Old Man Lightning Film – Sept. 3rd, 2026
HCC has partnered with the American Alpine Club to bring “Old Man Lighting” to Helena! Featured at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, “Old Man Lighting” is the comeback story of John “Vermin” Sherman. Verm, a bouldering pioneer and creator of the V-grade system, embarks on a quest to send Yosemite’s Midnight Lightning. Check out the trailer! (Warning: parental caution advised).
This is a free event and will be hosted at Lewis and Clark Brewing on Thursday, September 3rd. Doors open at 6:30pm, film starts at 7pm. Come enjoy a hilarious climbing film, raise a pint with friends, grab a slice of pizza, and (maybe) renew your HCC membership. L&C’s Power Room can host up to 80 people, so get there early to grab a seat!
Reel Rock 20 – November 4th @ The Myrna Loy
Reel Rock is back! Join us at the Myrna Loy, Wednesday, November 4th for an evening of epic climbing movies. Reel Rock returns for a landmark 20th edition, bringing four stunning new films to the big screen that feature the absolute best from the year in climbing. Full program lineup is listed below. Doors open at 6pm, films start at 7pm.
JANJA GARNBRET: Olympic champion Janja Garnbret sets her sights on the legendary climb Bibliographie.
MICHAELA KIERSCH: Michaela Kiersch goes on a global sending spree, becoming the first woman ever to climb both V15 boulders and 5.15 routes.
BEN MAYFORTH: Ben Mayforth redefines adaptive climbing in his intense pursuit of 5.13.
COLIN HALEY: Colin Haley attempts a historic solo winter ascent of Cerro Torre
Ticket sales are live and can be purchased here! Presale tickets are $18, while day-of purchases are $28. All presale tickets will be automatically entered into a drawing for the grand prize! Additional raffle items will be available for bidding. Raffle tickets are $5/ticket or 5 for $20. All proceeds from raffle sales support the HCC’s crag maintenance plan.
HCC Social Climbs
To connect members of our local community the HCC facilitates weekly meetups at local Helena crags. Note: no instruction or gear are provided.
Upcoming Events Calendar
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Past Events
2026 Work Weekends – Avalanche and Hellgate Gulches
The HCC volunteered two weekends this summer to improve crag conditions at Winter Wall in Hellgate Gulch and continued work on the Sunfire Slab/Africa trail in Avalanche. Two sets of cable stairs were installed to access the upper sections of each crag. We also built two much-needed belay pads at the Coliseum Wall to reduce erosion due to increased use on a steep hillside. Go check them out!
2025 National Trails Day w/ the Montana Conservation Corps
The Helena Climbers Coalition was awarded a HUGE grant by the Resource Advisory Committee. After months of scheduling, funding crises, postponement, and rescheduling, we were finally able to pull together the ten-day project with the Montana Conservation Corps! A crew of six fantastic go-getters worked to improve the Bukowski Buttress belay areas, installing new crib stepping and retaining walls to mitigate the damage that has occurred over years of increased use and water erosion. Their hard work and willingness to improvise solutions was much appreciated!
In conjunction with the MCC crew project, the HCC hosted a work weekend during National Public Lands Day. Over the course of the weekend, twenty-four volunteers showed up to assist the MCC and help with other projects listed in the RAC proposal. The bottom of Africa/Sunfire trail was rerouted to reduce grade and replace the dilapidated rebar steps. Work was completed on the crib steps and belay pads at Blue Collar (started in 2023).
2024 Mount Helena Trail Work – Sunset Slabs
The approach to Sunset Slabs on Mount Helena has been deteriorating for a number of years. In 2022, severe rain and flooding damaged the existing infrastructure beyond what was useable. In September 2024, the Helena Climbers Coalition worked with the city of Helena to install improved, more lasting infrastructure to the Sunset Slabs climbing area.
Hellgate work day
Volunteers improved access paths on the Westgate/ Winter Wall, improved belay pads and increased stabilization of staging areas. Thanks for all who came out to lend a hand!
Blue Cloud Adopt A Crag Event
At the end of August, 2019 HCC members made some improvements to the Blue Cloud access including installing a style by the gate to make crossing the fence easier, clearing trees from the access trail, and removing graffiti by the approach. We are fortunate to be able to access this crag through private property and efforts like this help maintain our positive relationship with the land owners.
2019 National Trails Day/ Adopt a Crag Event
Saturday June 1st, members of the Helena Climbing community tackled some much needed improvements to the trails and belay pads at the Mount Helena Crags. We cleaned up the trails to the Sunset Slabs clearing out the scree that has filled in some of the switchbacks and covered some of the user trails that have developed over the last year. Volunteers also improved the trail that runs under the Red Slab area to the Water Streak climbs and improved the belay pads along these walls.
Thank you to all the volunteers and organisations that made the 2019 Trails Day a success! Particularly MCC board members Brad and Andrew who helped secure permission for the work and worked out the logistics, Prickly Pear Land Trust who organized the entire Trail Day chaos, Montana Conservation Corps who provided some extra hands, the Montana Bicycle Guild who lent us tools, the city of Helena for working with us to continue to maintain and improve Mount Helena climbing, and the Helena Climbing Com.
National Trails Day 2018
On 2 June, 2018 we partnered with Prickly Pear Land Trust and Montana Conservation Corps to celebrate National Trails Day. Our volunteers spent the day improving the trails and belay pads on Mount Helena. Thanks to everyone who participated through labor or materials!
Helena Climber's Coalition 