Bitterroot Beta

9/10/23 Update:

The Lost Horse Bouldering Fest will return 9/30/23. Head over to wmtcc.org to preregister and reserver a shirt from an amazing local artist.

The Bitterroot National Forest's order prohibiting new bolts is still in place and the FS continues its process to develop a Climbing Management Plan. They hope to finish in the coming months though progress has been slow.

Please:

• Join (and follow) the access fund and Western Montana Climbers Coalition for further updates. 

• If you re in the Bitterroot and want to get involved contact me and I can connect you with the right people

• Comply with the order (and all Bitterroot Forest Regulations) ... for boulders this is easy as bolts are not typically used.

• Continue to follow Leave No Trace ethics. These include several principles particularly relevant to climbers: "Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces [including]established trails and campsites, rock, gravel, dry grasses or snow." "In popular areas ... Concentrate use on existing trails and campsites." and "In pristine areas ... Disperse use to prevent the creation of campsites and trails ... [and] ...Avoid places where impacts are just beginning."

• Either use the pit toilets or bring wag bags or a portable toilet.

The Guide: 

The 2018 version of the guidebook can be found here.

It is a bit out of date:

• Many projects been sent:

  • The top gun traverse is now "Shot in the Heart" v9 *** 

  • Plan bB on girls best friend  is now v10 *** with the same name.

  • The SE arete of the bolted boulder is now "No Ceilings" v7 ***

  • "Northern Lights" v7 **** on the steep and high west face of High Times boulder.

  • "Authority of the Resource" v8 *** in the top gun talus. 

• The start of the moose creek road has been moved west. 

An updated pdf be released soon covering these and many more problems and with expanded sections on history, ethics and best practices as well as some scans of other guidebooks.

Please submit corrections, additions and ratings suggestions to contact@bitterrootbeta.org.

-Ryan Bressler

On Land Acknowledgment: The Bitterroot valley is the unceded land and onetime reservation of the Salish tribe. In 1891 they were marched out of the valley forced onto the Flathead reservation under armed guard. Here they joined with the Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes to form the modern day Confederates Salish and Kootenai Tribe (CSKT)

Because the Salish gave their name to the widespread Salish language group and the Salish people who speak it, it has become common to see land all over the north west acknowledged as Salish. Ironically land in the Bitterroot attributed to the Kootenai tribe as people misinterpret acknowledgment maps that attribute the whole are to the modern CSKT. It is worth taking a minute to familiarize yourself with the history.