Moose's Tooth, Levitation and Hail Marys, and various activity. On
Moose's Tooth, Levitation and H ail Marys, and various activity. O n May 26 and 27 Scott A dam son and I com pleted a new route on the south face o f the M ooses T ooth. Following ice runnels, chim neys, and cracks, we found o u r way directly to the m ain (east) sum m it. Shortly after Talkeetna Air Taxi dropped us off on the Root C anal G lacier [the pocket glacier beneath the south face o f the M oose’s T ooth], we scrutinized o u r situation. A ppearing like a siren one evening, in perfect light, a vertical ice-filled chim ney caught o u r eye. The chimney, tucked away in a long corner sys tem , was m id-height on the wall. It defined a huge pillar directly below the sum m it. Earlier in o u r trip , we’d clim bed H am and Eggs o n an “old-school style” to u r from the Sheldon A m phitheater, rather than being flown to the Root Canal, as we later were for the other routes. (As an aside th a t m ay be o f interest to anyone selecting a tentsite, when we were on H. & E., a W alm artsize serac calved from atop Dickey. The pow der blast trav eled a m ile and a half across the Ruth G orge, clim bed the 2,500foot approach and dusted o u r tentsite on the Root Canal.) Being neophytes and w anting a n o th er w arm -up, we set o u r sights on The U nforgiven (M5 W I6), an excellent new mixed adventure th at A nchorage fel lows had put up the week before. Six killer full-length pitches of sustained m ixed clim bing b ro u g h t us to a snowy arête leading to a su bsum m it o f the Bear Tooth. C onditions being
w hat they were, we d id n ’t continue to the subsum m it but, in the interest o f safety, rapped from excellent fixed stations and crawled back to the tent seven hours after we started. Scott felt ready for a go at o u r project, while I w anted to take a n o th e r step first, finding com fort in a gradual progression to successively h ard er routes. We concluded th at o u r im aginary line looked good and was in condition. We w aited for prom ising w eather, an d a few m o rn in g s later w ent to have a look. We wallowed through three feet o f wet, unconsolidated snow and roped up to cross a southw estfacing avalanche slope leading to the base o f the real clim bing. We b u rn ed m ore tim e trying to free a p en d u lu m tw o pitches above. Scott b ro u g h t me to th e belay and we conferred. Things were getting soggy, we were b eh in d schedule, and we discovered fo u r core shots in o u r tw o 8m m ropes. D uring o u r retreat we p u t an o th er vicious shot sm ack in the m iddle o f one rope. W ith snow po u n d in g us, we crawled into the tent, soaked from the 60-70-degree heat. Two days later we woke to a break in the sto rm . T he w eather was suspect, b u t we left cam p at 3 a.m. w ith a light pack. W ith o u r track firm ly laid we reached the ice ribbon in a few hours. Stretching o u r rem aining 70m 9m m rope on m ost leads, we forged upw ard, finding steep ice, killer h and cracks, and good pro tectio n . T here were tw o spots o f overhanging M 7 in the verglassed chim ney around the fourth pitch, and a chossy 5.11 face sequence to enter the upper dihedral around pitch six. We topped ou t on the pillar in swirling clouds, hunkered dow n, and w aited for the u pper face to refreeze. We tried in vain to peer th rough the fog for a glim pse o f w hat was to come. After a five-hour nap b u t no sign o f w here to go, we com m itted ourselves to a tw o-rope-length traverse into the upper face. They were the type o f 5.8 pitches th at defy grad ing: insecure and ru n -out. They gained us a huge corner we had been aim ing for, just below the sum m it, but the corner lacked any discernable clim bable features. So, feeling the need for haste as the storm intensified, we aim ed for an escape ro u te to the right. As I led th ro u g h rivers o f sp in d rift on very thin ice, my previous feelings o f sun, fun, surf, and stone were replaced by m ore prim al feelings. The w ind mellowed a bit as we reached the sum m it cornice and felt o u r way along, riding huge waves through an ephem eral w hite soup. Up and over the sum m it we w ent, searching for identifiable features th at w ould b rin g us to the H am and Egg rappels. We w andered in the clouds, feeling smaller and smaller as we descended, looking for som ething recognizable. Finally, facing a com m itting rappel, we realized we were lost and retraced our steps back up. The m orning sun broke through and the clouds th in n ed , giving us a quick glim pse o f o u r location. We did not recognize a single feature. W here’s Denali? W here’s H untington? W here’s the Ruth? N othing looked fam iliar. I sat on the edge o f th e M oose’s Tooth gazing at the Buckskin G lacier 4,000' below, swearing never to go again w ith o u t a com pass and map. The storm ’s fury increased as we continued back up, then descended the correct way into the H am and Eggs funnel. A nchors were b u ried and avalanches were frequent, requiring us to tim e o u r rappels to the periodic vom it flushing from the upper bowls. We arrived on the glacier and m ore 60-degree weather, w ith an o th er trashed rope. I crawled in to the tent at nine o’clock, th irty hours after we had started. W aking 24 h o u rs later and taking inventory, we were three and a h alf weeks an d three ropes dow n, w ith rising tem peratures. We stom ped out a sign for TAT and w aited for o u r turn. Two days later, the decom pression on the flight o u t was surreal. Trees, birds, oth er signs o f life that had been gone for so long, all seem ed so v ibrant as we sorted gear in TAT’s driveway. We nam ed o u r route Levitation and Hail Marys, after a good joke shared w ith one o f the
young bush pilots who flew for K2. We graded it V M7 A0 (for the pendulum ), although I sense that grades m ean nothing in this place. It was a fine outing, com m itting at the top w ith a quick decent. Long pitches, steep ice, good h and cracks, and painful knee bars characterize the m eat and potatoes o f the experience. We agreed th at the Ruth was the rawest, m ost pow erful area either o f us had ever been to. The perfect place to find o u t how small you really are. Ja m e s S t o v e r
w hat they were, we d id n ’t continue to the subsum m it but, in the interest o f safety, rapped from excellent fixed stations and crawled back to the tent seven hours after we started. Scott felt ready for a go at o u r project, while I w anted to take a n o th e r step first, finding com fort in a gradual progression to successively h ard er routes. We concluded th at o u r im aginary line looked good and was in condition. We w aited for prom ising w eather, an d a few m o rn in g s later w ent to have a look. We wallowed through three feet o f wet, unconsolidated snow and roped up to cross a southw estfacing avalanche slope leading to the base o f the real clim bing. We b u rn ed m ore tim e trying to free a p en d u lu m tw o pitches above. Scott b ro u g h t me to th e belay and we conferred. Things were getting soggy, we were b eh in d schedule, and we discovered fo u r core shots in o u r tw o 8m m ropes. D uring o u r retreat we p u t an o th er vicious shot sm ack in the m iddle o f one rope. W ith snow po u n d in g us, we crawled into the tent, soaked from the 60-70-degree heat. Two days later we woke to a break in the sto rm . T he w eather was suspect, b u t we left cam p at 3 a.m. w ith a light pack. W ith o u r track firm ly laid we reached the ice ribbon in a few hours. Stretching o u r rem aining 70m 9m m rope on m ost leads, we forged upw ard, finding steep ice, killer h and cracks, and good pro tectio n . T here were tw o spots o f overhanging M 7 in the verglassed chim ney around the fourth pitch, and a chossy 5.11 face sequence to enter the upper dihedral around pitch six. We topped ou t on the pillar in swirling clouds, hunkered dow n, and w aited for the u pper face to refreeze. We tried in vain to peer th rough the fog for a glim pse o f w hat was to come. After a five-hour nap b u t no sign o f w here to go, we com m itted ourselves to a tw o-rope-length traverse into the upper face. They were the type o f 5.8 pitches th at defy grad ing: insecure and ru n -out. They gained us a huge corner we had been aim ing for, just below the sum m it, but the corner lacked any discernable clim bable features. So, feeling the need for haste as the storm intensified, we aim ed for an escape ro u te to the right. As I led th ro u g h rivers o f sp in d rift on very thin ice, my previous feelings o f sun, fun, surf, and stone were replaced by m ore prim al feelings. The w ind mellowed a bit as we reached the sum m it cornice and felt o u r way along, riding huge waves through an ephem eral w hite soup. Up and over the sum m it we w ent, searching for identifiable features th at w ould b rin g us to the H am and Egg rappels. We w andered in the clouds, feeling smaller and smaller as we descended, looking for som ething recognizable. Finally, facing a com m itting rappel, we realized we were lost and retraced our steps back up. The m orning sun broke through and the clouds th in n ed , giving us a quick glim pse o f o u r location. We did not recognize a single feature. W here’s Denali? W here’s H untington? W here’s the Ruth? N othing looked fam iliar. I sat on the edge o f th e M oose’s Tooth gazing at the Buckskin G lacier 4,000' below, swearing never to go again w ith o u t a com pass and map. The storm ’s fury increased as we continued back up, then descended the correct way into the H am and Eggs funnel. A nchors were b u ried and avalanches were frequent, requiring us to tim e o u r rappels to the periodic vom it flushing from the upper bowls. We arrived on the glacier and m ore 60-degree weather, w ith an o th er trashed rope. I crawled in to the tent at nine o’clock, th irty hours after we had started. W aking 24 h o u rs later and taking inventory, we were three and a h alf weeks an d three ropes dow n, w ith rising tem peratures. We stom ped out a sign for TAT and w aited for o u r turn. Two days later, the decom pression on the flight o u t was surreal. Trees, birds, oth er signs o f life that had been gone for so long, all seem ed so v ibrant as we sorted gear in TAT’s driveway. We nam ed o u r route Levitation and Hail Marys, after a good joke shared w ith one o f the
young bush pilots who flew for K2. We graded it V M7 A0 (for the pendulum ), although I sense that grades m ean nothing in this place. It was a fine outing, com m itting at the top w ith a quick decent. Long pitches, steep ice, good h and cracks, and painful knee bars characterize the m eat and potatoes o f the experience. We agreed th at the Ruth was the rawest, m ost pow erful area either o f us had ever been to. The perfect place to find o u t how small you really are. Ja m e s S t o v e r
