Beehive Basin XC

The Big Sky alternative was a bit of an unknown quantity, but we talked to a couple people that had done it and they all told us to take the XC route from Beehive Basin to Spanish Lakes. “It’s incredible!” they said. This is the last time I listen to a SOBO.

I don’t think it’s clear from the photo, but this descent was the scariest part of the the CDT for me. Knock and I scrambled up to the ridge from Beehive Basin without issue, but coming down was “fucking awful” according to my journal. 4 hours to drop 1000 feet in 3/8 a mile on loose scree. We were crab walking on our hands most of the way to keep from sliding. Everything was sore for days afterwords.

Knock did an incredible job leading the way on this descent. I wanted to turn around but she was confident enough to find little routes to get another 20 feet down at a time. Now that we have a bit distance from this day, it’s not so much the fear of injury I remember, but how amazing she is.