An expedition is never complete without the stories of camaraderie, courage, audacity, friendship and an unfathomable amount of passion. So here is the story of my third personal Alaska Range expedition. This time into the Great Ruth Gorge with my friend, climbing partner and coworker, Chase Nelson.
The Alaska Range is one of the Alpinist's ultimate alpine play grounds. Walls of unparalleled grandeur capped with icy crowns of snow and ice burst forth from the biggest coldest glaciers in North America. Its one of those places that changes your life, it leaves you with memories and inspiration to last a life time.
Chase and I flew into the Mountain house on the Ruth Gorge with K2 aviation on April 23rd. As we flew in the range sparkled with meters of fresh snow left behind from a multi day storm. We landed, unloaded and watched our pilot take off again back to Talkeetna, we were here alone with the mountains and our dreams.
As we prepped to head down glacier another ski plane landed and a group of sightseers ready for a "glacier walk" poured out of the plane girth. They questioned our sanity while taking pictures. Finally we had enough of the shenanigans and began skiing down glacier. Turning the corner around Mt. Barille our eyes landed on the incredible masses of Mt. Dickey, Mt. Johnson, Mt. Grosvenor, Mt. Wake and Mt. Church. They towered over one side of the Ruth Glacier while the Tooth peaks stood huge on the opposing side. Among them stood the massive Moose's Tooth our main objective of the trip. These peaks were bigger and scarier than I could have ever imagined. We camped that night at the base of the ice fall access to the Root Canal Glacier.
Day 2 we learned sleds really suck on steep terrain and suck even more descending steep terrain. As we worked our way up the ice fall with sleds in tow we soon realized this approach would be much more involved than we had anticipated especially with the recent snowfall. We finally ditched skis and sleds in an effort to make progress with a lighter kit and see the terrain above. Instantly without skis we were up to your necks in deep snow, we switched our axes for shovels and began slogging. We would shovel and shovel then take two steps, usually slide down one and then repeat. It took us hours to go anywhere. Finally with our dogged determination we made it the the crux of the approach gully; a huge chock stone barred upward progress. We got our tools out and strapped our crampons to our ski boots. Cursing ensued as we swung our tools through powder snow into bare rock, after extensive excavation I found enough smears of ice for my tools and tiny granite edges for my crampon points to tentatively pull myself up on to the easier snow slopes above. Chase quickly followed with the requisite curses and we made good time to the top of the gully. Finally we saw the Bear Tooth way off in the distance. With night approaching and most of our gear a thousand feet below we decided to descend and restratigize.
A couple days later after skiing, resting and enjoying the Ruth Gorge we made our way back up to the Root Canal. Now we had a trail, no sleds, a lighter kit and a couple days in Alaska under our belts. We slogged up to the chock stone, scratched our way up it, hauled gear and skis over it and then continued on our way up to the Root Canal Glacier below the incredible south face of the Mooses Tooth. We spent the afternoon resting and strategizing for the Ham and Eggs coulior the next day.
April 28th we woke up at 4:30am to a bitter Alaskan morning, gulped down some oatmeal and found ourselves at the base of Ham and Eggs at 6am. I took the first pitch, a 5.6 rock ramp, I climbed efficiently, boldly and confidently hoping to sent a tempo for the day. The pitch despite being 5.6 was quite engaging with crampons and gloves on in the dawn lighting. A couple cams protected me through the rock difficulties and minutes later Chase was at my side with a high five. I kept leading up a snowy ramp to a chockstone with rotten ice pouring over the top of it. With a few sketchy stemming moves and tentative pulling on uncertain tool sticks I was through the difficulties. Again I put Chase on belay and he climbed efficiently to my side.
Chase took over the sharp end up a long snow ramp for two pitches to the first WI4 crux. At the base of the pitch a smile crept across Chases's face as he said "I want this one man", I knew there was more hard climbing so I agreed to belay. I belayed Chase from a behind a massive boulder covered in pins and tat and watched as he worked through an intricate series of moves to keep his balance on the cruxy bulge. Finally I heard the On Belay command and began climbing confidently up through the steep ice. Moving into the bulge I realized Chase had brought his game and made this look easy! Impressed I kept climbing, trying to keep the awesome tempo of our day.
Now we were midway up the route, looking ahead to another WI4 crux and short ice steps before steep snow to the top. It had been snowing all day very lightly, a slight concern for us because that would eventually lead to spindrift avalanches roaring down our route, a big one would definitely smoke us. Our solution.....climb faster!
Quickly I led off. I traversed a wide part of the couloir to the base of the next WI4 crux pitch. This pitch also has a 5.9 rock variation but the ice looked so good I couldn't pass it up! I moved the belay over and started climbing! Quickly the steepness ramped up and I found myself on the right side of a crazy ice fin that kept forcing me closer and closer to a steep granite wall. I didn't see any option but to work my way around this ice fin. I tentatively began working my way around, I swung my ice tool blindly around the fin hoping for a solid stick, finally it felt good so I began pulling myself over the fin and whacked my head into the granite wall. This rattled me a moment before realizing I could easily push off the wall with my right hand making the transition much more secure. Finally I was on the left side of the fin and kept climbing with one foot on ice, the other on rock. Soon the rope came tight and it was time to anchor in and belay up Chase. He arrived soon with "that was sick man!" I was fired up and kept leading through a few more steep ice steps until we were at the base of the steep snow slopes to the top of the route. We alternated a few leads through the thigh deep snow before I found myself just steps from the top of the route! The steep and deep snow slogging was exhausting! I dropped down on my pack and pulled the ropes up until Chase appeared out of the fog.
We had just crushed the classic Ham and Eggs in 4.5 hours! Unfortunately there wasn't much time to celebrate if we wanted to summit the Moose's tooth! Now were definitely in the storm and visibility was getting worse and worse. After a few high fives and a snack Chase began traversing across a terrifying 80 degree snow slope, every movement he made caused sluffs of fresh snow to cascade down the slope. Somehow he defied modern physics and by some wicked power of friction and epic snow battling he had worked his way across the slope. Now it was my turn. I found my swim lessons in 5th grade were finally coming in handy as my arms were windmilling around and legs flailing. I never really felt attached to the slope but in a flurry of snow I was across the slope and we could cruise the easier slopes to the top. I reached Chase at the top just 40 minutes after leaving the col. We celebrated with high fives, and screams of joy. I giggled like a child in a candy store.We took a few pictures while thick clouds swirled around us, the Bear tooth next to us was all we could see and just barely. We both knew this was only the halfway point and we still had a lot of obstacles to pass on the way down. Reaching the summit only meant a short break and an opportunity for pictures.
We made it back to the top of the Ham and Egg's coulior without incidence, a few snow slides and sluffs had us on edge and antsy to get down. As we descended the storm roared angrier and angrier. Chased zeroed in on the first rap station and our rappels commenced. 1 hour and 40 minutes later after 8 or 9 raps we stood on the Root Canal glacier. We rarely spoke on the way down, we were in a total flow state, we worked together effortlessly and words were inefficient. Chase led the raps, I followed and pulled the ropes while Chase threaded them and then I tossed them while Chase rigged for rap. It was efficiency at its finest. The last couple raps we found ourselves wading through thigh deep spindrift pouring down the coulior. It was awesome and scary. Its amazing the line those two adjectives share. The 2nd to last rap I paused a moment to peer back up the couloir, now it was dark cold and foreboding. Epic. I quietly thanked the mountain for this experience and safe passage. In that moment huge spindrift came roaring down out of the dark coulior interrupting my self reflection, quickly I continued my speedy descent to the safety of the glacier.
At 2pm, just about 8 hours after leaving camp that morning we strolled back in. Big cheesy grins covered our faces like we had just pranked an older brother. We peeled off our crampons and harnesses while reliving the high lights of the day "man that was so epic" and "we just crushed that thing" echoed across the quiet glacier. We were unbelievably stoked. Reading about Jon Krakauers first ascent of Ham and Eggs had been inspiration for both our climbing careers, and climbing the route in a fast and clean style that would make Krakauer proud was a dream come true. Huge Alaskan alpine routes weren't so much a mystery anymore and we felt just slightly more deserving of the title "Alpinist". We were beginning to realize that with the right preparation, sacrifice, and perseverance we could accomplish big things.
Chase and I spent a few more days on the Ruth Glacier. Uncertain forecasts and poor ice conditions kept us from committing to another big route for another couple days. Finally with an extended forecast promising a long storm cycle we decided to make the call and fly out. I made the call to K2 and later that day we crammed three of us, two pairs of skis and tons of my left over snacks into a tiny Cessna 152. Chip our pilot flew us by the Moose's Tooth for one more photo before leaving the world of ice, rock and snow we had called home for 10 days. Alaska Range, we will be back.
The Alaska Range is one of the Alpinist's ultimate alpine play grounds. Walls of unparalleled grandeur capped with icy crowns of snow and ice burst forth from the biggest coldest glaciers in North America. Its one of those places that changes your life, it leaves you with memories and inspiration to last a life time.
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| Lance on the flight in. Thumbs up! by Chase Nelson |
Chase and I flew into the Mountain house on the Ruth Gorge with K2 aviation on April 23rd. As we flew in the range sparkled with meters of fresh snow left behind from a multi day storm. We landed, unloaded and watched our pilot take off again back to Talkeetna, we were here alone with the mountains and our dreams.
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| Epic flight in! by Chase Nelson |
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| Chase leading us out into the depths of the Ruth Glacier By Lance Colley |
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| Looking down glacier by Lance Colley |
Day 2 we learned sleds really suck on steep terrain and suck even more descending steep terrain. As we worked our way up the ice fall with sleds in tow we soon realized this approach would be much more involved than we had anticipated especially with the recent snowfall. We finally ditched skis and sleds in an effort to make progress with a lighter kit and see the terrain above. Instantly without skis we were up to your necks in deep snow, we switched our axes for shovels and began slogging. We would shovel and shovel then take two steps, usually slide down one and then repeat. It took us hours to go anywhere. Finally with our dogged determination we made it the the crux of the approach gully; a huge chock stone barred upward progress. We got our tools out and strapped our crampons to our ski boots. Cursing ensued as we swung our tools through powder snow into bare rock, after extensive excavation I found enough smears of ice for my tools and tiny granite edges for my crampon points to tentatively pull myself up on to the easier snow slopes above. Chase quickly followed with the requisite curses and we made good time to the top of the gully. Finally we saw the Bear Tooth way off in the distance. With night approaching and most of our gear a thousand feet below we decided to descend and restratigize.
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| Looking back down the ice fall by Chase Nelson |
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| Working our way up the ice fall to the Root Canal Glacier by Lance Colley |
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| Slogging commences by Lance Colley |
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| The Bear Tooth and epic Serac by Lance Colley |
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| Descending back to the Ruth by Lance Colley |
A couple days later after skiing, resting and enjoying the Ruth Gorge we made our way back up to the Root Canal. Now we had a trail, no sleds, a lighter kit and a couple days in Alaska under our belts. We slogged up to the chock stone, scratched our way up it, hauled gear and skis over it and then continued on our way up to the Root Canal Glacier below the incredible south face of the Mooses Tooth. We spent the afternoon resting and strategizing for the Ham and Eggs coulior the next day.
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| Working our way up to the Root Canal Glacier by Lance Colley |
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| View from Camp on the Root Canal by Lance Colley |
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| Camp on the Root Canal by Lance Colley |
April 28th we woke up at 4:30am to a bitter Alaskan morning, gulped down some oatmeal and found ourselves at the base of Ham and Eggs at 6am. I took the first pitch, a 5.6 rock ramp, I climbed efficiently, boldly and confidently hoping to sent a tempo for the day. The pitch despite being 5.6 was quite engaging with crampons and gloves on in the dawn lighting. A couple cams protected me through the rock difficulties and minutes later Chase was at my side with a high five. I kept leading up a snowy ramp to a chockstone with rotten ice pouring over the top of it. With a few sketchy stemming moves and tentative pulling on uncertain tool sticks I was through the difficulties. Again I put Chase on belay and he climbed efficiently to my side.
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| Chase on Pitch 1 by Lance Colley |
Chase took over the sharp end up a long snow ramp for two pitches to the first WI4 crux. At the base of the pitch a smile crept across Chases's face as he said "I want this one man", I knew there was more hard climbing so I agreed to belay. I belayed Chase from a behind a massive boulder covered in pins and tat and watched as he worked through an intricate series of moves to keep his balance on the cruxy bulge. Finally I heard the On Belay command and began climbing confidently up through the steep ice. Moving into the bulge I realized Chase had brought his game and made this look easy! Impressed I kept climbing, trying to keep the awesome tempo of our day.
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| Looking back down the route by Lance Colley |
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| Chase above the first WI4 crux by Lance Colley |
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| Chase follwoing steep snow by Lance Colley |
Now we were midway up the route, looking ahead to another WI4 crux and short ice steps before steep snow to the top. It had been snowing all day very lightly, a slight concern for us because that would eventually lead to spindrift avalanches roaring down our route, a big one would definitely smoke us. Our solution.....climb faster!
 |
| Chase leading a short ice step by Lance Colley |
Quickly I led off. I traversed a wide part of the couloir to the base of the next WI4 crux pitch. This pitch also has a 5.9 rock variation but the ice looked so good I couldn't pass it up! I moved the belay over and started climbing! Quickly the steepness ramped up and I found myself on the right side of a crazy ice fin that kept forcing me closer and closer to a steep granite wall. I didn't see any option but to work my way around this ice fin. I tentatively began working my way around, I swung my ice tool blindly around the fin hoping for a solid stick, finally it felt good so I began pulling myself over the fin and whacked my head into the granite wall. This rattled me a moment before realizing I could easily push off the wall with my right hand making the transition much more secure. Finally I was on the left side of the fin and kept climbing with one foot on ice, the other on rock. Soon the rope came tight and it was time to anchor in and belay up Chase. He arrived soon with "that was sick man!" I was fired up and kept leading through a few more steep ice steps until we were at the base of the steep snow slopes to the top of the route. We alternated a few leads through the thigh deep snow before I found myself just steps from the top of the route! The steep and deep snow slogging was exhausting! I dropped down on my pack and pulled the ropes up until Chase appeared out of the fog.
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| Chase nearing the summit By Lance Colley |
We had just crushed the classic Ham and Eggs in 4.5 hours! Unfortunately there wasn't much time to celebrate if we wanted to summit the Moose's tooth! Now were definitely in the storm and visibility was getting worse and worse. After a few high fives and a snack Chase began traversing across a terrifying 80 degree snow slope, every movement he made caused sluffs of fresh snow to cascade down the slope. Somehow he defied modern physics and by some wicked power of friction and epic snow battling he had worked his way across the slope. Now it was my turn. I found my swim lessons in 5th grade were finally coming in handy as my arms were windmilling around and legs flailing. I never really felt attached to the slope but in a flurry of snow I was across the slope and we could cruise the easier slopes to the top. I reached Chase at the top just 40 minutes after leaving the col. We celebrated with high fives, and screams of joy. I giggled like a child in a candy store.We took a few pictures while thick clouds swirled around us, the Bear tooth next to us was all we could see and just barely. We both knew this was only the halfway point and we still had a lot of obstacles to pass on the way down. Reaching the summit only meant a short break and an opportunity for pictures.
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| Chase on the summit by Lance Colley |
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| PROOF by Lance Colley |
We made it back to the top of the Ham and Egg's coulior without incidence, a few snow slides and sluffs had us on edge and antsy to get down. As we descended the storm roared angrier and angrier. Chased zeroed in on the first rap station and our rappels commenced. 1 hour and 40 minutes later after 8 or 9 raps we stood on the Root Canal glacier. We rarely spoke on the way down, we were in a total flow state, we worked together effortlessly and words were inefficient. Chase led the raps, I followed and pulled the ropes while Chase threaded them and then I tossed them while Chase rigged for rap. It was efficiency at its finest. The last couple raps we found ourselves wading through thigh deep spindrift pouring down the coulior. It was awesome and scary. Its amazing the line those two adjectives share. The 2nd to last rap I paused a moment to peer back up the couloir, now it was dark cold and foreboding. Epic. I quietly thanked the mountain for this experience and safe passage. In that moment huge spindrift came roaring down out of the dark coulior interrupting my self reflection, quickly I continued my speedy descent to the safety of the glacier.
 |
| Chase leading our raps by Lance Colley |
At 2pm, just about 8 hours after leaving camp that morning we strolled back in. Big cheesy grins covered our faces like we had just pranked an older brother. We peeled off our crampons and harnesses while reliving the high lights of the day "man that was so epic" and "we just crushed that thing" echoed across the quiet glacier. We were unbelievably stoked. Reading about Jon Krakauers first ascent of Ham and Eggs had been inspiration for both our climbing careers, and climbing the route in a fast and clean style that would make Krakauer proud was a dream come true. Huge Alaskan alpine routes weren't so much a mystery anymore and we felt just slightly more deserving of the title "Alpinist". We were beginning to realize that with the right preparation, sacrifice, and perseverance we could accomplish big things.
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| Ham and Eggs from the Root Canal Glacier by Lance Colley |
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| The massive Mt. Dickey by Lance Colley |
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| Denali at sunset by Chase Nelson |
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| Mt Johnson by Lance Colley |
Chase and I spent a few more days on the Ruth Glacier. Uncertain forecasts and poor ice conditions kept us from committing to another big route for another couple days. Finally with an extended forecast promising a long storm cycle we decided to make the call and fly out. I made the call to K2 and later that day we crammed three of us, two pairs of skis and tons of my left over snacks into a tiny Cessna 152. Chip our pilot flew us by the Moose's Tooth for one more photo before leaving the world of ice, rock and snow we had called home for 10 days. Alaska Range, we will be back.
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| The Moose's Tooth by Lance Colley |
