Greyskull Valley. The Greyskull Valley Expedition included Laura Schmonsees,

Trevor Deighton, Andy Rich, and myself.

The expedition spent 23 days in June in the Coast Range on the border of British Columbia and Alaska. On June 8 we flew in from Skagway, Alaska, via helicopter to the unexplored valley and established a base camp on a rocky outcrop surrounded by unnamed glaciers and granite peaks.

The valley is located about seven miles southwest of Mt. Foster.

The overall weather was extremely unsettled—only three days were without precipitation. We free-climbed and aided 1,000 feet up the north-northeast face of the main tower (Castle Greyskull), before being driven back by storms, lack of continuous crack systems, and friable rock.

On June 28 Andy and I attempted a long alpine route on the same tower, to the east of the aid route. Warm temperatures and slush stopped us after several hard (WI5) pitches. That same evening Laura and Trevor made a 4th class ascent of a peak (“Sweetness”) to the northeast of base camp. Rock climbing in the valley was limited by poor rock quality and bad weather, but alpine routes earlier in the year might have better results.

Dave Anderson, AAC