Montana- what gives?

[Frankazoid]

Heading to Montana soon and i'm trying to find beta on sport crags... i'm having trouble finding out anything besides whats on mountainproject.com. The state is huge and has mountains and hills- theres gotta be more sport crags. What gives? I heard of limestone hills south of Townsend, MT. Know anything about Townsend area limestone?

 

Also, I will be in the Great Falls area for most of my stay.

[davidk]

There was a great article in one of the climbing mags (I think it was Climbing, but may have been R&I) within the last 12 months about MT's virtually unknown, but nevertheless stellar, rock climbing scene.

 

I would suggest browsing the titles by First Ascent Press. They are now defunct, but the Bozeman climbing shops Northern Lights Mountaineering and Barrel Mountaineering own the left over stash of guidebooks. Give them a call and I'm sure they can point you in the right direction.

[Frankazoid]

Thanks David. I'll give that a shot!

[kroc]

Bozeman pass has some good limestone. The gallatin canyon 20 mi south of I-90 has limestone sport that was somewhat limited when left in 2002 but I heard that it was greatly expanded. This is seperate from the trad gallatin canyon stuff that is more well known (and worth checking out). I'm sure climbing shops in bozeman could tell you more.

 

Helena has granite and limestone, never made it out there so I can only tell you it exists.

 

Butte has alot of granite, some bolted routes.

 

My experence with Montana was that there was plenty of fun climbing, but I was always excited to leave the state to get at the top tier (quality wise) climbing areas.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2011 by kroc

[Frankazoid]

So limestone in the gallations as well as gneiss? Nice!

I am definetly interested in checking out bozeman pass. I have heard of limestone around helena, but there is a lot of driving one could do...... I'll take yall's advice and ask at the shop.