North America, United States, Idaho, Bell Mountain, Hell's Bells

Publication Year: 2004.

Bell Mountain, Hell's Bells. Brian Wood and I took advantage of a cold spell in early June, 2002, to establish Hell’s Bells (1,100 feet) on the northwest face of Bell Mountain in the Lemhi Range. The northwest face is cut by two large gully systems. Hell’s Bells ascends the left-hand gully for three pitches of thin ice and easy mixed climbing. The second pitch was the crux, consisting of a thin WI3+ flow, followed by several tricky M4 moves to regain the narrow gully. The third pitch reached a large bowl in the center of the face. From the bowl we climbed up and right for a pitch to reach a buttress. The buttress involved two fun and exposed rock pitches (easy fifth class on solid rock) to reach the north ridge. From the north ridge a few hundred feet of exposed scrambling led to the summit and an easy descent down the southwest gully. Thirteen hours round trip from Basinger Canyon.

Dean Lords