North America, United States, Alaska, Broken Tooth, North Face Ascent

Publication Year: 1982.

Broken Tooth, North Face Attempt. After crossing the bergschrund on the upper end of the Buckskin Glacier, Curt Haire and I** ascended the 800-foot, 45° snowfield to the base of a series of disconnected couloirs on the north face of the Broken Tooth. We climbed a 60° ice gully for 250 feet with several small vertical bulges and went left to another pitch up a 70° couloir also with overhanging sections. On the fourth pitch we ran into corn snow which would not hold tools or body weight. We moved left. The rock was extremely rotten: frozen mud and stacked loose blocks. Curt led 70 feet with bogus protection and fell 30 feet, popping his last placement. At this point we made the wise decision to descend. Later, from May 16 to 26, we climbed the Cassin Ridge on McKinley.

Stacy Allison

** Recipient of a Vera Watson-Alison Chadwick Onyszkiewicz Memorial Fund grant.