Trip Report
A taste of Alaska: Cragging in the Ruth Gorge, July 2012
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Wednesday August 15, 2012 2:43am
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Full trip report with a lot more photos and details is here: http://sightly.net/peter/trips/alaska2012/
This is just a short photo TR. I got extra stoked to go to the Ruth Gorge from the supertopo and other trip reports online, so I want to contribute a few photos hoping for others to get psyched. (Very thankful for the great guidebook as well, we had a chance to chat with Joe's wife at TAT...)
Alaska is amazing. We had the pleasure to spend 3 weeks there this July. Six days were spent in the Ruth Gorge - just checking the place out and doing some low key cragging to get a taste, definitely not an expedition with a huge agenda. Honestly, the Ruth is such an amazing place - just *being* there was mind blowing. And the climbing was awesome - sweet granite and perfect splitters. If only the weather was better, eh? We had 2 mostly climbable days total (with some rain on the first day but nothing too major) - with which we were pretty happy, followed by an intense 2 day snow storm. We also spent 2 days in rainy Talkeetna at first, waiting for the weather to clear, but eventually it did and we flew in! They tell you the flight is amazing - and words do not do it justice. Even not climbing, the sight seeing flight would be mind blowing...
Our first objective was Goldfinger, here it is in the evening light:
By the time we setup camp and made dinner, it was midnight!
We woke up to showers, but the weather cleared up and it was sunny around noon!
This is the panorama view from camp:
Soon after, we started up the amazing corner of Goldfinger - very aesthetic feature with good rock and sustained, beautiful climbing!
The views never got old!
Did I mention the corner was amazing?
It had already rained on us twice so far, but it passed... the corner was wet in a few places but manageable. Unfortunately, however, it started raining and hailing properly after about 1,200'... so we had to make the heart breaking decision to rappel. Oh well, a great day of climbing, we were not complaining by any means!
The next day, we went cragging - just picking the cracks that look good and climbing them... some truly amazing quality splitters!!!
On day 3, we planned to do Hut Tower, and skied down the glacier. Unfortunately, the skies looked like this, but we kept skiing:
We made it back to the tent in time for it to start pouring, and total white-out. It snowed for the next 36 hours non-stop:
On the 6th day we were planning to fly out... and thankfully the weather cleared, but it was very cold in the morning - between 0 and 10 F... we woke up to this:
With a foot of fresh snow, the ski back up to the Mountain House was arduous to say the least. And it hid a lot of the small crevasses... I fell into one up to my waist with one ski, not a biggie. We were very relieved to make it up without any larger crevasse encounters... because the opportunities for that seemed plenty.
After flying out, we went on to a more relaxing part of our vacation... first going down to Seward and hiking around (Lost Lake was the best day trip), also did a Kenai Fjords cruise:
It rained a lot, but we did a bunch of hikes, fly fishing for sockeye salmon (didn't catch any though), and lots of chillaxing... after which we went back up to Anchorage and rented a sweet truck camper. We took that up to Hatcher Pass and went rock climbing there for a couple of days since the weather was looking better... Hatcher Pass is gorgeous!!!
And has some great climbing, too - yes, more granite!
It started raining as soon as we finished the last pitch, so we rappelled down in the rain... it was great to go back to the truck camper and dry out, then we even baked a pizza in the oven! Spoiled for life...
After Hatcher Pass, we went down to Homer...
We went sea kayaking, hiking, and more chillaxing...
And then, it was time to end this trip! Overall, the weather was very rainy, we only had about 4-5 clear days out of 22.. but that seems to be pretty common - and locals complained about this being a very rainy July, even worse than average... which made us glad to get what we could out of it! It was a great first trip to Alaska - and we barely scratched the surface. The Ruth, of course, was a highlight... go check it out! More detailed Ruth trip report: http://sightly.net/peter/trips/alaska2012/ruthgorge/
Peter
pvalchev
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About the Author
pvalchev is an ice poser from Bay Area, CA / Calgary, AB. |
Comments
ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Aug 15, 2012 - 03:10am PT
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Gargoyle looks the perfect Yosemite archetype, or vice versa.
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nopantsben
climber
europe
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Aug 15, 2012 - 07:44am PT
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looks awesome... thanks for putting this together!
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Aug 15, 2012 - 10:07am PT
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Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing, that was killer! This is where I want to do my next big trip. What do you think dave? Next year?
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jahil
Social climber
London, Paris, WV & CA
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Aug 15, 2012 - 10:49am PT
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Wow those splitters look amazing - thanks for putting this together, great pictures!
steve
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climbski2
Mountain climber
The Ocean
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Aug 15, 2012 - 10:59am PT
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Thanks for taking me home again.
Made me miss it so much it hurt.
You hit so many great places!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:01am PT
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Nice TR and pictures! Brings back lot's of memories.
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10b4me
Social climber
Lida Junction
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:33am PT
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Looks awesome. Great pictures
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:52am PT
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sik!
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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Aug 15, 2012 - 12:03pm PT
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Very very nice, looks like a great trip.
Stellar pics, Thanks!!!!!
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Aug 15, 2012 - 12:10pm PT
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Ruth and Hatcher stoke!
We don't see many TRs from the Great Land. Well done!
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 15, 2012 - 01:03pm PT
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Thanks everyone!
@Donini - I must admit, the first place I heard about the Ruth was the "50 favorite climbs" book, and your write-up on the Cobra Pillar - ever since then I have been hoping to get a chance to go there... have to go back to do the Cobra and the Eye Tooth (we actually had hopes of climbing Eye Tooth if the weather cooperated). You should do a trip report of all your visits to the area with some of your old photos!!!!!
@climbski2 - Reno / the Sierra is home now? That's not too bad, is it? :) I think the major thing I loved there is the complete lack of people everywhere we went... CA is crowded in the summer time, if you are a weekend warrior (but for good reason I guess)
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Dirka
Trad climber
Hustle City
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Aug 15, 2012 - 06:08pm PT
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Epic!
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climbski2
Mountain climber
The Ocean
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Aug 15, 2012 - 07:51pm PT
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Reno is great I plan to stay here. Day drive to everywhere in the western US. A type of freedom you just don't get in AK.
But your TR just drove a steak into my childhood and young climbing years. Talkeetna and TAT, Paul. The Range, Seward .. Archangel valley in Hatchers. Toto was one of my very early leads. A good climb on some of the Rarely easily accessible granite in Alaska. BTW that big white scar and rockfall by Toto (in your link) is just CRAZY!!! That's all fairly new and it was not like that in my day. Massive amount came down there. Scary cause I've climbed the stuff that came down..yikes. Is the memorial plaque at Toto for Steve Garvey by any chance?
In one TR you hit so many of my favorite places. Massive amounts of memories there.
Thanks again
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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Aug 15, 2012 - 08:10pm PT
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AWESOME!!
*Added to bucket list* :D
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SeanH
Trad climber
SLC
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Aug 15, 2012 - 09:01pm PT
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TFPU! Looks amazing. Added to the list.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Aug 15, 2012 - 09:06pm PT
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nice! TFPU!
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 15, 2012 - 10:32pm PT
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climbski2 - thanks for the nice words again. With only 3 weeks we tried to get a tasting of as much as possible around Anchorage... Toto/Diamond was fun - I didn't even know what we were climbing exactly, but had a rough word description from mountainproject.com for the area - there is now a new shiny guidebook I think for the area but we didn't have it. I was wondering how old that rock scar was, actually - I thought it happened thousands of years ago but then I did wonder about the color... which made it look pretty fresh :-) That is truly terrifying indeed, that it is all so very recent!!! The next morning we climbed on the Monolith, it had better rock :)
Re: the plaque - yes, you are correct, it was for Steve. I was actually curious about what happened and tried to search online but didn't find info - did you know Steve? We both wondered... plaques like this always make me sad.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:09pm PT
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Thank you for taking the time to post this!
Interesting, witty, & fun----to see your adventures in the Ruth Gorge and elsewere in AK.
More reports please!
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climbski2
Mountain climber
The Ocean
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Aug 16, 2012 - 01:25am PT
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Yes I knew Steve. Pretty much Everyone in the 80's and 90's in AK knew him. He put up some of the best Ice-climbs in Valdez and took Mixed climbs to the highest level for the time. He gave anyone in the era a run for their money. I would suspect 20 percent or so of the ice and rock climbs in South Central AK were his FA's
He was also just an incredibly stoked guy when climbing and would push you farther than you thought you could go and get the best out of you.
An incredible mentor to so many new climbers including myself.
He died in a bizarre situation. His rope (New Edelweiss Stratos 10.5) cut cleanly a foot from the harness on a sharp piece of rock from a routine sport fall.
My last visit to Alaska was for his funeral. Truly a legend and a guy ahead of his time on mixed.
Here is a great article written by another friend about Garvey
http://akwriter.blogspot.com/2005/07/sans-ami.html
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:20pm PT
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Excellent. Thanks for sharing.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Aug 15, 2012 - 11:28pm PT
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YES!!!
sweet splitters, views, you basked in it!
thanks for sharing,
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 16, 2012 - 12:38am PT
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Hey ß Î Ø T Ç H
My partner and I tried a route up the Gargoyle, right up the wall facing the camera. Or maybe up the pillar just left of center. Dunno, it was back in the early 1980s.
Besides the BIG F*#KING snow avalanches that kept coming down the face, we had problems with massive rock avalanches that scared us to death. We bailed when a refrigerator-sized boulder came bouncing down an overhanging chimney that I was about to lead. The boulder flew right over my head, and narrowly missed my partner who was jugging a free-hanging rope below.
If you get onto the Gargoyle, stay away from the northern part of the west face, there are a lot of avalanches.
We didn't have rock gear, got rained off Denali and turned out attention to the Gargoyle. Ever do a big wall in double boots with an alpine rack?
ß Î Ø T Ç H, can you e-mail me a high-res copy of that pic?
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 16, 2012 - 01:19am PT
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Enjoyed reading that story about Steve Garvey, thanks for sending it, and providing some info on what happened...
Sierra Ledge Rat - that pic is linked from my site, the full resolution version is:
http://sightly.net/peter/trips/alaska2012/ruthgorge/20120704-202648-slr.jpg
Let us know what you ended up climbing there by drawing a line ;-)
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 16, 2012 - 04:11am PT
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Yo man
Your photo is a patchwork, too many irregularities at all the wrong places for me to tell exactly where we climbed. And it's been ~30 years. However, I am guessing that we must have climbed up the left side of the little pedestal. We got about halfway up over 4 days.
It would be helpful if you could post a photo of the pedestal without the patchwork. A view from a more northerly perspective would also be usedful.
To the left of that pedestal is a small cone of snow. If you follow that cone vertically to the summit, there is an indistinct groove and a notch in the summit. This is where HUGE snow avalanaches pour off the top. Stay away.
Here's a photo from a more northerly perspective. The black streaks of that avalanche groove are clearly visible (left side of the photo).
We spent 30 days in the Ruth Amphitheater/Denali area. Climbed a lot but didn't accomplish much... ): Great place, though. We skied the Ruth Gorge unroped (;
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Aug 16, 2012 - 05:41pm PT
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Man, the perception of the Ruth Gorge has sure changed.
I remember when Mugs wrote that great article (or was it the Bird) about their FA on the E Face of the Mooses Tooth. They made it sound like overhanging kitty litter. I see these pics and it looks like a new yosemite, but with too much snow...
Ha ha. I myself have fallen up to the waist in little crevasses. Dumb luck for me, anyway. I always was a dim bulb.
That first route looks amazingly high quality. I was surprised to see flora in the cracks.
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Alpinista55
Mountain climber
Portland, OR
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Aug 20, 2012 - 04:52pm PT
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Nice TR and a real memory actuator. I especially liked the views towards Denali that included Mt. Dan Beard, the scene of my first climb in the Ruth back in 1978. Scott Woolums and I spent 10 days doing the the SE Ridge as total rookie noobs, and had at least one "I almost died" moment.
My friend Leigh attempted a route on the Gargoyle that same trip in '78. They aided up a crack system in the center of the thing until the rock turned into cheese about 10 pitches up. As I recall, they chopped their back-off rap anchor into the rock with an ice ax.
After that '78 trip we spent several seasons up the West Fork and never got to sample the awesome looking cragging down the gorge. In 1980 we sat at the Mountain House and watched John Waterman ski solo across those big crevasses you detoured around, pulling a big sled load. You guys made the right call there!
Thanks for the memories...
Jk
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nutjob
Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
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Aug 20, 2012 - 05:35pm PT
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Thanks for a high quality contribution! And nice additions from others too.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 21, 2012 - 12:18am PT
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I remember Scott Woolums
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Aug 21, 2012 - 12:29am PT
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TFPU Very nice report!
Was up there with Bridwell in 1988. We tried the Bear Tooth off the Buckskin, but had atrocious weather, very early March time, still winter for all practical purposes. Then we flew over to the Ruth Amp. to meet two clients. We did the West Ridge of Moose's Tooth, nicely shown in that photo a few posts up...Then Jim flew off to the Trento Film festival, and I took the clients and did a new route on the Huttenturn (Hut Tower), the South Arete. Base, what we found was that one side of those peaks would have splitters, and the other would have "kitty litter". Hut Tower was that way, the climb up was amazing, the rappel down the opposite side was total junk. We descended all night long, and I vividly remember carving two stopper placements with my ice tool into a flat face of kitty litter. Raddest 24 hours of guiding I ever did...
Peter
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:16am PT
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wow great report, thank you for posting.
Did you guys do a good amount of eating in Talkeetna?
This makes me hungry. Will go check the fridge. Awesome report!
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:21am PT
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^^^^
Sourdough Sals?
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cowpoke
climber
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Aug 21, 2012 - 10:01am PT
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Looks like an amazing trip -- Thanks for the report!
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 21, 2012 - 02:33pm PT
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re: 'flora in the cracks' - I was amazed. Many of the anchors consisted of nests of equalized nuts, some of them looked recent but I had never seen nuts so rusted before - with grass growing through them, pretty unreal. Even when we climbed a couple of the pitches were very wet, nice for flora - if it wasn't so cold I bet there would be trees growing out of them... :)
The freeze/thaw cycles there must be nuts and wreck total havoc on the rock, I can see how the varying exposure of the rock to the sun would make for a big difference in rock quality - but there is more to it than that, too. Maysho - carving nut placements with a tool - sounds like a memorable descent indeed :)
Thanks for all of your stories guys, I really enjoyed them. Alpinista - skiing through those crevasses solo makes me terrified just thinking about it - crevasses scare the sh#t out of me even roped up :)
Vitaliy - lots of eating in town, no question. That's the West Rib right? I had something similar there. And the full breakfast at the Roadhouse... amazing.
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Alpinista55
Mountain climber
Portland, OR
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Aug 21, 2012 - 07:37pm PT
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pvalchev, Waterman told us that after skiing through big crevasses he felt reborn. The next day Scott and I were the last people to see him alive, as he wound his way through a maze of big cracks in the NW Fork of the Ruth.
Jk
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 21, 2012 - 08:50pm PT
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You got me curious. From http://www.alaskanalpineclub.org/Concepts-2.html
" John later disappeared on a solo attempt of a new route on Denali, after discussing with a lawyer the ramifications of staging his own disappearance. You might get real suspicious of any climber who is awarded the John Waterman Award, in 5,000 years. (Added in 2009. We received verifiable proof that John was alive about 5 years ago, in San Francisco. JOHN, you are always welcome at the Alaskan Alpine Club HQ. Any identity. No questions asked.)"
HUH!??!
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RP3
Big Wall climber
Newbury Park
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Aug 23, 2012 - 08:29am PT
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What an amazing TR. Thanks for posting!
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pvalchev
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Author's Reply
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Aug 23, 2012 - 09:02pm PT
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I bought the supertopo Alaska book the day it came out even though I didn't have plans of going there immediately - it is a piece of art. Met Michelle at TAT (she was there for the summer), I was a bit lost for words. Wish I knew Joe... and he was still around.
Btw, re: John above - does anyone know more about his disappearance? I became curious now about what happened, and whether he is indeed still alive based on that note on the Alaska alpine club site.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
The Ocean
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Aug 23, 2012 - 09:26pm PT
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I would suggest getting to know the source of the alleged info.
The Alaskan Alpine Club and Doug Buchanan are a great slice of Alaskana.
Representative of quite a bit of oldschool Alaskan sentiment mixed with climbing.
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Alpinista55
Mountain climber
Portland, OR
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Aug 24, 2012 - 07:01pm PT
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Hey pvalchev,
Scott and I spent the night with John below the mountain house the day before he disappeared. He had just came on foot from Anchorage, pulling a sled load all the way. It was his 2nd on foot approach from Anchorage that year. The first time he had his stove malfunction on the lower Ruth, and turned around and walked all the way back to Anchorage to get it fixed (all this was related to us by John at the time of our meeting).
He had very minimal gear with him, no tent, was wearing a one piece suit similar to what north slope workers would wear, and had a very strange minimalist diet. As I said, we witnessed him skiing through very serious crevasses on what we considered extremely tenuous snow bridges with no safety gear at all, his sled on a short tether behind him.
He told us he was heading up toward the East Buttress via the NW Fork of the Ruth to do a new route on Denali. I have looked down onto the NW fork a couple of times from high on Mt. Dan Beard and it is a maze of BIG cracks. Scott and I watched a Japanese expedition forcing a path up the NW Fork from Dan Beard in 1978. They told us later of taking numerous crevasse falls, and never got established on their route because of the time they spent in the NW Fork.
The morning after meeting John we got up to find that he had left camp ahead of us. We broke our camp and started skiing back up the West Fork to our base camp below Mt. Huntington. As we skied past the NW Fork we saw John's tracks diverge from the ski tracks going up the West Fork, and we could see him about a mile or two distant heading up into the crevasses of the NW Fork pulling his sled. To my knowledge, we were the last people to see him. We related our information to the NPS, and I believe that the NPS flew up the NW Fork to try to find signs of John, to no avail.
Jk
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An overview of the line. Photo: Joe Puryear
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