Mount Huntington, French Route Attempt. Rom Lee, Craig Reinin- ger, Eric Simonson and I attempted the French route on Mount Huntington alpine-style. We ascended the French face from the west fork of the Ruth Glacier on June 27 after sitting in Base Camp for a week of continuous snow flurries. Terray’s account did not overestimate the objective danger of this approach to the ridge. During four 12- to 18-hour days, we experienced very exciting climbing in a very committed position since the weather was bad and we were leaving no ropes for the descent. Seven hundred vertical feet from the summit, faced with continual digging in the rotten, nearly vertical snow to find the verglased granite, we bivouacked on a four-foot shelf. Feeling the odds tilting, we began a retreat. Two days later, at night and in heavy snowfall, we rappelled 1800 feet back to our igloo on the glacier.

Rob June Newsom, Tooloose Alpine Society