On June 21, Arthur Herlitzka and I climbed a probable new route up the north face of Borah Peak (12,667’). The Waning Crescent Couloir (2,250’, IV M4 55° snow) angles left across the face between Borah, Borah, Borah (Ball-Colwell-Schilling, 2004) and the Central Couloir.

We left the trailhead late in the afternoon on June 20 and napped for two hours below the face before starting up at 2 a.m. We ascended the debris cone below Psycho Therapy (Lords-Wood, 2003) and then traversed left on steep snow. The traverse was eerie in the dark, as the slope below us fell off abruptly into black night. We belayed the final steep pitch of the traverse and built an anchor left of a steep overhang covered in smear ice, which marked the bottom of the couloir.

By climbing dry rock up and right (the M4 crux of the route), we were able to bypass the large roof and get back onto snow. Protection and anchors were plentiful on the sides of the couloir, and the rock was generally good for the Lost River Range, although we were happy to have a picket. We belayed four 70m pitches and simuled many more before arriving on the northwest ridge, at around 12,200’, very near the top of the Central Couloir.

From there, we soloed the northwest ridge to the summit and descended the southwest ridge. The route took around 20 hours, including the hikes in and out and our short nap below the face.

— Matt Ward