The north col route that my friend Mike and I undertook is definitely a late spring, early summer route. We climbed it the 4th of July weekend and it was definitely near the end of it’s useful life!
From the Piney Lake trailhead work your way up to Long Lake toward Upper Piney. We camped at Long Lake which afforded great views of the Spider. From camp we worked our way up the trail and over the steps that lead to the Upper Piney basin. Once it leveled out and opened up a bit we found a good place to cross the creek and found ourselves directly below the obvious col that separates the Spider from Point 12,200. The Point looks quite intimidating from the valley floor…
A short climb up talus slopes brought us to snow where we donned crampons and ice axes. Above us was the col, a large hourglass shaped snow field that, like most steep snow climbs, started wide and then narrowed about 2/3 the way up, widening again until it topped out just below an obvious saddle below the northeast face of the Spider. The snow climb was straightforward and VERY enjoyable. We made excellent time and gained elevation quickly with the grade getting gradually steeper to the top, but not extreme. Once this gully melts out though, I imagine it to be loose steep scree and quite a shooting gallery…another reason for the early start!
Once off the snow we removed crampons and continued up very enjoyable 4th class. The route finding is non-specific, with big exposure ESE back into the Upper Piney basin and toward West Partner Peak. Jim Gabriel posted a great pic on this site fo the Fly and Spider, and you can clearly see the cliff bands we negotiated above from the saddle to the summit – thanks Jim! The north side of the peak drops away to the valley below but never gives the climber a sense of urgency like the cliffed out southeastern exposure. We picked our way up a series of great grassy ledges with nothing too serious other than one or two somewhat exposed moves over very low 5th class ledges. I only rate them lower 5th class as the consequence awaiting a slip would be a long fall over some airy ledges/cliffs that we peered over on our way to the top. The climbing seems to ease a bit once you approach the upper ridge proper, and we found ourselves just 100 feet from the true summit of the Spider, with the last remaining part of the south ridge to negotiate before we touched the top!
Quite frankly, the descent from the summit along the ridge was more nerve-wracking than our climb as it was unfamiliar ground…we didn’t have the benefit of knowing the best ascent from that side, and to follow didn’t have the best retreat scouted for ourselves. We picked our way (mostly) over the towers and down to the saddle between the Fly, once there made a quick scramble up grassy ledges again to the Fly’s summit. Our descent came from the saddle down to the basin just north of East Booth Pass; arduous but not altogether impossible. We followed the creek down to the north side of the peak, very near to where we crossed and started our climb. It made for a wonderful tour of the Spider and a great climb in a beautiful place.
