2004 Mugs Stump Award Winners:
Gilmore/Mahoney—East Face of the Moose's Tooth

Arctic Rage A2 WI6+ R VI (4,500’) 3/31-4/3/04, Ben Gilmore & Kevin Mahoney

Our objective was to establish the first all free new line on the East Face of the Moose's Tooth. We landed on the Buckskin glacier on March 20 under clear skies and unseasonably warm temperatures. We established camp and scouted out our proposed line from below. On March 22 we headed up to attempt the route. The first 1,500 feet was fairly mellow terrain that we simul-climbed. Once at the base of the weakness we were gunning for we started to pitch it out. The climbing was primarily ice with mixed sections in a chimney. The gear was hard to find since the rock was compact granite with flaring cracks and crumbling flakes. Progress was slow but we found an amazing snow blob to dig into for a bivy and settled in for the night. The next morning we started up what appeared to be the crux. Ben led an inspiring pitch of overhanging ice and snow with 30 foot run-outs. The next pitch looked hard and mysterious, Ben started up it. The climbing was delicate and time consuming to clear away snow and ice in order to find gear. Half way up the pitch he was able to sling a chockstone and enter an off-width where the climbing was hard, insecure and unprotectable. After many attempts he retreated. I attempted the pitch but came to the same conclusion; it was too dangerous for the mountains. We retreated under clear skies and warm temperatures that started to shed the mountain's winter coat. Back at our base camp we watched as the skies disappeared and the snow started to fall.

A week passed before we could return to our objective. This time we hoped to explore a weakness around the off-width and aid if necessary. On March 31 we went back up on the route to try a second time. We soloed up the original 1,500 feet and tied in at the base of the first pitch and Ben tied in for the first lead. The temps were bitter cold, single digits during the day and well below zero at night. The climbing was very slow due to the cold and the fact that the weeklong storm had covered all the features of rock with a light dusting of snow. Gear took even longer to find and anchors were frustratingly slow to build. We settled into our bivy cave, which had now been reduced to a snow shelf. The night was cold but clear. The morning was again below zero when I started out on lead. After a pitch we were at the base of our previous high point. I started up a weakness to the right of our previous line. First I tried to free climb but the mixed climbing was hard and gear was difficult to place so soon I found myself hanging, dry tooling, aiding—just plain getting up the thing. We had now gained higher ground and the rewards were clear, a 60-meter pitch of the most spectacular climbing we had done in the mountains. The Pipeline pitch was a four-foot chimney that tapered down to eight inches filled with ice with overhanging sections. After several more pitches we were at snowy dormer jutting out from the wall. We dug in and called it a night. The temps were still bitter cold but we were above all apparent difficulties and the weather was clear. In the morning we woke up to a raging storm. Spindrift was cascading down all around us. Our decision was quick and definitive; we were going to try to make the summit despite the weather. I set out leading, visibility was less than my outstretched arm and I couldn’t see my feet. The line was simple follow the tight couloir until it opened up and then straight up to the summit. Despite the lack of visibility we were able to simul-climb out of the spindrift and into the broad couloir. To reach the summit we had to break through the cornice, which took some investigation. Finally standing on what appeared to be the summit we braced against the 40-60 mph winds and started down. We made it back to our cave at our previous bivy and spent the night before completing the rappels back to the glacier. There were 16 belayed pitches up and 27 rappels down.

Back on the glacier we discovered that our skiis had been buried under the many feet of snow that had fallen. We found our way back to camp linking the few remaining wands. The next day we spent five hours packing out the landing strip in hopes of flying out. It worked, just as we were finishing up the weather cleared and Paul Roderick came buzzing up the glacier.

We would like to thank the Mugs Stump Award and the companies who sponsor it for the opportunity to struggle, freeze, hunker and climb on the same face that was first climbed by Mugs Stump and Jim Bridwell 23 years ago.

Back to Award Winners

Sponsored by: