next?

[johnkelley]

the season is soon. what do you think are the biggest unclimbed routes left. what's the biggest prize

[Kraken]

East Buttress of Johnson (turned around some incredibly strong teams), East Face of Denali, West Face of Kitchatna Spire, South face of Dickey, East face of 11300, The route on Broken tooth that turned Westman around is gnarly looking

 

I think a triple threat would be incredible too: North Buttress of Hunter to Cassin on Denali to Infinite Spur on Foraker...would take an incredible amount of patience, speed, skill and luck with weather, light and fast but could theoretically be done.

 

Masatoshi only needs Hunter to complete the big three solo in the winter...he'll do it soon

 

 

[climbs2high]

A few years ago a french team put up a route (free and aid,all rock until the snow/ice on top, if i remember correctly) on the south face of Dickey.(its in a AAJ somewhere) I second the East Buttress of Johnson, and the East Face of Denali, two great looking routes.

 

Their are still crap loads of new route potential in the Ruth, some BIG, and some smaller day routes that may not be the biggest prize, but still worth climbing. Depending on the conditions their is a ice route on the northeast aspect of Barrill that my partner and I tried to get to last season and we were stopped by the huge cracks turning the corner. And their is a lot of potential on Bradley. Their are places for new routes and variations to established routes on every "wall" side of the mountain.

 

Anybody ever climb a route on the North Face of Mt. Huntington? maybe a bit more of a death-wish route, but it would make the papers.

[W]

NF of Huntington was climbed by Roberts and McCartney in 1978. Dangerous is an understatement. Anyone who attempts it better have some motivation beyond 'making the papers', and even then, a lot of luck to go with it.

 

East Buttress of Johnson was nearly finished by Doug Chabot and Renny Jackson in '99- Doug told me once, "someone's going to finish that thing someday, but it sure as hell won't be me!". I tried it in '01 with three friends; weather didn't allow us to get past pitch 10, but the climbing above that likely would've stopped us- gets very runout at that point and not obvious where to go. Great looking line, but, very chossy.

 

East Face of Denali: With all due respect to Washburn, I really have to disagree with his enthusiasm for this face. It is huge, it is beautiful...but unless you like climbing through and under VERY active seracs for 2500 meters, I think there are much better objectives awaiting. There really isn't even a great line through this wall, it looks like it would involve a ton of traversing and playing hide and seek from the seracs. Joe P. and I skied past this face in 1997 enroute to Mt. Silverthrone, and, despite being in our mid 20's and super psyched on just about anything, we both immediately laughed it off for it's exceedingly obvious objective hazards. Don't get me wrong: it's doable, and someone will eventually do it, mostly I think because Washburn put it out there. I do, however, believe it is no place for people with children or, for that matter, anyone who has anything meaningful to come home to. IMHO.

 

Infinite/Moonflower/Cassin: Oh, this has been "attempted" numerous times. My observations over the years suggest that the main criteria for an attempt of this one-season trifecta is that you have no prior experience climbing in the Alaska Range, and even better, none outside of the lower 48.

 

Ambiguously: I think Alaska's best remaining big rigs are in southeast. All over the place.

[ScaredSilly]

Gotta agree with Mark on the East Face of Denali. I had a nice conversation with Brad a few years ago when he learned I had been on the East Buttress a couple of times. When it came to the East Face I told Brad I thought it was nuts to go through the Traleika. There are better objectives out there.

 

As for the trifecta - there have been many very strong climbers who have taken many seasons to get all three. Hell 95%+ of those coming up to the range who sign in for the Cassin never even step foot on the route. Probably the person who comes the closest that I can think of doing the trifecta is Michael Kennedy. Though he did solo the Cassin a couple of years after doing the Lowe-Kennedy and the Infinite Spur and of course did the route on Moonflower many years latter.

[climbs2high]

People have climbed the north face of Huntington..... really ???? wowzers.....

[johnkelley]

W- What do you think are the biggest "rigs" in the S.E.? besides from the DT. What's big in the western/far side of the AK Range?

[W]

JK- In truth I have not done much detailed indepth research on southeast, mainly because I have enough on my plate already and the additional psyche would be too overwhelming; that said, I do know there are still some really good, big, unclimbed lines on Logan, Alverstone, Augusta, and a number of others in the St. Elias region. Given the vastness of the mountains in southeast, the paucity of visitors, and the typically bad weather- my intuition tells me a little exploration would reveal a goldmine of untouched alpine faces just waiting to be discovered.

 

Western AK Range: I'm pretty sure Mt. Dall has just one ascent, and not by the 5000-6000 foot face it sports. Probably has shitty rock (black shale)...but then John, being a Chugach mix-ter you ought not be too concerned. The Kichatnas of course remain far from climbed out, and the Revelations remain nearly unexplored. The "Hearts" near the Chedolothna glacier have good granite supposedly- how long do you want to walk for it? Last year Wilkinson/Gilmore et.al. attempted the huge route on The Fin near Foraker, seems likely there are some big faces in that neck of the woods up the Yentna Glacier. The southwest face of Foraker (left of the Talkeetna ridge) is an enormous face- close to 3000 meters; I suspect it is largely threatened by seracs, but without having a direct look, I won't discount the possibility of a line existing in there somewhere. Not likely an easy approach.

 

Beyond that- a whole lot of big stuff (I'm talking Andi Orgler routes in particular) in the Gorge has yet to even see a repeat attempt- Wine Bottle, the Pearl, West face of London Tower, etc.

Time to get busy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[suge]

In terms of the southwest, there is a ton of stuff on the BC side of things. See my trip report for some of the easier to get to objectives.

 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/751648#Post751648

 

Here is a teaser:

 

 

This is (roughly) the East face of Ambition. The mountain has been climbed once in 1967 via a ridge on the other side. The East Face hasn't been climbed.

 

And another:

 

 

The prominent mountain in the middle is Hoole, which hasn't been climbed by any route (that I know of). Both of these mountains have, by Coast Range standards, easy access (2-4 days with minimal bushwhacking and manageable river fords).

[cheamclimber]

go climb the N face of Devils Thumb... thats is the most insane, hugest, steepest face I have ever seen! now thats a prize

[Alaskan]

What about Mendenhall Towers?

Easy access, lots of climbing.

[Joe_Poulton]

Anyone have any beta on the SE Islands i.e. Baranof Island? I flew in between some amazing glaciated spires on a flight from Warm Springs Bay to Sitka.

 

Has anyone here been on the Chedolothna glacier beside the first ascent team of Russell?

[Dan_Miller]

A clarification on Devils Thumb, it's actually the NW face of the peak that is the real prize, albeit a quite dangerous one with serious serac fall hazards; which eems to have been the demise of some who've attempted it. It is an astounding edifice

when closely viewed. We spent many hours watching it calve one afternoon a number of years ago.

 

 

[cheamclimber]

I think the NW face of Devils Thumb would invole some extreme ice/rock climbing and possible aid climbing with extreme avalanche hazard.. sounds insane

[Kraken]

The Tooth Traverse. That would be unreal.