meet Chuck-E-Cheese himself!

See you there!

Here is an interview in preparation for the event:

Montana Bouldering Championships: MBC2014: A Brief Chat with Loren Rausch: Loren in alpine mode  This week, in our run up to the Montana Bouldering Championships on February 8th, I sit down for a brief chat with...

Cheers, Loren

Tolman Gully?

Last weekend Bridget and I spotted an ice flow to the North (lookers left) of the Rock Creek Falls Drainage.  The following day we headed up there with Echo Oaks (who also saw the ice the weekend prior) and Olin Erickson.  What we found was a super moderate, but alpine ice gully that brings one directly to the summit of Tolman Mountain.  It was really fun and had about 400-500' of ice climbing up to WI3 with some gully walking between the short ice flows.  It seems to be an early season climb.

We found rappel webbing on trees from previous parties - thus it is not a new route by any means - just another seldom done Beartooth classic.

PS.  If you know the name of this climb let us know - I'm just going to refer to it as Tolman gully based on geographical reference.

Cheers, Loren

Putting the drill to use

A few of us have been bolting some high quality limestone near Red Lodge.  The nature of the rock makes the formations slabby.  We put in two routes both 2 (30m) pitches long.  5.11c, and 5.12a.  Technical slab, pick your poison!  

Cheers, Loren

A trip up the Westminster Spire

Bridget and I had a good time climbing the stunning Westminster Spire last weekend.  Westmister spire now stands 8 miles from my front door along the Beartooth Pass and is surprisingly alpine for being so close to town.  It was my 3rd trip up the Kennedy-Kanzler route (the obvious arete) and I forgot how alpine this 5 pitch route is.  Loose, exposed, serious, but worth it.  Here are some snowy pictures of the route.

Bridget starting pitch 1

Bridget on pitch 2.5 (moving the belay)

Bridget leading pitch 3

Bridget on pitch 4

White Tail peak from the summit of the spire

A post hole descent 

Cheers, Loren

A letter to a friend

Dear Kevin,

I was not there when the accident happened.  I only saw the picture of you moments before; guns blazing, wild smile, and an aura of a man completely in his element.  I was there an hour later, waiting with the SAR team, helicopter blades thundering - sky turning dark... hope gone.

I watched the stars.  I watched my friends.  I watched the inside of my head.  Complete loss for words or action.  The night was calm and cold as I laid in the dirt, shivering and crying.  It was still a beautiful night out, owls were calling and wind sang through the trees of Wyoming.  After the SAR team left the canyon was quiet again.  We combined at the camping spot and drank tequila until we puked, we told stories, we cried, we laughed, we praised you and tore you apart- we loved you.

Kevin, this letter is for you.  You don't have to explain anything to me, I know - understand.  The pull of the wild places and the vehicle of climbing to get us there is the substrate of our existence.  I don't expect anything more or less.  We have had close calls in Alaska, yet we continued to venture into the unknown- to us it was a part of living - and a part of transition from this life to the next.  You don't need to explain - I get it. The hard part is picking up the pieces afterwards, trying to teach High School science with out breaking down.  Trying to look at our friends in the eyes, trying to look at those who do not understand at all - just trying - trying pretty damn hard.

Kevin I love you, always will.  We have had some formative times together, both in the hills and in the bars.  We have shared so much of ourselves with each other.  Know that you are loved, by many, many, many good people.  You were a brilliant climber, a wonderful friend, a loving husband, a son to be proud of, a good man.  I'll think of you every time I put my harness on, chalk my hands up, or stare at the rising sun in the early morning hours in the mountains - just like the morning when you passed on - guns blazing, wild smile, and an aura of a man completely in his element.

K-Bone we love you, best of luck,

Loren Rausch

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/in-memory-of-kevin-volkening.html

Best, Loren