Kooshdakhaa Spire, North Face, Otter Water Boogie Man; Point 2,320m, Southwest Face, Lichening Bolt Buttress

Alaska, Coast Mountains, Upper Chilkat
Author: Erik Bonnett. Climb Year: 2015. Publication Year: 2016.

During a spell of excellent weather from May 18 to May 31, Max Fisher and I returned to the Upper Chilkat area of the Coast Mountains, where we’d visited a year prior (AAJ 2015). The area is located about seven miles west of Mt. Foster and spans the border of southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia. On this trip, we succeeded in pushing our previously attempted line up the granite face of what we call Kooshdakhaa Spire, which rises some 2,000’ above a hanging tributary of the Chilkat Glacier.

A day after stepping out of Drake Olson’s ski plane, we quickly ascended to our previous high point on the north face of the spire. There, we turned an offwidth roof to gain access to steeper crack systems above. From here, we made our way up sustained 5.10 and 5.11- climbing with three sections of aid to reach the summit. This included a stop to shiver out the night on a diving board ledge, which was certainly lighter, but not at all faster, than had we opted to bring headlamps. After 33 hours on the wall (bergschrund to summit), we honored our friend Cory Hall on the summit by spreading some of his ashes. We descended easier terrain to the south and east, arriving in camp 37 hours after leaving. We called the route Otter Water Boogie Man (2,000’, V 5.11- A1).

The name of our route is a rough translation of the Kooshdakhaa, a Tlingit and Tsimshian mythological creature . We felt our experiences over two expeditions to this place—from shivering to sunshine, and storms to splitter cracks—were characteristic of what we know about this mythology.

After a few days chilling in camp under perfect skies we loaded our backpacks and packraft-sleds and trudged into northern British Columbia in search of another climbing objective. We found it: a high point of a ridgeline that reaches approximately 2,320m. [Previously unreported, this spire was likely first climbed in 2002 by Brian Delay and William Wacker, who suggest the name Canadian Import. It is located across from Castle Greyskull/Kooshdakhaa E4 (AAJ 2004)]. Our new route, Lichening Bolt Buttress (400m, IV 5.11-), ascends aprons and crack systems on the southwest aspect, with mostly moderate climbing and frequent, more challenging cruxes.

After this climb, we hauled our gear over another pass to reach the headwaters of the Nourse River, making to our knowledge its first complete descent. On river, we paddled sections of continuous class II to III+ whitewater over four days, portaging a series of beautiful waterfalls and two canyons that looked to offer excellent, harder whitewater.

After our trip, we learned that since 2002, Alaskan climber William Wacker—and partners including Brian Delay, Eric Forester, Kevin Forester, and Dave Sundas—has made numerous trips into the Upper Chilkat and climbed approximately ten prominent summits/towers in the area, including the 7,550’ main, flat-topped summit adjacent to (climber’s left of) what we have called the Kooshdakhaa Spire. Additionally, they have exited the area by packrafting the Chilkat River or Homan River. Their ascents had been previously unreported.

– ­Erik Bonnett



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