Sister Spire, a detached gray tower protruding from the south shoulder of Girls Mountain (6,134’), rises to a modest 5,580’. However, the sheer, triangular east face towers about 1,000’ above the Worthington Glacier, near Thompson Pass. Steep headwalls, dihedrals, and runnels are laced with snowy bands as the terrain gradually steepens from bergschrund to summit. While Sister Spire’s summit has been reached via a sneak-around mountaineering route on the west ridge (1,000’, M1 and steep snow, Brown, 2018), the east face had not seen any attention from climbers. This is likely because the face requires very particular early-season conditions: consistent freezing temps to “glue” the moss and rock together before the wall becomes covered with snow.

On October 16, Lauren Brand and I skied across the Worthington Glacier by headlamp, stashed our skis in the basin below Sister Spire, and crossed the bergschrund at 11 a.m. Simul-soloing the snow apron, we eventually funneled into a corner system we had eyed from the glacier. We climbed six long roped pitches up this central weakness, with (generally) moderate mixed climbing to connect corners. The line was devoid of ice and instead offered thoughtful hooking and stemming on delicate rock and frozen turf. Each pitch presented a distinct crux. Gear—mainly nuts and pins—was sparse throughout the entire climb.

The crux fifth pitch followed an exposed traverse to a steep, rocky pedestal with a bulge looming above. The key sequence on this pitch—a series of committing moves involving pick torquing, techy footwork, and swinging into frozen moss—went at M7 R/X. Another rope-stretching pitch of moderate mixed and steep snow put us on top of Sister Spire at 6 p.m. We descended the mountaineering route to our skis and crossed the glacier once more by headlamp.

We named the route Bing Bong Buttress (330m, IV M7 R/X) as a tribute to Lauren’s cat, Bings, whose legacy will now be cemented in Chugach alpinism for all time.

—August Franzen