To access the remote northwest face of Mt. Abbot (13,715’), I hiked in from Mosquito Flat trailhead to the east, past Ruby Lake and Mills Lake, to Abbot’s northeast side. On October 9, the bulletproof ice (AI2) of the Petit Griffon Couloir (leading to the eponymous needle-like spire) brought me to the col between Mt. Abbot and Mt. Mills. I then descended fourth-class terrain to the west for several hundred feet before making a very loose fourth-class traverse across the northwest face of Abbot. This traverse crossed several ribs of broken granite. I climbed the farthest right rib via clean finger and hand cracks for about 800’ to reach the summit ridge, notching the first ascent of Warning Shot (III 5.5 AI2). I descended by the standard North Couloir route (Brower-Clyde-Voge, 1934).

—Trevor Shumaker