Spear Spire, Northeast Face, and East Peak, East Ridge, Vowell Group, Purcells. On July 7 James Hebert, Robert Kruszyna and I made the first ascent of the northeast face of Spear Spire, climbing a couloir which runs diagonally from the summit down to the right. We left the couloir to the right two-thirds of the way up the face and reached the ridge by a system of cracks and chimneys. In drier years it might be possible to leave the couloir to the left, but wet snow above would have made that other route hazardous. We climbed the east ridge of East Peak on July 10 and 11. We climbed Sub 1 (so designated by the Hendricks party) on grassy ledges to the right of the side couloir on the south face of the ridge between Sub 1 and Sub 2. We continued through the col to Sub 2. A short rappel from Sub 2’s north side gained us easy ledges over which we made a descending traverse to avoid Sub 3, a rectangular column about 100 feet high with smooth, vertical walls. We climbed a strenuous chimney-jam crack system to regain the ridge beyond Sub 3. Then, almost immediately we rappelled into the notch at the foot of Sub 4, a larger summit rising 200 feet, which we ascended using a jam-crack in the left corner of a large chimney, prominent from the Sub 1-Sub 2 col. About 30 feet up, we had to enter this tight crack and climb another 30 feet inside the mountain before reentering and climbing the chimney to its top; one piton was used for direct aid. After 100 feet of delicate slabs, we stood on the top of Sub 4. Two, 100-foot rappels and some scrambling brought us to the col between Sub 4 and East Peak proper, where we bivouacked. In the morning we climbed East Peak in more or less a direct line from the col. Except for the first rope-lengths, it was straightforward. From a false summit, a short rappel brought us onto the original ascent route of the Feuz party. In difficulty both climbs compare with the more difficult of the classic Bugaboo routes.

Charles A. Fay