North America, Canada, North West Territories, Mount Sir James MacBrien, Logan Mountains

Publication Year: 1973.

Mount Sir James MacBrien, Logan Mountains. In July Jim McCarthy and I made the first ascent of the southeast arête of this mountain, highest in the entire region. We had hoped to make a multi-day route of the neighboring Lotus Flower Tower, but the weather was so poor that we chose Sir James MacBrien as an alternative. Several thousand feet of unroped climbing led to the base of an impressive, narrow 1200-foot arête, where we roped up. After two leads on the firm granite, we encountered a steep headwall split by a diagonal two-inch crack that provided an F9 crux to the climb. The 100-foot section of difficult climbing took more than an hour, and a pitch higher we were caught by a short but fierce hailstorm. After ten leads we reached the top of the arete and scrambled a quarter mile to the summit snow cornice. On the intricate descent on the west side, we found rappel slings of previous parties but discovered a way down without using them. We arrived at camp at eleven P.M. in the beginning of an eight-day rainstorm. NCCS IV, F9.

Galen Rowell