Rooster Comb North Buttress TR

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Alpinista55

Mountain climber

Portland, OR

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2009 - 12:31pm PT

Hey Mark --

Thanks for the kind words. I credit others for introducing me to the ski-in/ski-out ethic that we adopted after our first foray into the range in '78. Jeff Thomas, my partner of the South Face of Huntington in '79, had skied out of the range on a previous trip, and inspired us to climb over Ruth Gap and ski out through Little Switzerland. We so completely loved the experience that we skied in and out of the range the next year. While flying into the mountains is an adrenalin rush, nothing gives you the sense of scale that skiing for ten days to the base of your climb can give.

Another plus for the approach on foot is that you must go early, when the rivers are easily crossed. While the climbing may be colder the route is in better shape, and late March and April were always kind to us with long periods of fine weather.

I've finished a TR for our '83 expedition to the West Face of Mt. Huntington, which involved our longest ski approach to the Ruth, via the Muldrow and Traleika glaciers. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the slides from the trip. Maybe Keith has them, I'll have to find out. Anyway, I'll post the TR sans photos for anyone interested in what it's like to enter these mountains on foot. I'll include a map of the ski route.

As for the Roster Comb, its amazing how the character of these lines change over time. For Keith and I, the lower route was a romp up a gully filled with perfect ice and firm neve. The only sketchy ice was on the crux pitch. Mark, what month did you make your attempt? We were there in April.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Aug 5, 2009 - 12:47pm PT

Yes please post your trip report on the West Face of Mount Huntington.
With or without photos: terrific stuff.
Looking forward to appreciating the map of the ski approach...

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Aug 5, 2009 - 12:47pm PT

Jay,
please refer to post #39.
Peace,
Bruce

MarkWestman

Trad climber

Talkeetna, Alaska

Aug 6, 2009 - 04:52am PT

Hey Jay,

We were on it at the beginning of May. Just a few days before our attempt, it had snowed 6 feet in the Ruth. We thought we had let the route clean off enough prior to our attempt, but apparently not, as the spindrift was ridiculous. As for ice, two friends who tried it in 2003- Eamonn Walsh and Scott Semple- reported more "real" ice in the lower sections than what we found. In the 12 pitches we climbed we did not/could not get in a single ice screw- the only gear was scant rock pro and one picket pounded into s'nice. There might have been actual ice somewhere under all that compressed (and soft) snow but we didn't find it. At one point we were simul climbing 70+ degree terrain with a single knife blade between us; I wasn't worried about falling, as the s'nice was relatively firm, but I was concerned about getting knocked off by the spindrift- or something larger. Above the bowl just over 1/3 of the way- which is where I got hit by the ice- the gully was getting steeper but with no improvement in conditions- basically 70-80 degree snow plastering steep rock, if anything it was getting more sketchy. Our single push strategy was undone by having taken almost 7 hours to reach this point, with the "hard" climbing still well above us, so with that and my bruises we turned tail. As we skied away from the shrund a large snow avalanche ripped out of the route and knocked us off our feet. Nice parting gift, I guess.

I skied up to it a year later but it was in sad shape- summer of 2004 was brutally hot and resulted in catastrophic melting of the lower elevation ice and mixed routes. The following spring, despite having had record winter snow depths in Talkeetna (>10 feet!), when we flew into the range it looked like it had hardly snowed at all in the mountains. Never seen things so dry, and the Comb looked like a rock trough. We turned around without even trying. Been engaged with other objectives since then but I haven't forgotten it.

Eamonn, who lives in Canmore and is one of the quintessential Rockies ice/mixed hardmen and very bold, told me of the crux chimney pitch that if it hadn't been so high on the route he might have backed off it.

My impression is that the route is just season to season, but I think it is more often than not a very thin route.

I've skied in to the range from the north on two separate occasions, including my first trip to Alaska. Without doubt, as you said, it added an extremely rewarding element to the adventure and made the experience that much richer!
Cheers,
MW

Alpinista55

Mountain climber

Portland, OR

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 10, 2009 - 11:52am PT

Hey Mark --

I've skied in to the range from the north on two separate occasions, including my first trip to Alaska. Without doubt, as you said, it added an extremely rewarding element to the adventure and made the experience that much richer!

Yep. Each ski approach I've done has had it's special moments.

At the head of the Buckskin glacier in 1980 the pass crossing into the Ruth was a 45 degree slope of waist-deep powder capped by a 30-foot overhanging cornice. Scary!

On the Kanakula in '85 we had bear encounters and snow blindness.

Coming out through the Peters Hills in '79 we ran into a group of heavily armed paranoid gold miners.

You just don't get these experiences when you fly in.

jk

Mr Southfork

Ice climber

Cody, WY

Mar 22, 2017 - 06:15am PT

In the late spring of 92, Jeff Crystal and I (Todd Cozzens) did the probable 4th ascent. I remember finding an old copy of Mountain magazine in my brothers library with the center fold showing this inspiring buttress and we instantly new this was our Alaskan objective.

TAT dropped us at The Mountain Hut and we skied up the West fork that afternoon. Upon arrival below the buttress, Jeff said, "that looks like a ribbon of ice flowing down the nose of El Cap." We set up camp and scoped the line for a day I think. We crossed the schrund at 10 PM the next night and chopped some butt ledges where the gully starts to pinch down, rested all day, and started climbing at " night fall". In the early morning we were several pitches shy of the only tent site on the route, and it started snowing above us. We continued thru continual spindrift to the base of the rock band in a full-on blizzard. Jeff threw up and hang from the anchor while I chopped a platform into the ice crest for the I-tent. We were stuck there for roughly 36 hours in the storm. Jeff had regained his strength and led the first crux pitch with a short fall onto a specter when he resorted to aid. Several pitches of easy gully ice led to the second crux, a steep curtain topped with a chock stone. Several more pitches of steeper and thinning gully ice led the the final crux, another chockstone to exit the head wall. This pitch was poorly protected and extremely exposed. Getting the nerve to pull the chockstone roof took me awhile. We simul-climbed up the ice/snow fields to the ridge, untied and set up the tent. We had been going for over 24 hours and only hauled the leaders pack three times.

Another storm set in so we spent another day and a half there. We then simul- climbed to the col, dropped the packs, scrambled to the summit, returned to the col and climbed to the main summit to start our descent to the Huntington/Rooster col. We set up the tent at the top of the descent gulley and used the last of our fuel. Next morning we were back on the West Fork by noon as a major storm moved in.

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Mar 22, 2017 - 07:54am PT

Well done Mr. Southfork! Sounds burly as ever!

As we get older, fatter and weaker, the mountains don't get easier....

Now, about those PICTURES you're supposed to post up???

Rocky IV

Social climber

Mar 22, 2017 - 09:49am PT

Todd, I'd never heard of your ascent. Thats some good stuff! Burly going that way for a descent.

It got climbed twice in the same day last year. We watched two french teams run up, and then down it. Skied down to them as they crossed the schrund to find out their friends had climbed to the top of the couloir a week before and rigged the whole route with threads! I told them they had likely made the 4th-5th ascent of the line. This year? they asked. Nah, since the early 80's!

Next weather window we got on it and were turned around about 50? feet from the top of the buttress by a firehose of non stop sprindrift. Fortunate that the threads were already installed, as it was raging so hard making our own would have been very difficult to impossible.

Fantasic route, mostly long neve pitches interspersed with steep sections. The aid pitch was funky and hard, probably because we all just pulled on gear to get up it. Has spice!

The chimney pitch was overall very secure, not a ton of gear (1 or 2 stubbies), but good slots pulling around the chockstone to sticky neve. The firehose turned on shortly after that and we rapped from this huge tomahawk flake thing hanging over the left side of the runnel, it appeared that the top was just a short pitch away. Todd? remember this feature? How close were we? Seemed like as good a summit as any given the situation, so we headed down to go back to a supine lifestyle.

Mr Southfork

Ice climber

Cody, WY

Mar 22, 2017 - 08:16pm PT

Re: survival, gotta dig up the pics.j

RockyIV: yes, Jeff set a hanging belay on the "Tomohawk Flake" so I could lead the last 100 feet to exit the overhanging chimney chockstone @ the top of the headwall. Iin hindsight we should have rigged the descent as we climbed.... Going over the top was very dangerous...

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Mar 23, 2017 - 06:51am PT

Mr Southfork, cool, I will look forward to those photos.

My partner from 3 El Cap routes, 2 on Half Dome, and numerous other walls, Keith Royster, was Jay's partner on Rooster Comb. I've climbed with him since I was 15, and Jay and I spent a week riding out a storm on Mescalito. That's why I have so much interest in Jay's trip reports. I was there to hear the original tales, before the internet. Hahahahaaaa!