North America, United States, Wyoming, Wind River Range, Mt. Hooker, Year of the Horse

Publication Year: 1999.

Mt. Hooker, Year of the Horse. Hiring horses and taking the “long way in” from Dickenson Park, Jeff Maus, Kevin Dunkak and I spent 11 of 21 days scouting, fixing and climbing a 13-pitch route on the north face of Mt. Hooker. (This line shares ground with the 1995 Donahue-Harvey route; see topo.) Our line climbs up the large alcoves to the left of the Third Eye and to the right of Red Light District. On the third night of our seven-day push, we saw what we thought was a dramatic display of the northern lights above Muesembeah Peak. Astronomers have since said that the celestial events we witnessed on August 27 had more to do with a mega star than the northern lights. Whatever it was, it was an awesome sight. The route, Year of the Horse (a.k.a. Northern Lights, VI 5.10 A3), shared a pitch and a half from a previous attempt, from the high point of which we removed water bottles and rusted cans. We used 19 holes, including one pre-existing.

Clay Wadman