Mount Berge, East Ridge and East Face, Glacier Park Wilderness. On June 23, about five miles up the Buck Creek Pass trail, Garth Ferber and I glimpsed Mount Berge. We crossed Buck Creek and ascended the wooded east ridge of P 7625 to 5800 feet. We descended from the ridge and contoured a steep meadow into a basin. The distinct notch on the east ridge of Berge can be reached in an hour on the north (more technical) side or on the south side by going around the bushy toe of the arête. The first twelve pitches from the notch were mostly on the south side or on the crest of the ridge, after which we made a short rappel to a notch. Pitches 13 to 17 were north, south or on the crest. We exited below the north summit via ledges on the north and a snow couloir to avoid a bivouac. A direct finish would probably have involved another four or five pitches. The climbing was mostly low 5th class with occasional 5.6 or 5.7 on good granite. (IV, 5.7.) I returned to Berge on July 18 with Gordy Skoog to climb the east face. Because a schrund blocked access to the right-slanting ramp across the face, we climbed the first pitch, a mantle out of a dihedral, and the second, 80 feet of sustained 5.7-5.8 crack-and-face climbing. We then climbed the ramp for 700 feet on clean slabs to a last blocky pitch to the summit (II, 5.8).

Joe Catellani, Ballard Alpine Club