Bells vs Little Bear Traverse

[Been_Jammin]

I climbed Bells last weekend. Gearing up for LB a couple weeks from now in order to finish the "four great 14er traverses." Which route do you all think is more heady?

[Slawson405]

LB-Blanca without question.
Just continually sustained exposure. No crazy technical loves at all, just a head game. Still my favorite ridge so far.

[Aphelion]

"Heady," meaning technical/exposed? Probably LB-B for "more." The Bells traverse is a bit harder technically, but it's also only like a quarter of a mile long and only has a few points where it gets interesting. LB-B has a lot of good stuff for a long ways.

[Wildernessjane]

I think it all depends on what gets your heart racing. For me, it’s loose, crumbly rock over exposure so personally I found the Bells traverse to be more “heady” (I’ve had some very close calls with loose rock). I absolutely loved the LB-Blanca traverse and found the exposure to be not as sustained as advertised and the rock quality is great. There are spots along the way where you get a mental break from the exposure.

[Jorts]

That initial down climb from LB felt a little heady. I don't particularly enjoy exposed down climbing of a route for my first go of it. But the actual ridge is really straightforward and didn't feel particularly heady. Even the bivy tower or whatever the name was just a quick hop around. I found many of the TRs overblew and really built up LB-Blanca a little. If you're comfortable with exposure it's not a big deal from a climbing perspective. You won't find yourself dangling on a near vertical wall with several hundred feet of air below like you might on the Needle headwall of the Crestone traverse.

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the Elks on my recent 14er voyage because of the monsoon so I can't speak to the Bells.

[tjf242424]

Bells has harder moves and crappier rock, but LB-B is more exposed and longer. For me, LB-B was the more heady one. But it’s absolutely fantastic. The Bells traverse was worth doing once and the peaks are iconic, but LB-B is one of the best alpine routes in CO.

[KingHenryJames3rd]

I think it all depends on what gets your heart racing. For me, it’s loose, crumbly rock over exposure so personally I found the Bells traverse to be more “heady” (I’ve had some very close calls with loose rock). I absolutely loved the LB-Blanca traverse and found the exposure to be not as sustained as advertised and the rock quality is great. There are spots along the way where you get a mental break from the exposure.

+1 here. Completely agree it depends what gets your heart racing. The exposure on LB is crazy at times but after you have down climbed onto the ridge you get used to it and start enjoying it plus there is no actual route finding to do to complicate things. I never got used to the crappy rock on the Bells so that bothered me a lot more.

[bdloftin77]

I’m generally pretty good with exposure, so I voted Bells traverse as that seemed a little sketchier to me than LB-Blanca. But as far as general exposure goes, LB-Blanca might be considered “heavier” by most.

[OldTrad]

Totally depends which way you are going on the Bells traverse. S->N is way easier than N->S, requiring quick up-climbs of a couple of short technical sections, and comparable to LB-Blanca, though is shorter and requires less sustained concentration. Hence, S->N is easier that LB-Blanca. On the other hand N->S is scary and considerably harder than anything on LB-Blanca, especially the longer downclimb off that pillar about 1/2 way across. You can't see where you are going and have to go down blind... not something that most people on this site are going to be able to do unroped.

[Wentzl]

I think the Bells traverse has some legit 5th class climbing. The LB/B traverse does not. For that reason I selected Bells as "more heady", whatever that might mean.

Not done the research, but my guess is more people have met their ultimate demise on Bells than LB/B, which also pushes the "heady" value.

[seano]

I think it all depends on what gets your heart racing. For me, it’s loose, crumbly rock over exposure so personally I found the Bells traverse to be more “heady” (I’ve had some very close calls with loose rock). I absolutely loved the LB-Blanca traverse and found the exposure to be not as sustained as advertised and the rock quality is great. There are spots along the way where you get a mental break from the exposure.

+1

I find choss mentally draining, with the constant attention to testing holds, evaluating surfaces, and maintaining three independent points of contact. I loved Little Bear to Blanca, but would only repeat the Bells traverse because it's faster than going down and around.

[James Dziezynski]

LB-B requires sustained focus, but the rock is really solid. It was one of the first big routes I did in Colorado and it gave my 23-year-old self quite a thrill in the late 1990s. If the exposure doesn't rattle you, it's a lot of fun. Like a previous poster said, the Bivy Tower was a lot less intimidating close-up. It's the more heady route for sure. The initial downclimb LB gets your attention, no doubt.

The Bells traverse is fun, though I've only done it S > N. What I found exciting was the variety of "mini options" along the way. Nothing that pulls you off route, but small differences that make it fun. I also opted for the 5.6 / 5.7 option at the crux tower instead of the 5.0 (or 5.2, whatever it is) option. We brought a rope and gear and wanted to use it. The descent down North Maroon is kind of a slog, but a slog you need to keep route finding on. Thankfully, I had been up and down just North Maroon previous to the traverse and that helped.

I may do the Bells traverse again, but I don't have much interest in revisiting LB-B. Partially that because I don't want to destroy my truck on the Lake Como Road, but moreso because there are many, many other great traverses waiting in Colorado.