Another Alpine Climbing Trip to Alaska
Jeff McCarthy and I decided to take another stab at alpine climbing in the Ruth Glacier region of Denali National Park. The objectives were the Moose's Tooth via the Ham and Eggs couloir (V, 5.9, WI4) and maybe the west face couloir on Mt. Huntington. It depended upon conditions, ambition and our frail middle-aged bodies. We again flew to Anchorage, went overland to Talkeetna and jumped on a glacier plane provided by Talkeetna Air Taxi. All in all, it was less than 24 hours from SLC to the Root Canal landing strip below the Moose's Tooth. Pretty impressive!
Jeff is psyched about being airborne again!
The instrument panel of our DeHaviland Otter aircraft
We flew by the Broken Tooth on our way in. I think this is one of the coolest looking mountains in the world. When you see it, you say, "Let's go climbing!"
This is the route: The Ham and Eggs couloir. Super-classic and very big and impressive in person. The crux is in the middle. Once you hit the col at the top, you head right for 5 to 6 more pitches of snow and ice climbing. It's a long route!
A chilly morning during our three-day wait for good climbing conditions.
Maybe not a good day to go climbing. But a good day to curl up with a thick book. My book of choice was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, which hit the spot.
We retreated to a nearby snow cave during the storms in order to cook and eat in style and luxury. Or at least luxury.
Eventually the storms passed, the couloir was flushed of new snow and conditions were right to climb. We were feeling strong and uber-psyched. We decided to go light and fast, with Jeff carrying a small pack and leading the harder pitches and me carrying the larger pack and leading the blocks of more moderate terrain. All in all, a good plan that worked pretty well.
Here's Jeff staring up the first pitch, a tough 5.7 rock pitch with crappy pro. Felt harder than that! After this picture, my camera malfunctioned and I didn't take any others. Too bad, as there were some spectacular moments.
A belay high on the climb
A deceivingly tough pitch right after the crux. Vertical, rotten ice guarded the exit, with limited mobility to swing due to the wall on the right. Magnifico!
When we hit the summit ridge, the surrounding peaks, including Denali, were bathed in blue-black light, contrasted with the shimmering white glaciers. It was probably one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The top of the Moose's Tooth dropped away into oblivion on all sides. Incredible.
We summited about 8PM and began our descent into a brewing storm. Spindrift avalanches buffeted us almost all the way down, and we overtook another party near the bottom, which slowed us down further. But we were able to work through it, and were soon back in camp. All in all, a great day in the mountains.
Hydrating the day after the climb. We needed a lot of rest after our 22-hour effort the previous day.
After Ham and Eggs, we decided to get a hop flight to the Kahiltna Glacier due to poor conditions on Mt. Huntington. From the Kahiltna, you can access many classic climbs such as the Moonflower Buttress, Mini-Moonflower, Mt. Frances and the Kahiltna Queen. We decided to try the Southwest Ridge of Mt. Frances (IV, 5.8, snow 60 degrees).
Our excellent camp on the Kahiltna. The Ritz-Carlton has nothing on this place.
Mt. Hunter rises above the Buccaneer.
The Southwest Ridge of Mt. Frances rises up from left to right, passing several towers and gendarmes along the way.
All racked up with someplace to go.
The start of the route. Tower One, here we come! This is about 5.7, with great rock and fun climbing. Tower 2 was a little easier, but a little more complex from a route-finding point of view. A party had been part way up the route a few days before, which made the snow sections easy to figure out. Just follow the track.
Up higher on a snowy ridge.
We bailed about halfway when we ran up against a foot of sugar snow over very steep, insecure mixed ground. To continue would have been suicide, and slow suicide at that. We carefully down-climbed and rappelled the route, getting back to the tent about 12 hours after starting up.
Jeff having a snack on the way down on top of Tower 1.
We went back to the Kahiltna to face a mounting storm the next day. After a long discussion, and figuring out that almost all other alpine objectives in the area, except for super-hard ones, were either out of shape or super dangerous, we decided to fly out. We were disappointed, but knew we had captured two excellent days of climbing, ones we won't soon forget. We ran into many friends either at the airstrip or in Talkeetna, making the trip an even bigger success.
As we always say, "We'll be back!"
