North America, United States, Montana, Beartooths, Mt. Inabnit, Winter Pants and Moonburn

Publication Year: 2009.

Beartooths, Mt. Inabnit, Winter Pants and Moonburn. After hearing of spectacular unclimbed mixed lines on the north-facing wall of Mt. Inabnit in East Rosebud Canyon, I made two trips to the area. On November 25 Tyler Nygaard, Justin Griffin, and I made the long walk to the face and tackled a rock wall to gain an aesthetic ice smear halfway up the face. We topped out on the plateau at dark. We named the route Winter Pants (300m, IV M6 WI3+).

On December 12, with brothers Whit and Sam Magro, we repeated the long walk under clear skies and a full moon. We climbed a mixed corner 100m right of the start of Winter Pants to gain thin ice steps high on the face, pushing through the cornice and topping out to a brilliant sunset and moonrise. We called the route Moonburn (300m, IV M5 WI4). This wall is an early-season dazzler with plenty of splitter granite and long ribbons of ice. These qualities and the potential for more routes should entice even the most approachaphobic climber for a bit of Beartooths adventure.

Aaron Thrasher