P 11,300, West Face, West Fork of Ruth Glacier. From May 6 to 9, John Bauman and I climbed the 3600-foot-high west face of P 11,300. The most prominent feature of the route is a 900-foot-long, 12-foot-wide couloir of 65° to 75°, which has several vertical steps and is mostly of solid blue ice. Snowfall higher up caused heavy spindrift sloughs, which fell continually down the chute. After 17 hours, we reached the top of the couloir to find a snug little cave in which we bivouacked out of the way of the spindrift. The next day we worked through and around rock bands until we met the southwest ridge about 12 pitches from the summit. Late in the day Bauman fell 50 feet through a cornice. After much time and effort, we were reunited and moving. It was one A.M. before we were able to bivouac. The final 900 feet to the summit went quickly. We descended the east ridge, bivouacking a third time.

James Howe. Unaffiliated