Spearfish Canyon Climbing

Spearfish Canyon is a gorgeous canyon, lined with steep slopes capped by bands of limestone. The amount of rock in the canyon is staggering.

There are 7 or so main areas along the canyon, starting with Skeletal Remains and ending with The Shadowlands. There are also several smaller crags interspersed throughout. The rock quality tends to get better further up the canyon, with walls at Blue Sky, The Mohican, The Big Picture Gully, Sunshine, The Dark Side, and The Shadowlands holding some of the best stone you'll find anywhere.

The style of climbing varies from crimpy, small pocket tech-fests to slightly overhanging pocketed walls to steep and burly. Most areas have a good combination of routes of all styles, although certain areas are known for being predominantly techy, or pumpy, or bouldery, etc.

Climbing can be had year-round here. Spring through June can be wet, but usually you can still climb a fair bit. Summer can be hot and humid, but there are shady crags and mornings and evenings offer sending temps. Fall is dry and cooler and is the best time to visit. Winter is mostly cold, but there are 10 days a month that offer ideal climbing in the sun conditions. There are several Northerly and Southerly facing crags, offering reasonable climbing conditions in the heat of summer and anytime the sun pops out in the winter. Notably, checkout Darkside and Shadowlands for Summer conditions and Sunshine, Botany Bay, Nacho and Top shelf in the winter. Many of the other crags have an East-West aspect and are best climbed in the mornings or evenings following or avoiding the sun as makes sense for the conditions. This isn't a big issue as you are within walking or short driving distance to other crags. 

The approaches are relatively short for most areas, typically taking no longer than 10-15 minutes on well-established trails.