Summit Beehive Peak

Beehive Basin has it all, a mini playground for outdoorsmen. My first visit was during the winter one year ago. We hoped to ski The Fourth of July Couloir, but conditions were not ideal and we left thinking about all the possible ski routes.

I’ve been up numerous times since, running and climbing. Beehive Basin has everything to offer. I went with climbing partners Aki and Wes, to scramble up the hundreds of cracks.

We left the parking lot at 8am. The three-mile hike winding past with talk of previous ski seasons and climbing trips in the area. We reached the higher alpine lake and cut left to the base. We arrived in two hours after crossing the boulder last talus field. Looking up at the numerous cracks Aki and Wes decided a loose line based of fun and a simple description in select alpine guide.

The first pitch proved a little tricky off the ground. As Wes made it through Aki and I looked to see slight bits of snow falling slowly. A long day might be ahead of us, we guessed, but it quickly quit and only returned briefly on the last pitch. We guessed the first pitch went at 5.8. Aki then took over the lead for a nice long pitch of 5.10 with two cruxes, one great Montana fashion (containing a bit of moss and moisture). Wes then took the last pitch of easy 5.6 (easy to simul), unfortunately we didn’t have enough rope to finish to the summit. The fourth pitch we decided to un-rope and scramble the last 5.3 pitch.

From the top we looked out towards Gallatin Peak, Lone peak and Big Sky.We down climbed down the west ridge rapping once in a gully to avoid knocking rocks on each other. We reached our packs and after on more section of hiking/down climbing.

A short hike out and we were back at the car. Round trip and easy 7 hour day of fun. The potential in at Beehive strikes me every time. I’m already looking forward to winter, when the gullies start to fill with snow, the trail turns in to a skin track and I’m there skiing the great lines.