Mount Wood, North Face, Beartooth Mountains. On August 31 Robert Miller and I climbed the north face of Mount Wood, second highest peak in Montana (12,661 feet). We reached the Stillwater Plateau from the Ben Bow Mine road, crossed five miles of boulder-fields to the saddle at the base of Wood’s northwest ridge, and then went down to the snout of the miniglacier, where we camped. The face consists of about 1500 feet of glacier and 500 feet of summit rock. The lower glacier was easy cramponing up 30° snow for 600 feet, but above this was 45° ice which we avoided by traversing left to an easy Class-III scramble up a rock island. A final 200 feet of 40° snow led to a partly snow-and-ice-filled couloir six leads from the summit. Occasional pitons were required for leader protection and belay anchors. Fifty feet from its end, the couloir narrowed and was completely blocked by a large, overhanging chockstone which required direct aid. The summit is 80 feet east and marked by a cairn with a Prince Albert tin with a note from James Lakey of Terry, Montana. Retreat was made via the east ridge to the plateau, circling back up the moraine to camp. We believe this to be the first ascent of the face.

Warren Bowman, unattached.