Little Elk Creek Ice

Little Elk Creek may not come to mind when thinking of ice. Surprisingly it gets quite a bit of ice in good winters. I have witnessed previous years 5 different flows. Some require a brutal hike up the canon wall to reach but when they come in they can be fun long moderates! Expect about a 30min - 1 hour hike in to the ice close to the trail and expect a full day for the flows up on the canyon side. The most popular climb and the "testpiece of the area would be the Little Elk Creek Pillar. This would be a great contender for tallest pillar in the black hills its only other competition would be the Terminator Pillar in Spearfish Canyon. I imagine you get do some cool mixed lines into it depending on the rock quality. It seems ok in some spots and chossy in others. Again, adding these for the adventurous person. Depending on how much you really want to get on some ice of do some different ice this is an option close to Rapid city. Mike Mcneil and John Walker from what i'm told developed back here.