Sidewinder Buttress
- 6 routes
- 5.4 – 5.11a
- Sport · Mixed · Trad
- May–Jun, Aug–Sep
- best months
Sidewinder Buttress is a climbing area in western Montana, on Bureau of Land Management land within the Missoula Field Office. It sits among a cluster of climbing areas, with Rattler Gulch, Shredder Wall and Divers Wall each about 0.1 mile away, and Style Wall at 0.2 mile. The area's closest neighbor is Mulkey Gulch, about 2.6 miles off. The climbing here ranges from trad on Zelonish Gully at 5.4 to the sport route Sidewinder at 5.11a, with mixed on Bivi's at 5.10. Sport routes make up four of the six routes, and two of them, Orange Peel and Snake Eye, were first climbed by Randall Green and Dave Jones in 1990. The most comfortable months for a visit are typically June through September, when typical averages from a nearby weather station run from highs around 75°F in June to about 74°F in September, with July and August in the mid-80s. That station sits about 470 feet lower than the Buttress, so temperatures on the crag run a bit cooler. Winter is cold, with January highs around 33°F and snow on roughly seven days that month.
Best time to go · May–Jun, Aug–Sep
Best time to visit Sidewinder Buttress
Best months: May–June and August–September. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
33° / 13°
10 wet · 7 snow
Feb
38° / 15°
8 wet · 6 snow
Mar
49° / 21°
9 wet · 5 snow
Apr
58° / 28°
9 wet · 2 snow
May
67° / 34°
10 wet · 1 snow
Jun
75° / 41°
11 wet
Jul
86° / 44°
7 wet
Aug
85° / 43°
7 wet
Sep
74° / 37°
6 wet
Oct
58° / 29°
7 wet · 1 snow
Nov
41° / 19°
9 wet · 5 snow
Dec
32° / 13°
10 wet · 7 snow
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Drummond Aviation, MT, 6.7 mi away at 4,000 ft. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
Keep exploring — more climbs worth the drive
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Rattler Gulch
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Rattler Gulch in Montana has 11 climbing routes with mixed and sport styles.
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Shredder Wall
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Shredder Wall in Montana has 10 climbing routes across 8 grades, offering sport and trad styles.
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Divers Wall
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Divers Wall in Montana offers 7 sport climbing routes across 6 difficulty grades.
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Style Wall
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Style Wall in Montana has 12 climbing routes ranging across 12 grades.
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Mulkey Gulch
~4 min drive
Mulkey Gulch in Montana has 8 climbing routes across 6 grades, offering sport and trad options.
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Northwest Region
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Northwest Region in Montana has 50 climbing routes across 24 grades.
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The Stooges
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The Stooges in Montana has 5 sport climbing routes on 5 difficulty grades.
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Bass Creek
~1h 16m drive
Bass Creek in Montana has 8 climbing routes with 5 difficulty grades, offering mixed, sport, top-rope, and trad styles.
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Sick Bay
~1h 18m drive
Sick Bay in Montana has 6 sport climbing routes with 6 distinct difficulty grades.
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Kootenai Canyon
~1h 18m drive
Kootenai Canyon in Montana has 4 climbing routes with sport and trad options.
