Ridge traverse ticking off the summits along the north end of Beehive Basin, including Honeycomb and Beehive Peak, in the Spanish Peaks of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Short approach by alpine standards, and you can dial the difficulty up or down by how faithfully you stay on the crest.
Climbing beta
- Grade II, YDS 5.0, ~9 mi round trip and 3,000+ ft of gain, with roughly 2,700 ft of vertical on the climbing itself.
- Overwhelmingly fourth-class scrambling. The crux is a 50-ft slab with a seam before the final summit — comfortable slab movement is the price of admission.
- Rope and rack are optional and most parties move unroped; the route is not meant to be pitched out. Bring a light rack only if your party wants a belay at the slab.
- Ice axe and crampons early season — the couloirs hold snow well into summer.
- Descent follows the standard Beehive descent, then stays on the ridge rather than dropping the 4th of July Couloir, before re-entering the basin.
If you want it harder
Beehive Peak's southeast face is an ~800 ft buttress of granite gneiss with multipitch trad from 5.6 to 5.11. Both flanking couloirs have rappel slings, though descent is possible without a rope.
Notes
- Trailhead is Beehive Basin, ~8 mi north-northwest of Big Sky and about an hour from Bozeman. The lot fills early on summer weekends.
- Grizzly country — carry bear spray even on a climbing day.
- Beta: Beehive Traverse on Mountain Project · Beehive Basin area