North America, Canada, Northwest Territories, Proboscis, Southeast Face, "Yukon Tears" Logan Mountains

Publication Year: 1995.

Proboscis, Southeast Face, “Yukon Tears” Logan Mountains. In a three-day blitz in 1963, Layton Kor, Royal Robbins, Jim McCarthy and Dick McCracken climbed a route on the southeast face of Proboscis and issued in a new level by applying big-wall techniques to a remote alpine wall. In 1992, Todd Skinner, Paul Piana and Galen Rowell made their all-free ascent of the Great Canadian Knife (AAJ, 1993, pages 68-77.) On August 5, Scott Cosgrove, Kurt Smith and I completed the fourth ascent of the face and the second free line. We chose a crack line 200 feet right of the Knife. A 3-pitch dihedral with good protection led to three pitches of face climbing, the aid-climbing crux. The climb then joined a steep, knobby crack for seven pitches to a ledge. A 5.2 traverse led to the top of the Knife route, where I added a 5.10 variation up a seam left of the good crack. Three more pitches took us to an exposed knife-edged ridge. Seven pitches of low fifth-class boulder problems brought us to the summit register, a metal film canister, circa 1960, and perfectly preserved yellow paper. We spent 19 days working on the 24-pitch route, finding 7 pitches of 5.12, 2 of 5.11 and 4 of 5.10.

Jeff Jackson, Texas Mountain Guides