The climber's enemies are fear, apathy, love-handles, soft hands and self-doubt. After a good day of battling these incidious advesaries and beating ones self to a bloody pulp, it is a good idea to end the day with a Peace Pipe...or start with one, depending on the battle you have to fight that day. This route is a long, slightly overhung line with killer moves. It packs a wallop with a battle of the bulge crux and only has one good rest before the final push into enemy territory that leads to the anchors. Do this route! Do it over and over again!

Peace Pipe

[Redacted]

The Tomahawk

Totem pole

Bare-Fisted Grizzly Killer

PipeStoned

Indian Outlaw

Chiefed

Paha   Sapa aka "Chockstoned"

Be sure to get your mellow groove on before attempting this Spearfish Canyon classic. Depending on who you are, this might be the scariest ride of you life when the pockets end at roof with the perfect finger crack as your only means of escape. Guaranteed be the high point of your redpoint attempts.

Amazingly exposed arete climb that offers beautiful views both up and down the canyon. Crux is in the beginning with powerful moves to deceiving pockets. The 5.10 arete climbing begins as soon as you reach that sharp corner. Be careful of your rope because it will cross over the arete at one point.

Get ready to have your tendons chopped to pieces. A beyond-boldery start leads to pleasant climbing that soon has you clinging on for dear life for the finishing moves. Classic canyon climbing and a must do for anyone looking to get in over their head.

Super interesting climb that isn't over 'til it's over. The most sustained 11c I've ever been on. Climbs up the slabby black rock with a tricky beginning, so you might want to stick clip the first bolt. Watch out for a small bees nest in one of the pockets, I think somewhere around mid-route.

Series of thinner sequences and at times long moves separated by decent rest stances on great rock, as outstanding as the nearby ones. Not especially pumpy nor sustained, but between the rests awaits even climbing, solid 11 all the way. 

  You're not done until you've reached the anchor - she'll throw a last-minute crux at you just above the last bolt. Expect to bring out those ballet dancer feet and delicate but firm (aka crimpy) hand shake...

Do you feel like getting on a slightly overhung route, on bulletproof rock, that climbs like a washboard and has you hanging on for dear life by one or two screaming fingers?

 Here it is.

 Chiefted. One of the finest 5.11a climbs this entire area has to offer is calling your name and waiting to test your metal.

 Get on this thing!

Are you tired of getting sand-bagged? Does your climbing party have a beginner? Are you looking for the perfect 5.9 warm-up to start your day in the land of the five twelves? Look no further. Routes in the "Five Fun" or the "I suck and want to climb something that won't kill me" range are quite rare in Spearfish Canyon. That alone makes this route an absolute gem. Starts on pockets and makes its way up to a roof section that might make you think for a bit before you sail your way to the anchors. Paha Sapa is the perfect 5.9 in the stronghold of strong people climbs.  

  But wait! There's more! Those strong men and strong women, who actually believe in a warm-up burn before tearing into the harder routes, will benefit from climbing past the anchors of this climb and putting their rope through the next set of anchors to the right.  

  Voila! You now have a top-rope that falls directly over Peace Pipe. Have your belayer gently put you on the ground and start climbing again. Doing this will give you ANOTHER warm-up lap in the 5.10c range that will get your muscles and tendons where they need to be at before you take one of the many difficult climbs in the area.  

  On an interesting side note, Paha Sapa means "Black Hills" in Lakota. The original native people believed that the Paha Sapa were essentially the heart of everything in existance. Recently, satellites at the Eros Data Center, near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, photographed Paha Sapa from above. When the pictures were developed, scientists were shocked to learn that the Black Hills were the exact shape of the human heart. You could even see the chambers, veins, and arteries!

Rather small wall with only three routes on it. The main feature of this wall is the long and exposed knife like arete which hosts 'Trail of Tears'. Another great climb is the super relentless 'Bare-Fisted Grizzly Killer'.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in [Redacted]