Overview
| Late spring or early summer 1984 Mike Syvanen and Chris Kaiser joined me to climb the French Ridge route. Cliff Hudson flew us to the West fork of the Ruth Glacier, below the North East face of Mt. Huntington. In excellent weather we attained the French ridge after camping on the lip of a crevasse below the ridge near the col. We dug a snow cave on the ridge a short distance from the begin of the serious climbing. Chris had had a bad accident during the winter on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, falling a long distance on ice from the ridge. The exposure on Mt. Huntington was giving him flash backs to his accident and didn't want to continue. I wanted to at least climb past the overhanging rock band low on the ridge. The climbing on the ridge was not enjoyable: sugary snow that you had to burrow through to get to solid ice on short sections of very steep (80 degrees) slope. I managed to surmount the rock band and we continued about a rope length further before retreating. We left a cache of about a weeks worth of food hidden near where we had our snow cave. |
Getting There
Charter ski equipped Cessna from Talkeetna to the Ruth Glacier.
Route Description
Serac hazard attaining the ridge from the north fork of the Ruth Glacier. Short overhanging rock band. Sharp, heavily corniced ridge. Steep (~80 degree, snow covered ice)
Essential Gear
Ice axe, ice hammer, ice screws, ~5 rock pitons, crampons with front points, climbing rope, snow shovel, snow pickets,
External Links
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